Community associations in D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Delaware regularly face legal and practical issues related to tree encroachment and fallen trees. This article explores the laws as they relate to those issues in each of the respective jurisdictions when amicable resolutions between neighbors fail to provide a solution.

When a pipe bursts in a single-family home, the fallout is typically confined to the owner, the insurer, and perhaps the plumber. In a condominium, that identical pipe failure can set off a chain reaction of obligations that pull in the board of directors, managers, insurance carriers, neighboring owners, and sometimes counsel and the courts. Because condominiums are defined by shared walls, ownership and responsibilities, even a seemingly isolated casualty becomes everyone’s business. In this setting, there is no such thing as a purely “unit-to-unit” problem, as every incident is, by design, the business of the association.