When a Neighbor's Tree Obstructs Your Panorama

Question: My wife and I purchased our home in May 1996 just one lot removed from the Chesapeake Bay. At that time, the view from our master bedroom was wonderful. There were two small trees on the line between the two properties across the street, but neither of them was tall enough to hinder our view. The tree in front, a bay oak, was leaning so badly that I thought whenever someone built a house on that lot it would be taken down. Our great view changed starting about two years ago when the bay oak tree and a pine just behind it started obstructing our view. By this summer, the view was about half blocked.

My wife and I, separately, very nicely asked both of the neighbors if they would consider having the trees professionally trimmed to restore the view we had when we purchased the property, and we would pay for it. They both without hesitation said no, they would not. I even told them that the view was worth at least $20,000 for any potential buyer, and they responded that it wasn't their problem.

We thought we would always have the view and that was one of the big reasons we purchased the home. We never realized that our neighbors would have the right to obstruct our view if they desired.

Do we have any recourse, or do we just have to accept defeat?

Jim and Billie: Neil S. Kessler, a partner specializing in real-estate law at Troutman Sanders LLP, Richmond, Va., tells me that Virginia law doesn't give you a right to keep your old view. He believes your only option would be to try to negotiate a legal agreement called an easement with your neighbor, giving you the right to preserve the view, perhaps in exchange for some kind of payment. But if your neighbors don't want to do a deal, you're probably out of luck.

Sometimes homeowner associations have rules about obstruction of views, so if you are in such an association, you might check the fine print.

The moral of this story is that it's important to establish before you buy a property whether you have any say over how the view will change. Sometimes, it's possible to defend a view. In 1990, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the pop singer Madonna to trim a tree and hedges near her Hollywood Hills home. The judge was ruling on a suit by a neighbor who said the greenery blocked what he considered a million-dollar view. The key to his victory over the Material Girl was that, in buying the home, she had signed an agreement stipulating that the foliage couldn't be allowed to spoil the neighbors' views.

Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com