Q: Is there any rule or County regulation about blocking someone’s view?

My neighbors just planted a row of trees along the back of their lot. They are down hill from me a little bit but those are going to be big trees and will block my view. I don’t want to sue them or anything like that, but I paid more for this house because of the view and it doesn’t seem fair that they can take that away. It will also devalue my property.

A: Unless there is a view covenant in your neighborhood or on your deed that protects your view, you probably have no legal protection. When selling a view property I always tell a prospective buyer that without covenants they have no legal way to protect that view.

I’ve checked, and you are not in an area with covenants or restrictions for view protection. Your neighbors probably have the right to plant anything they want on their property. I can’t give legal advice so you should check with an attorney, but it’s unlikely that you have any case for a lawsuit. To my knowledge there is no County code or regulation that would protect your view.

You might want to simply meet with the neighbor and find out what is motivating them to do this. Maybe they want more privacy or don’t want to look at your place from their property and were hoping that the trees would obscure the view of your house or yard. That could be achieved with different plantings that would grow tall enough to block their view of your house without blocking your view looking out over their house.

You could offer to pay to take out the trees and put in lower growing evergreen shrubs. You might also offer to buy a view easement or covenant from them. That could protect your property for the future. You’d be surprised at what people will agree to if you approach them with an attitude toward mutual benefit and neighborliness.