 Welcome to your Property Rights podcast, proudly brought to you by Private Property. If you're looking for expert legal answers to all your property related questions, then stay tuned. It's lovely to welcome you back to another of your Property Rights podcasts. Hello, I'm Paul Rotherham and this show proudly brought to you by Private Property. Hello again, Silna. Hey Paul, always nice to be with you. It's always lovely to have you in studio. Thanks so much for being here and giving up your time. I know you are an important person and very busy as the MD of SSLR Incorporated Attorney, Silna Stain is our expert property lawyer, specifically focusing on rentals and evictions, but we do cover all sorts of topics, so thank you, Silna, for your time. Only a pleasure. Today's topic, oh, I could get riled over this and worked up about this, a lovely question that's come in regarding a tree. And I think you'll know where I'm going with this. I'm going to read it as it is. My neighbors have a large tree on their property, writes this person. The branches of said tree extend into my garden, shedding leaves and debris into my swimming pool. This constantly clogs up my pool pump, which has needed multiple repairs as a result. And this also makes pool and garden maintenance an absolute nightmare, writes this person. When I tried to discuss this with my neighbor, I was told to, in quotes, just get a swimming pool cover. This is yet another expense I simply cannot afford. The question then for you today, Silna, on your property rights podcast is this. What can be done about this overhanging tree and the resultant damage and debris? And who is liable for the damages, including the damages to the pool pump? The person ends by saying, I'm losing my patience, which we don't want. Let's try and sort this out. How do we do it? Neighbor law is one of the most sensitive parts of the law that exists, because we all know the relationship between neighbors are extremely sensitive. I remember in another episode, we've discussed this as well. Yes, that was the barking dogs, as I recall. That's exactly. And you specifically said, remember not to get into a fight with somebody today who might have to help you out tomorrow. And that is essentially what the thing is when it comes to neighbor law. So in other parts of the law, it's quite simple to go to an attorney, do an aggressive letter and see if you can solve the problem. When it comes to neighbors, obviously you have to do it a bit more gentle and a bit more polite. Now in this context, it sounds like the listener already did that. Try to contact the neighbor, try to get the problem resolved. And clearly, the neighbor is just saying, well, this is sort of a you problem. Now the good news, Paul, is luckily this is our listener problem and not the neighbor's problem. And what I'm saying luckily is now we can do something about it. Give us the solution. The solution is quite simple. A tree that is overhanging from one property onto the other property is the owner of the land where the roots are is the owner of the tree. But any branches that extends over your boundary line, so be it a wall, be it a fence, even be it just a boundary line, like in a complex where you don't have walls or something like that. Anything that's over your property line, so over your boundaries, you are allowed to trim that. But here's the fun fact that I think you're going to I'm going to get a nice smile from your side on this one because the Romans, when they they figured this part of the law out, obviously, they weren't as many people as we currently have. They were much fewer people in societies. They were much closer and and the law is as much as it's developing. Some parts of it are still pretty archaic and this is one of them. And this is why I think it's going to make you smile. Theoretically, the branches of the trees that you're now cutting off still belongs to the owner of the tree. I know where this is going. So what happens is you're not actually entitled to the fruits of the tree. So say for instance, this is a pomegranate tree. Me now being very specific. It couldn't just be like an apple tree. Me being technical on fruits. But you're not allowed to take the fruits from the tree. So on the overhanging branches, you're not allowed to pick it. However, when it falls from the tree and it falls onto your earth, you can pick it up and it's yours now. But here's the fun part of the story. Strictly in law, if you are now cutting the trees through fruits or not from the neighbor's tree, you are, in fact, in law, obliged, not just entitled obliged to return. I love where this is going. So not only do you get to trim the branches that have been annoying you and clogging your swimming pool, you actually get to chuck them over the wall. Well, I would chuck it over the wall. I might actually consider delivering it to the front door. I'm just saying I'm not encouraging bad behavior. Yes, I'm just saying it's one of those parts of the law where you can now clearly OK, this is the rule. But practically, this can blow up in your face immensely. Yes. If you have an overhanging tree, guess what your neighbor's going to be doing at the first available opportunity? If you've been rude and unneighbally, trust me, they're going to reply in the same way. Exactly. And that's exactly why I think it's so relevant to know because from both sides of the fence, I'm loving this question. I'm just rolling with him here. So on both sides of the fence, you have a potential benefit and a risk. But remember, this is how the law works. We have rights as well as obligations. So as the neighbor with the overhanging parts of the tree damaging your swimming pool, remember, you have an obligation and a duty to do your own gardening. So to leave those branches to cause damage to your swimming pool, to your pool pump, to your creepy crawly. Unfortunately, those damages must be carried by you because you had an obligation to trim and manage those branches on your side of the fence before it became a problem. Got you. And in fairness, if you run out every Saturday morning with a pruning scissor, look at me now. Cheers. Yes. Gardening, cheers or secateurs. They're going to teach you a thing or two about gardening on this show, See, now I know more about gardening. Thank you, Paul. And if you pull those shares out and you just keep it trimmed on your side of the fence, it won't become a problem. So I definitely encourage our listeners to keep it close. Eye on neighbor trees. And when they start coming into your part of the onto your earth, trim them in time before it becomes a problem. If you buy a property and you had nothing to do with this problem now, so you buy the property and they are these branches hanging over, I would definitely encourage you to contact the neighbouring party and say, listen, neighbour, I am a new person. I really don't want to start this relationship off on a bad foot. Let's do this. I want to trim them, but now it seems like the tree is going to fall over to my side. If I do this, can you and I come to an arrangement? We get a tree fallow, we prune him back properly. So I don't cause damages by trimming the one half of the tree. And now it's going to fall over the wall. And now all drama is going to going to break loose. And we're going to read about this in Aisgenwet. So what I what I recommend there is at that point, contact the neighbour. See if you can come to some sort of solution. If you can't, you're entitled to trim. I would then say, just do a polite letter indemnifying yourself to say, I've tried to communicate with you. I'm now getting in three fellas. I will return the branches to your doorstep politely as I should in terms of law. But if it collapses because you didn't want to come in and assist with the pruning on your side of the wall, I indemnify myself and should they be damaged to the wall, then or anything else. Please note that you will be responsible for those damages. And that person cannot be held accountable. So I think to answer this question in short, unfortunately, the damages to the pool pump are going to be for your account. A quick question relating to this, if said neighbour has a huge tree and that tree is well within their property, but on a windy day, there are leaves galore in autumn being blown across from their property into my pool. It's not through my negligence of not trimming the branches. It's far away. Would I have anything to say in that instance? Or is it just rotten luck that I happened to have purchased a home next to someone with a big tree? Is that just how it goes? It's it's rotten luck on your pool, but yay for your neighbour for providing that kind of oxygen to you. And I let me just state for the record, I'm one of those tree hugging people. I've had neighbours who've moved in and one of the first things that they've done is either prune or trim or cut down completely the trees. And for me, I can relate to this question. I really can because I think we all love the trees. We love the bird life it attracts, especially in the suburbs. We love the shade that those trees provide during a hot summer's day. And I think ultimately we just want to be able to get on with each other, but not go through the frustrations of having a swimming pool that is permanently clogged. So I do get that. Unfortunately, though, in this instance, the right thing to do is to trim the branches yourself, keep those nice and trimmed and cut back with a proper pair of shears or secateurs. Very good. You've been listening. And ultimately, for now, fix the pump yourself. It's water under the bridge, as it were. So thank you, Silne. It's a pleasure. Thank you for the question. It was a fun one. If you'd like to continue asking questions and commenting on this, you can join in the conversation or, hey, why don't you start a conversation on our private property Facebook page? We would love to hear from you your thoughts regarding your property rights. After all, that's what the show is. It is your property rights podcast. I'm Paul Rotherham and the show is proudly brought to you by Private Property. Your property rights podcast is proudly brought to you by Private Property. Leave a comment or ask a question to join the conversation.