I’m with you on the HOA overstepping… but pine trees have shallow roots. My parent’s pine tree fell and was about a foot from crushing their house. Your house is probably safer with it down.

Lawyer and arborist, call them now. Dollars to donuts your tree was poisoned, the arborist can figure that out. The lawyer is for the trespassing and possibly tree damage/removal/replacement costs. There is meta data in digital photos so whomever took the snap left id traces.

HOAs suck. Be advised however that the lawyers who write those HOA Declarations always include verbiage that gives them right of entry for inspection, investigating complaints and to cure violations if necessary. I don't like it, I think it's BS but it is what it is.

Keep in mind that the HOA is not the police. Unless they asked or authorized the person who took the picture to enter your property they have no blame in this. Sounds like a pissy neighbor took it upon themselves to trespass and take the picture to send to the board, board isn't going to investigate context, they're going to see a dead tree and act accordingly.

Ask them for the original picture, look up any exif data left intact and contact the police to have them officially trespassed from your property.

You may have given them permission to enter your property in the bylaws you signed when you bought the property. I used to live in an HOA neighborhood who did yearly inspections. The inspectors did and do go into peoples back yard looking for violations. We had some federal agents who lived in the neighborhood that would be furious that the HOA had more power than they did.

I was always annoyed that they would crawl through my back yard. If you can’t see it from the street and my neighbor who can see it isn’t complaining, why do you care?

I’m currently in the middle of what I believe to be a a dispute with a neighboring HOA about privacy trees on my property (not part of the HOA).

What is it about HOAs that makes their members feel entitled to other people’s property?

“Now anyone who knows pine trees knows those things can stay up for a decade dead, so I merely rolled my eyes but decided to take care of because it needed to be taken care of.”

I laughed pretty hard reading this, especially after reading that it was termite damage, meaning a top heavy tree with already shallow roots is now decaying from the inside out. In the last decade two insurance companies in my area have filed for bankruptcy after “once in a decade” storms due to so many pines being down and through peoples roofs. It’s to the point that insurance companies won’t insure any houses with pines within a certain distance of a building. SO yeah. Don’t worry about that pine. It’s fine.

File a police report. If you live in a small jurisdiction, the police might make an inquiry. You can also raise the issue at your next HOA meeting. Cite that the HOA is creating trespassers by proxy and demand formal language prohibiting future behavior.

Any chance they took a picture of it with a drone?

Bernadette is ok, but I don't like that Vince guy!

First it’s only trespassing if you have trespassed them. Ie told them they can’t come, or have signs up.

Second, MOST HOAs have in their charter the ability for board members or designees to enter property (obv not structures) for these purposes.

I am not advocating for this - simply saying it exists. They have capitulated precisely because you have now notified them of said trespass.

OP Your not in RP are you? There’s a busy body in my HOA named Bernadette also.

Also, this is the point where you say, “since you aren’t being forthcoming about who came onto my property, I will report every board member to the police for trespassing. I’m sure the police will be more than happy to sort this out.”

And yes, you are going to report this to the police. Since you still don’t have confirmation of who was on your property.

And cameras.

Good luck.

I would get the most powerful garden watering sprinklers money can buy, and connect it to cameras that detect human presence. That footage would be hillarious!

Had a neighbor leave up pine trees even though my next door neighbor told him they had to go down (expert). Learned from my own insurance his could refuse a claim if they found out he knew they were dead. One went down (thankfully within his own yard and not in mine or my next door neighbors yard) and took the rest down asap. He's a good guy, he and his wife do a lot of good deeds in the neighborhood.

I’m an HOA manager. Been doing this eleven years both as an on-site and portfolio. Your neighbors may submit a photo of a violation but as a manager, we/they should never go on a homeowners property unless they were dropping something off, like a key or fob. I’ve been accused of this numerous times. Nope! Don’t point the finger at management. I will not leave my vehicle (most won’t) because it’s not our property and the governing docs usually state it has to be visible from the street. I’ve also been threatened, my vehicle almost rammed, screamed at…yeah, a good picture of a dead tree, an unpainted deck, or unstored trash is not worth getting shot at. Some HOA boards get overzealous but it is still your property and no one has a right to enter it. If you have a mgmt company, remind them that if you find a board member on your property, you will take action. If you have a portal to make requests and it is visible to the board, post it there so they’re on notice not to approach your property.

File a police report. Then sue the HoA for trespassing. Sue each individual board member as well as the HoA since whoever trespassed was operating under the authority of the board.

Get a restraining order since you now feel unsafe.

HOA's are a bigger pain than they are worth. Trespassing is the least of your worries.

Tresspassing is best handled by police. HOA can't do much more than what they said they would do, by relating the message.

I had a love/hate relationship with HOAs. The neighborhood I used to live in did maintain the green space areas well. However, I couldn’t stand them as the HOA had a bunch of old farts with nothing better to do looking for violations. They tried to fine me for a shed I put in my backyard that was behind a tree, not visible from the street. Didn’t matter as I ended up getting divorced, so left that issue to the ex.

I’ve sat in on a few meetings where pictures were produced of violations and the property own complained the only way that they could have been taking is someone from the HOA trespassing

FUHOA

The thing with pine trees, or any tree that dies, the time to take it down is when they are alive.

It is difficult to get a tree climber into a dead tree. Because it becomes much more dangerous.

And then you have to either use a crane, or hope there's a spot where you can fell the tree.

Not to mention a dead tree would drop branches, possibly large ones, and if they hit somebody they could kill them.

There's no reason to have a big tall tree that is dead in your yard.

Why don’t you insist that they tell you who provided the photo since it is evidence of a crime that was committed?

I would find out who the law firm that represents the HOA is and file a complaint with them. let them know what they’re doing and the liability the HOA board members are getting into. this is why insurance is so high, you’re paying for your HOA board members to have liability insurance. raise hell with anyone who votes as to “this is why we pay so much, so they can illegally trespass and be protected while doing it”. get them run out. they hate that

Check with your CCR foundation documents that you should have received before closing.

In most cases, you signed to allow the HOA manager and ARB/BAR the ability to enter your property for legitimate reasons related to HOA regulations.

Another odd thing to consider is that in states that value common law, a person might be allowed to traverse your property without causing damage, if the individual is just moving from one place to another. The concept does not necessarily allow someone to open your gate, and depends on how states regulate the idea.

I am sorry about the inconvenience and aggravation you experienced. I don't know what's worse, an activist board of directors or an activist management company. They are both annoying.

I'm the former president of a board of directors for a large HOA, and I can't even begin to tell you all the things that people did wrong on all sides. We often had arguments about having to replace trees that had died.

better yet insist on their name and let the police tell them

Would personally never consider living in a hoa community.

Google exif viewer and see if the photo has the metadata still in it. That would tell you the model of camera, gps location, etc. a lot of modern computing platforms will strip this out though when sending the photos around

Call the cops. Make this fun

Hey OP!! Can I share this HOA rating anonymously on RottenHOAs?

not siding either way but since you've taken the tree down and maybe made the hoa happy why not just move on and not get into it with the hoa? i've learned the last thing i want to do is get on the wrong side of my hoa. but, you do you i guess.