FALLEN TREES & WATER LEAKS: Who’s Liable?

What happens when a neighbor’s tree falls across your fence onto your “she-shed?” Or, perhaps the condo unit above yours has a leak that ruins drywall and cabinets in your unit. Who’s responsible? In Florida, the answers are, usually, pretty simple. Mostly, it’s “everyone pays their own share.”

Let’s say your neighbor has a large oak tree that comes down in a storm, crushing your “she-shed” and destroying your fence. Who fixes the damage and removes the tree? For the most part, the answer is: “you do.” More specifically, your insurance company – not your neighbor’s policy – will pay for your damage. This is really a matter of Florida law, more than what is in your insurance policy. Your responsibility begins at your property line, so what happens on your side of that line is your responsibility. So in this case, you (or your insurer) would pay for the damage to your fence and shed, and remove the part of the tree that fell onto your property. Your neighbor’s insurance would take care of the damage that was on their property.

In the case of the condo, it’s usually just as straightforward. Let’s say unit 506, in your high-rise condo building, had a major plumbing leak that damaged the units below. Well, the unit-owner-policy for unit 406 would pay for damage in 406. The policy on unit 306 would pay for that damage, and so on. The master policy would pay for damage that wasn’t clearly within any specific unit, but this coverage would depend, at least in part, on provisions set out in the HOA/condominium documents.

If a property owner is negligent, the rules may change. For instance, in the oak tree example above, let’s assume the oak was dead and rotting, hanging over the neighboring property. You have, repeatedly, warned your neighbor that you believe the tree to be dangerous. In this case, the owner of the dead and dangerous tree would likely be found negligent, in which case the liability portion of their homeowner’s policy would pay for a neighbor’s damage. However, it is very important (if you are the “she-shed”-owning neighbor in this example), that you be able to document the situation by having pictures and copies of certified letters notifying your neighbor of the problem. This is especially true if they didn’t respond to your friendly suggestions to remove the tree. In addition, legally, you can cut any part of the tree that is on your side of the property line. The best suggestion is to talk about the situation with your neighbor before the damage occurs.