rausausBerlin
2013-03-25 21:57:44
- #1
Hello,
the question is not quite right here, but maybe someone can help.
We live in an older (built around 1900, renovated 1996, extension 2003) single-family house in Brandenburg. The street is lined with old linden trees on the sidewalk, which are characteristic for our street. Our old building is cellarled on the side away from the street... and exactly in the heating cellar the floor slab is bulging due to root pressure.
My father-in-law (owner of the property & land together with his wife) already reported this damage to the municipality about 3 years ago. Someone came at that time who said everything was fine. My father-in-law was satisfied with this verbal statement, broke open the floor and cut the root under the bulge.
Since there are no other trees, it must be a root of a linden tree standing on municipal land.
Now I feel that the bulging has gotten bigger, and since the hot water tank is no longer perfectly straight and I fear that its supply line might break at some point, I have informed the municipality again. There are no masonry cracks. Someone is supposed to come again on Wednesday. But – what can I demand, what is the legal situation?
- Have roots at the property boundary cut (the tree would then actually have to be felled, since it does not stand 2m next to the property)?
- Fell the tree?
- What about the second tree, which stands at the same distance to the house only a few meters further (no damage in the cellar so far, but water, gas, and electricity lines lie in its root area).
- Can I demand from the municipality, with chances of success, that they bear the cost of repairing the damage in the cellar, or is this a risk to be accepted (tree and house are roughly the same age)? Normally, heating boilers and hot water tanks would have to be dismantled and about 6 sqm of screed renewed...
I would be very grateful for advice on how to proceed!
Matthias
the question is not quite right here, but maybe someone can help.
We live in an older (built around 1900, renovated 1996, extension 2003) single-family house in Brandenburg. The street is lined with old linden trees on the sidewalk, which are characteristic for our street. Our old building is cellarled on the side away from the street... and exactly in the heating cellar the floor slab is bulging due to root pressure.
My father-in-law (owner of the property & land together with his wife) already reported this damage to the municipality about 3 years ago. Someone came at that time who said everything was fine. My father-in-law was satisfied with this verbal statement, broke open the floor and cut the root under the bulge.
Since there are no other trees, it must be a root of a linden tree standing on municipal land.
Now I feel that the bulging has gotten bigger, and since the hot water tank is no longer perfectly straight and I fear that its supply line might break at some point, I have informed the municipality again. There are no masonry cracks. Someone is supposed to come again on Wednesday. But – what can I demand, what is the legal situation?
- Have roots at the property boundary cut (the tree would then actually have to be felled, since it does not stand 2m next to the property)?
- Fell the tree?
- What about the second tree, which stands at the same distance to the house only a few meters further (no damage in the cellar so far, but water, gas, and electricity lines lie in its root area).
- Can I demand from the municipality, with chances of success, that they bear the cost of repairing the damage in the cellar, or is this a risk to be accepted (tree and house are roughly the same age)? Normally, heating boilers and hot water tanks would have to be dismantled and about 6 sqm of screed renewed...
I would be very grateful for advice on how to proceed!
Matthias