Who is responsible for eliminating a safety issue - new house
Dear All,
I signed a contract to build a new house and the house is going to be closed in two months. However I noticed a safety issue a couple weeks ago and requested the builder to solve the issue. However the builder refused my request. Here is a brief description of the situation:
There is a very tall dead tree (over 30 feet), less than 10 feet away from the new house, which is inclined about 60 degree and rests on another tree on its branches. The dead tree may fall and hit the house or people nearby any time, i.e. in strong wind weather or when the supporting branches become weak enough and unable to support the trees due to decay.
I raised this issue to the realtor agent and ask him to pass my request to the builder to get the tree down before the closing. The builder replied recently with an excuse that the tree is located in a protected area and the builder can't touch anything in that area. I then contacted the forest department of the city and the city said that the land belongs to the builder and the builder is responsible to eliminate the safety issue. I asked the agent to pass the city's reply to the builder and the builder simply ignore the city's reply and still insisted his excuse.
I would appreciate very much for any suggestion/advice on whether the builder has legal responsibility to fix the issue before the closing and how to solve this issue.
Huge thanks.