Coexistence is never easy, and even less so with neighbors. If you live in a city or town, anyone who has had to live adjacent to other property owners knows that it is not difficult for disputes and quarrels to arise, even over the smallest reason. Among neighbors with adjacent chalets or patios, it is common for discussions to arise about the invasion of plants or trees from one garden to the other.
A tree that grows in an uncontrolled manner can pose a significant risk. Branches that are too large, for example, can collapse and cause damage to people or buildings. Or the roots that destroy the soil will possibly pose a serious problem to the surrounding infrastructure, which may end in collapse. Therefore, it must be solved.
There are many ways to fix the problem, but not all of them are equally effective and, above all, legal. Everyone who has experienced this crossroads has thought the same thing at some point: cut down the tree by their own means. With the help of a ladder and a pruner, everything that the affected person understands to be his property is cut and case closed, right? Well no, there are laws that must be respected.
Specifically article 591 of the Civil Code. This segment ensures that although it is not legal to plant trees near another property, the owner of the vilified property does not have the right to cut the branches autonomously, since it could be denounced by the owner of the property through a civil lawsuit. However, this does not mean that the citizen is unprotected from the negligent gardening of his neighbor, but rather that he must use the relevant legal tools.
How to complain if my neighbor invades my garden with his plants
And to do this, it has article 592, which ensures that “if the branches of some trees extend over an inheritance, gardens or neighboring patios, the owner of these will have the right to demand that they be cut as soon as they extend over his property. “. “
Thus, the affected person may legally demand that his neighbor cut off the excess branches and roots of that tree that clearly and problematically invades the plot that he first owns. Although this is usually solved this way, if the owner of the tree refuses, the affected person may resort to a civil lawsuit against the neighbor to force him by court order.
