Maybe If There’s a Next Year

Yesterday was rainy and warm, then a storm came through late in the night, and I woke up to a bitterly cold morning. The rapid weather change knocked the wind out of me. I was dragging all day, and now, at not even eight o’clock, I’m ready for bed.

The storm broke off a large limb from the big tree out back. An eighteen-foot branch fell from forty or fifty feet up on the trunk. It nearly smashed the bird feeder. It’s hundreds of pounds. There’s no moving it. I’ll need to borrow a chainsaw. Divide et impera.

I spoke to the landlord about the situation. He says the tree belongs to the house next door. Apparently, my neighbor erected a privacy fence at some point, but left about three feet of land outside the perimeter. Presumably, he couldn’t fit the trees inside the fence without building on my side of the property.

My neighbor seems to believe the property is now the responsibility of my landlord by virtue of Adverse Possession. As I read it, adverse possession laws in NJ would require my landlord to openly and personally occupy the property without permission for 30 consecutive years, after which, he could claim legal ownership of the property, if he wanted to. In this case, my landlord vehemently argues the land belongs to my neighbor and that he’s not responsible for the neighbor’s trees. And he lives in Florida and can’t be said to occupy the space.

My neighbor seems to believe adverse possession means he can transfer ownership along with responsibility for the property onto his neighbors without consent simply by building a fence and abandoning whatever falls outside of it. I believe he is mistaken about how that works and recommended he contact a legal professional, for fear he may wind up having a major insurance claim denied if the neglected tree falls on his house.

If there’s still an economy next spring, I’ll start shopping for my own place.