Way OT - Quick ? for Mgolawyers out there

Submitted by brendandavis22 on

The storms that just went through my area (Royal Oak) have caused a tree which is not on my  property to snap and land on my roof. It looks like the roof is fine but I have a good size tree on my roof right now.  Who is responsible?

LSAClassOf2000

July 4th, 2012 at 7:37 PM ^

You'll likely do better just to call your insurance company. Most homeowner's policies will cover any damage due to storms and a set  amount of the removal cost.

If it is affecting the electric service to your home right now, we might remove what we need to remove in order to restore your power, but in storm situations, we do not take the debris away and you are still responsible for having the damage assessed by your insurer.

If there is no damage, as a warning, tree removal for a tree of any size can be expensive and it is all on you. 

bronxblue

July 4th, 2012 at 7:40 PM ^

As others have noted, unless you have the neighbor warning to remove the tree and it was a true hazard, you are responsible to remove it. Homeowner insurance should cover it.

XM - Mt 1822

July 4th, 2012 at 7:50 PM ^

Call your agent and let him/her deal with it.  If there is anything to be done as it relates to your neighbor, the insurance company will handle it and you won't have to pay anything.  They call that a 'subro' action, short for subrogation, meaning you assign any cause of action you might have to the insurance company and they take it from there.   You are probably talking less than $5K to remove tree and fix roof (I'm a licensed contractor too, and you're going to want somebody up there quick to make sure you don't have more significant problems up there). 

Incidentally, if it was an old decaying tree, your neighbor would be on notice that it was a hazard and needed to be tended to.  Since fortunately the damage is minimal, it's not that big of a deal.

Happy 4th to the maize and blue faithful