When a Neighbor's Tree Lands on Your Roof

A large limb or a whole trunk from a neighbor's tree can land on your roof in one storm. St. Louis sees this often. A wet spring loosens the ground around old roots, and a summer downburst or a winter ice load can finish the job. The roof damage looks like any other storm damage. The paperwork is different, because more than one insurance company may end up interested in the same tree.

Insurance claim

Your own insurer normally handles your roof first. You report the date and the cause, and the claim opens under your policy, whether or not the tree was on your lot. Write down your claim number and the adjuster's name at the first call, and keep a dated note of every later call.

Your insurer may also look at whether the neighbor was responsible for the tree. This is called subrogation. After paying you, the insurer can pursue the party it believes caused the loss. Whether that works depends on facts that do not show up in roof photos. The main question is whether the neighbor knew, or should have known, that the tree was failing. A leaning trunk the owner had been told about is a different case from a healthy oak that came down in a microburst. Your insurer decides whether to pursue anyone. Your roofer does not.

You may get a call or letter from the neighbor's insurer. Answer politely and keep your statements short. Do not sign a release, a waiver, or a statement about the tree or the damage until you have read it and talked to your own insurer. If the neighbor's carrier asks for your roof file, tell them to request it through your insurer. Missouri law (RSMo 407.725) bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, so your roofer can document the damage, but the claim conversations stay between you and the insurers.

What it costs

Treat the tree and the roof as separate jobs on paper. Removing the trunk and limbs from the roof, the yard, and the driveway is often billed by a tree service. Roof repair is a second line, and it should list what was actually damaged. A falling limb can crack rafters, split sheathing, tear off a section of decking, and bend a gutter or a fascia board. Those items cost more than the shingles, and they are the ones most often missed when the scope is written too quickly.

A written scope should break the roof repair into parts: shingles and underlayment, decking by square footage, any rafter or truss repair, flashing, vents, gutters, and fascia. If a crew says the decking can be checked later, ask when, and ask that the check be written into the scope with a date. Hidden damage found during the tear-off should go in a supplement that you receive in writing before the work continues.

Keys Roofing documents the damage, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands, and attends as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer. Keys Roofing can be reached at (314) 220-2333 if you want to talk through the scope before you decide anything.

What to ask

Before anyone cuts or moves the tree, ask these questions and get the answers in writing:

• Who photographs the tree and the break before it is moved, and will you get those photos?
• Who is responsible for damage the cutting crew causes to the roof, the gutters, or the fence?
• Does the roof scope list decking and rafter repairs as separate lines from the shingles?
• Will the crew keep the failed section of the trunk or the largest limb until you have seen it?
• Who removes the cut wood from the roof, and does the price include the yard and driveway?
• Will you receive the scope, the photos, and the measurements in writing before the tear-off starts?

Keep the section of trunk or the big limb if you can. If it shows rot, a hollow core, or a split that was already there, that is evidence about whether the tree was failing. Your insurer or the neighbor's insurer may want to see it, and a cut section left in the yard for a week is much harder to prove later.

Write to your neighbor as well. A short, dated note saying what fell, where it landed, and what you have done is enough. Ask whether they have a homeowner's policy and the name of the insurer. You are not asking them to admit fault. You are making sure the information reaches the right company without a phone call that nobody writes down.

Once the tree is off and the roof is closed, ask your insurer to confirm in writing that the claim is open, which party it is pursuing, and what the next date on the file is. A tree claim can sit for months while two insurers compare notes, and a dated letter is the thing you will want when the file goes quiet.