Ok first, to keep the size down of the two trees, we have done trimming that makes the tree grow more shrub like in nature. When I got the trees, the person who had them seriously neglected them, in 1 gallon pots. He said they were 5 years old. They were slightly bigger than a sapling.
We have a property manager. The owner rides his bike or walks thru a couple times a day. I live in a very, very small central coast inland farming town. His family as well as the person I bought the MH from grew up here, and pardon me, but have deep roots. He has bought up as much as he could land and structure wise.
This park used to have some gorgeous trees. He has taken them out one at a time. Last one or two were taken out today. One was a palm that he had transformed into a bench, with not so nice results. The tree before that was two doors down, a beautiful quaking aspen. He cut the tree down, leaving a 6ft tall stump in her front yard. Needless to say she was not happy.
First he says because of the sewer lines and the concrete. We have no sidewalks and the sewer is not near the trees.
Then he says its because it will interfere with the sewer lines in back.
He is becoming inconsistent, and he is about 80 years old.
Ironically enough my husbands dad and step mom both work for the forest service, he is retired, she isnt. I will talk to them and see what they say.
Thank you for you viewpoint and ideas, I really appreciate you replying!
Your flogging a dead horse unless you can change your park owners mind.
It does sound like he simply wants to get rid of what he considers nuisance trees. Unfortunately your fight will be after the fact unless you can convince him otherwise.
I doubt your tree hugging, granola munchers will be of much help.
2stones, unfortunately as Greg pointed out, your lease looks pretty black and white and there’s nothing you can do to stop the tree removal.
Your best bet is to use persuasion and be nice. I would approach the owner when he isn’t too busy, and ask if he has a few minutes. I’d explain why you care so much about the trees, and how much they mean to you. I’d also ask him if there’s potentially any compromise (ex maybe you promise in writing to repair any sewer damage that were to happen on your lot?). I’m emphasize how much you appreciate living in the community, and how it feels like home, and how much you’d appreciate any accommodations or consideration he can lend.
The above might not work, but it’s probably your best shot.
Appreciate you taking time to reply. Your comment regarding tree hugging and granola is not. I seriously do not care to have my relatives called such. As well as this extremely rude.
The main reason we remove trees in parks is because the roots clog the sewers. This is a big problem. Pine trees are some of the worst offenders. I don’t know the details about their tap roots, etc, but I can tell you I’ve personally seen pine roots travel 30’ or more and form a ball of roots that completely obstructs the sewer line.
Welcome. I am with you on contacting every single environmental group you can to save those trees. Trees add economic and aesthetic value to property. They add privacy, and oxygen. They stop soil erosion, and mitigate flooding. They suck up Co2. It’s disturbing to remove all the trees, especially when they are maintained, not near concrete, buildings, nor sewer lines, and are healthy. What purpose is there to destroy such a good benefit?
If you want to message me with your county, we can work on who to contact. I am a multi decades long environmentalist. I agree, the disparaging cracks and name calling are unacceptable, and non welcoming.
All of the benefits of trees can easily be achieved by planting them somewhere that they do not pose a risk to a communities infrastructure. A large tree is a definite risk in a small yard and in this situation, regrettably, was probably a bad decision in the first place.
I understand where you are coming from as a long term tenant in a park and planted trees that you enjoy. But as a park owner, trees near mobile homes or utility lines or anywhere on the tenant’s lot are a problem. This creates a problem because legally we need to treat all tenants pretty much the same and usually have the same lease and rules for everyone. You might have pine trees, someone else might have oak trees. In Texas, the landowner owns the trees and needs to maintain the trees and keep them from touching tenant’s homes. I have tenants that planted trees near their homes and away from their homes that do not maintain them. I have tenants that planted trees and have lived there so long that they think they have landowner rights to those trees they planted and do not want me touching “their” trees regardless of where it is located. Nor do they want to hire professionals to maintain “their” trees and haul out those branches at their expense instead of randomly overflowing “my” garbage dumpster preventing the city from being able to empty it until I hire someone to remove the large limbs and dispose of them myself. Nor do they want to pay for an additional liability policy to cover any injuries that may result from them trimming trees on my property. I have tenants that will hire professionals but believe it is actually my responsibility to maintain the trees on my property and I must reimburse them for the costs and they have a fair point. I have tenants that might circumvent the rule to hire professionals and covertly attempt to maintain the trees they did or did not plant and could get hurt in the process which is a liability issue for me either way. I have tenants that complain that the trees in the lot next to them are interrupting their satellite service or they are allergic to them. I have tenants that believe I am responsible for removal of the leaves that fall from MY trees onto their lot or into their gutters. I have tenants that did not plant the trees but the trees were planted too close to the house by the person that they bought the home from that failed to maintain “their” trees and now those trees grow over the homes and can not be affordably trimmed without removing the mobile home, yet they want it done anyway. I’ve had trees on one lot fall onto the home in the next lot due to a storm and the tenant is upset that I allowed them to have a large tree close to their home when they have no trees and were not allowed to plant any new trees. It is hard to have a consistent tree policy in the park rules applied fairly to all lots that keeps everyone happy, safe, and my liability and costs under control.
So, In my lease, I have language that states that tenants take the lot “as is” and agree to hire professional tree services at their expense to maintain, or remove if they want, all trees on their lot at any time before I do. I view it similar to they need to maintain the pipes and wires going from the main line into their homes by hiring licensed professionals at their expense. I also hire a landscaper to go in and trim all trees as much as possible regardless of who planted it or where it is or how much someone loves it, which costs me a lot of money and is a week of hell every year as half the park complains I trimmed their trees and the other half is glad I finally trimmed their trees and a few are upset that there are still trees. Whenever a home moves out, I go in and remove all trees before moving a new one in. No new trees may be planted. Sad I know, but in the end its liability and expense that the neither the landowner or the tenant(s) actually want to pay for.
So if you want to hire a professional tree service or buy a liability policy and maintain the trees yourself and be responsible for removal of all debris either way, you might convince him to let you keep the trees on your lot. If you don’t feel like paying $500 - $1000 a year directly for the growing trees on your lot or a similar amount of increased lot rent resulting from getting your landlord engaged in an environmental dispute that will be passed along to you as well as the cost of tree maintenance, then I suggest you let the trees go peacefully or look into the joys of landownership with ever increasing regulation, taxation, and insurance costs in a litigious society. I completely understand where the Park owner is coming from and I hope you do now as well, but it is still always sad to see mature trees of all types be removed.
Texas MHP You have written an excellent post about why trees are a problem for mobile home park landowners. I can’t thank you enough for clearly posting all the issues.
I truly appreciate your response! It came down to either my husband remove them or he was having a tree service come in and do it today. So right now my husband is cutting them down.
I would also like to mention when we got the two pines, they were 4 yrs old and been living in a one gallon pot and severely stunted. They have grown, but not like they should of.
Sad day here, almost like loosing a family member.
Thank you Shamrock
I completely understand all of this. Our park owner agree to let them be planted, agreed that should they become an issue, we would remove them.
They do, well did not, pose a single problem in any way.
I appreciate your response, it was informative and educational.
Let me say the park owner’s sister also lives here. He went and hacked down her palm tree the other day that she got from a student 29 years ago. Not one word to his own sister. She is heartbroken.
Any ways, hubby is currently removing them.
I wish all park owners would explain things like you have.
Thank you so much for answering my question, hopefully it will save some one else the heart ache.
Is it your role here to be rude and judgemental? Or is that just you being you? I treat others as they treat me, but I am not the kind of person to be like how you present yourself to others here. I dont see the point or reason. If you wish to keep that up, please stay off my post. Thank you!
I state things exactly as I see them, I do not waste words sugar coating with unnecessary emotions on a forum. That can be interpreted as rude.
As for being judgemental, yes I am.
Yes, it IS like losing a family member. My heart goes out to you and your husband. It must have been so difficult for him to cut it down. Tell him he was much stronger than I would have been.
