Neighbors'/community trees disturb

Hello dear forum,

our neighboring plot actually belongs to the municipality. A neighbor fenced it in years ago and also takes care of it (keeps the lawn short). After the survey, a fence was erected on the side of our garden to make the property boundary visible (I assume this came from the original owner of our property). In any case, the neighbor had previously planted a few trees when he still considered part of our property to be "his". Then the fence was drawn right through, and suddenly a few trees were on our side (we have since had them cut down because of the house construction) and a few on "his" side. Two of the trees he planted on actually public land now stand directly at our fence, and I am worried that they might eventually fall onto our house. I hope I have explained this clearly now :) Whom should we contact if we want to have those cut down as well?

Hello mcburns,

the owner and/or tenant is responsible for the trees on the neighboring property. There may be insurance coverage for trees/vegetation damage, but not necessarily.
If the trees are indeed no longer stable because, for example, they have already been "pushed" by the wind and are leaning and/or show severe root damage, you should take some photos and send them to the municipality.

If the trees are standing straight and the roots are not obviously damaged or the trees are not obviously sick, in my opinion, you have to live with the concern. Healthy trees can fall during storms, but they do not have to be cut down preventively just because they might fall.

Another option is [das Nachbarrecht] ([idR Landesrecht]). There are provisions (possibly depending on additional local (!) statutes) about what may be planted near the boundary and how it must be maintained. The state of Thuringia has published a guide on this. It explicitly states that the Thuringian [Nachbarrecht] is subordinate to private agreements (!) , page 5 respectively §2. Therefore, it would also be of interest whether there are private law agreements between previous owners and whether these are still legally valid. Likewise, state law can be overridden by local statutes; in that case, the municipality’s statute applies.

So I would first take some photos, go to the municipality, and request a written statement regarding the planting.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe