A Tree Fell on My House From Vacant Home Lot That the Developer Never Sold?
August 22, 2011 in Home Insurance
The tree crashed through my fence, hitting my roof, not sure if damage is done yet to the roof, but the fence is broken and I have a very large tree sitting in my back yard. Now, since the developer of this subdivision did not sell all of the homes they had intended to,there is empty lot full of probably rotted trees next door. Who is responsible? I do not wish to go through my own insurance company for this although they keep trying to push me this way.
Home owners deductible is $ 1,000 plus will raise the rate for making a claim. The damage isn’t worth $ 1,000
so everytime a tree falls you must pay a deductible therefore making rates go up?
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You must go through your insurance company. They then will chase the owner of the property next door.
The City Normally has to cite the Developer to remove the tree’s. As a Danger to the community. If he was never cited to remove the tree it’s classified as natural Disaster. Your home owners insurance should be paying for this.
Call you insurance and let them sort it out or contact a lawyer.
ADD: Stephen you ave vary wrong! If the city determines it is a danger or caused by neglect or negligence they can easily go after the landowner. Anybody else could go after the land owner is this is the situation.
Some cities can fine you for parking cars to long in the street or other little crazy crap. All depends on local laws, zoning, restrictions etc.
Much of it will depend on why the tree fell, did the land owner dig up the land so bad that it damaged the tree, did the wind just push it over (act of God), had the land owner started to remove the tree, damaged the root structre and not finsh the job?
I agree.
It is your insurance companies job to sort it all out. If you know who the owner is, you can pursue that angle as well…but this is what good insurance companies do for a living.
Chad is incorrect. Cities do not usually go after property owners for fallen trees. The reason you need to go through your insurance company is because A) the developer doesn’t really care about you and insurance companies are much better at “getting after them”, and B) that’s what insurance is for. The law is not clear on who’s responsibility it is to remove the tree and the insurance company has the means and expertise to deal with this situation as they probably see it on numerous occasions.
YOU are responsible. Well your home insurance is actually. Your unknown neighbor cannot be held responsible for a tree falling. It’s called ‘an act of god’. I went through the same thing and we even had to pay to have the tree cut up/removed.
talk to your insurance company. they will deal with owner of vacant lot to settle it. make one phone call and let them do the rest
You are attempting to avoid the inevitable. YOUR insurance carrier is the carrier for such an occurrence. If you expect the developer to pay, you will need to sue the developer, with evidence that the fallen tree was rotted, AND with evidence that the developer knew the tree was rotted. Without such evidence, the incident is considered ‘an act of god’, and your carrier covers damages. I suspect you have taken a high deductible, and this is your reason for looking for developer coverage.
I’ve been through this and here’s the way it works.
A fallen tree is an act of nature, and your own insurance is liable.
If the tree or trees were rotted, you should have taken action before it fell. To do this you need to contact the owner, by certified mail so you have proof you contacted him, and let him know his trees are rotted/diseased and are a threat to your property. Then and only then are they the owners responsibility.
You need to go to your insurance agency and let them do their job. They should pay you and then they will be the ones to sue the liable party, if there is one. There may not be one, it depends on if you live in an area where it is to be expected or not.