Homeowner Says Three Dead Ash Trees Were Trapped Between Two Fences, Then a Property-Line Question Turned a Simple Removal Into a Neighborhood Mystery
A homeowner shared his story about buying a house during winter and discovering three enormous dead ash trees when spring finally arrived. The trees stood in the narrow strip between his fence and his neighbor’s fence, making it impossible to tell at first glance who was supposed to deal with them. What looked like a straightforward gardening problem quickly became a much bigger question about property lines, utility wires, and an increasingly dangerous backyard.
The trees were roughly thirty feet tall, completely bare, and looked considerably less charming than the healthy trees elsewhere in the yard. Every windy afternoon made their branches creak and sway over the fences like they were auditioning for a disaster movie. The homeowner knew he needed answers before one of them decided to fall on its own.
The Fence Wasn’t the Answer
His first instinct was to assume the fences marked the exact boundary between the two properties. That seemed logical until he realized the trees were sitting in the strange strip of land between the two fences rather than clearly inside either yard. Suddenly, the question wasn’t simply who would pay for removal but whether either homeowner actually owned the land underneath the trees.
A response from a person pointed out that fences do not necessarily establish the legal property line. That suggestion changed the homeowner’s entire approach because guessing could leave him responsible for a very expensive mistake. Instead of reaching for a chainsaw, he began thinking about paperwork and property records.
The Surveyor Entered the Story
The first serious recommendation was surprisingly simple: hire a professional surveyor. A survey could establish exactly where the property boundaries were and whether the trees belonged to one homeowner, the other, or potentially both. For the homeowner, that sounded far less exciting than gardening but considerably safer than arguing over a thirty-foot dead tree.
Another response from a person suggested that existing survey markers or monuments might already provide the answer. If those markers could be located, the homeowners might not need to start from scratch. Until then, however, every assumption about ownership was little more than a guess.
Then Someone Mentioned an Alley
One person noticed something unusual about the arrangement of the fences and utility lines. If both fences were parallel and a narrow strip ran between them, the area could potentially function as an alley or access corridor rather than ordinary private yard space. That possibility suddenly made the mysterious strip of land much more interesting.
The homeowner had never thought of the space that way because it had always looked like an awkward piece of ground that nobody used. Now the trees were sitting in what might be public land or an area covered by a utility access agreement. The garden mystery had officially escaped the backyard.
The Power Lines Made Everything Worse
Several utility lines ran through the same general area as the dead trees, and one of the trees appeared to lean toward a utility pole. That detail transformed the situation from an expensive landscaping job into a potential safety issue. Nobody wanted a dead ash tree crashing onto electrical equipment during the next storm.
A response from a person recommended contacting the power company and asking whether the lines or the surrounding strip were covered by an easement. If the utility company had rights over the area, it might also have procedures for handling trees that threatened its equipment. The homeowner decided this was one phone call he definitely couldn’t avoid.
The First Call Went Nowhere
The homeowner explained that he had already contacted the utility company months earlier. Someone had reportedly said that they would inspect the trees during spring or summer, but the seasons changed while the trees remained standing. By September, the homeowner was beginning to wonder whether his dangerous trees had simply been placed on an eternal waiting list.
He didn’t particularly enjoy being aggressive with customer-service workers, so he had been reluctant to keep calling. A response from a person convinced him that being polite and being persistent were not mutually exclusive. If the trees were genuinely threatening the power lines, he figured it was better to make the danger unmistakably clear.
The Utility Company Had Its Own Definition
Another person shared a story about repeatedly reporting a dead tree that was getting dangerously close to a power line. For years, the utility company apparently considered the problem outside its responsibility until the vegetation actually reached the line. That story gave the homeowner a frustrating glimpse of how differently customers and utility companies can view the same tree.
From the ground, a large dead branch leaning toward electrical infrastructure looked like an obvious emergency. From the utility company’s perspective, responsibility could depend on the exact location of the tree, the type of line involved, and the company’s maintenance rules. The homeowner realized that simply saying “the tree is near the wires” might not be enough.
Dead Ash Trees Were a Different Beast
Then came another warning that made the homeowner reconsider doing anything himself. A response from a person explained that removing large dead ash trees can be particularly unpleasant because the wood can be heavy and unpredictable. Standing dead trees also have a reputation for making even experienced people respect them from a considerable distance.
The homeowner had originally imagined that removing the trees might be a matter of renting equipment and spending a weekend outside. Now that idea seemed considerably less heroic and considerably more foolish. Between the height, decay, fences, and power lines, this was starting to look like a professional tree-removal job.
Emerald Ash Borer Complicated the Calendar
The trees had apparently died because of emerald ash borer, adding another complication to the removal process. The homeowner believed there could be seasonal restrictions concerning when infected ash trees could be cut or transported. That meant even identifying the owner might not immediately solve the problem.
He started wondering whether the safest time to remove the trees was determined by local rules rather than convenience. A gardening project that began with three dead trees had somehow acquired a surveyor, a utility company, a possible easement, and a pest-management schedule. His backyard was beginning to feel less like a garden and more like a municipal planning meeting.
The Neighbor Had a Different Option
One response from a person suggested an easier possibility if both homeowners were willing to cooperate. If the trees genuinely sat on the boundary, the two neighbors could potentially agree to share the removal cost rather than spend money fighting over ownership. That idea appealed to the homeowner because a shared bill sounded much better than a shared lawsuit.
The problem was that nobody yet knew whether the trees actually belonged to both properties. Paying half could be reasonable if the trees were jointly situated, but it could also mean voluntarily accepting responsibility for something that wasn’t his. Before opening his wallet, the homeowner wanted the boundary question answered.
The Trees Became a Race Against Time
Every week the trees remained standing made the homeowner more nervous. Their branches were already dead, their trunks were large, and the utility lines remained nearby. Even without a major storm, the possibility of a branch dropping onto a fence or neighboring property was enough to keep him checking the trees whenever the wind picked up.
He began photographing the trees and documenting their condition. That wasn’t particularly glamorous gardening, but it gave him a record of what the property looked like before any work began. More importantly, it helped him organize the problem instead of simply staring at the trees and wondering what to do next.
The Property Records Revealed Something Strange
Eventually, the investigation shifted from the garden itself to the documents connected to the property. The homeowner learned that the fences were not necessarily positioned exactly on the legal boundary and that the narrow strip deserved closer examination. Suddenly, the strange gap between the fences didn’t look accidental anymore.
There was a possibility that the strip existed specifically to provide access for utilities or other purposes. If that were true, the homeowner and his neighbor might not have been the only people with an interest in what happened there. The three dead trees had been sitting in plain sight while hiding a surprisingly complicated ownership question.
Everyone Had Been Looking at the Wrong Thing
The biggest realization came when the homeowner understood that the question wasn’t really “Who owns the trees?” The first question was “Who owns the ground where the trees are growing?” Once that was established, the next questions involved utility rights, tree-removal responsibilities, local regulations, and professional safety requirements.
A response from a person had essentially suggested starting at the beginning instead of jumping straight to cutting. That advice suddenly made perfect sense because every shortcut could create another problem. The homeowner wasn’t dealing with three ordinary garden trees; he was dealing with three dead trees sitting at the intersection of property, utilities, and safety.
The Twist Was Under the Trees
The homeowner had spent months staring upward at the dead branches, convinced the answer was somewhere in the canopy. Instead, the real mystery was underneath his feet, where the property boundary and possible access rights determined who could legally make decisions about the trees. The trees hadn’t merely died from an invasive pest; they had become tangled in a completely different kind of garden problem.
In the end, the safest path was to establish the property line first, contact the utility company about the nearby lines and any easement, and use a qualified tree professional for removal if the trees were determined to be his responsibility. The homeowner had wanted a simple answer about who should pay, but the garden gave him something more complicated. Sometimes the most troublesome thing growing in a yard isn’t the tree itself, it’s the mystery surrounding who owns it.
