In my back yard, which is private access common area, there are 4 60 palm trees that were here before I purchased the unit and may well have been on the property before the development was done. I have been told that I had to remove these trees, at my expense, because some of the branches had fallen on the roof of the complex. They have not done any damage and the shedding of these palm fronds amounts to a branch or to a month. What are my rights? Thanks for any tips on this.

Harry

What does you HOA document say? If only YOU have access to the area, then its not common area. Therefore, I would suspect you are responsible for maintaining the trees.

Actually, there are such things as "exclusive use common areas". The condo I lived in before had that... we had nice patios between our townhomes and garages. They weren't part of what we owned (hence the "common area"), but were considered our personal area (hence the "exclusive use"). As I recall, we were allowed to do pretty much whatever we wanted with the area, so long as any plants visible over the fences looked nice, but we were also responsible for maintaining any trees growing in them. Which meant that the HOA could (and did) require the owners to trim trees. You might want to talk to your board about their concerns. It might not be that the trees are shedding on the roof, but that they are providing access to the condos for rodents. That was one of the reasons that our HOA required the trees be trimmed back from the walls. It's possible that you might be able to arrange for some sort of trimming/maintenance that would be less onerous and expensive than entirely removing the trees.

Hello h:

I hate HOA's. I'd hire an attorney.

excon