You know you’ve been tempted. You see a ripe piece of fruit hanging from a tree on someone else’s property, you long to pluck it from the plant and taste the goods.
But behind the allure of that sweet, delicious flavor lies a legal question: Who owns the fruit hanging over a public space—or your own private property? In many New York City communities, ordinances struggle to balance property rights and public access, raising questions about where admiration ends and appropriation begins.
Many are unaware that the simple act of picking a flower petal, apple or cherry can land them in legal hot water. That’s right. Unless you own the tree, picking the fruit, regardless of the location of the branches, can be considered theft.
The Los Angeles Times recently investigated this topic via a survey, receiving responses from 855 readers with passionate opinions. Here are their questions and their responses — and what the law actually says:
When is it okay to pick fruit from someone else’s tree, bush, or vine?
According to the New York State Urban Forestry Council, overhanging branches and the fruit on them are the property of the tree owner. Of course, you have the right to prune branches and limbs that extend over your property line, but picking overhanging fruit is a different story.
On the one hand, collecting the growing fruit that will inevitably land on your property will save you the delayed burden of having to collect rotten, fallen fruit from the ground. On the other hand, it is a safer choice to ask your neighbor to prune the fruit tree or to ask your neighbor to collect the fruit from the plant before it becomes a problem.
The general feedback from the Los Angeles Times survey indicated that it is acceptable to pick fruit from someone else’s tree, as long as the fruit can be accessed without having to enter the owner’s property or trespass:
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50% thought it was fine if the branches hung in the public street or on the sidewalk or could come down.
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49% found it acceptable if the branches hung over their own garden.
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34% find it acceptable if the fruit hangs in a public alley and is easily accessible.
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19% indicated that it was never okay.
Is it okay to pick up fallen fruit from someone else’s tree?
Whether it’s acceptable to eat an apple that fell from someone else’s tree is often debated on Reddit and online legal advice forums such as Avvo.
“If I allegedly continue to pick fruit that grows over the fence in my backyard from a tree planted in my neighbor’s yard, am I within my legal rights?” one user on Avvo asked in 2016.
Five attorneys responded, all agreeing that it was legal to take the fruit. It should also be noted that fallen fruit has little value and the owner of the tree is unlikely to be able to retrieve it without infringing.
That said, if you don’t check your tree daily, you probably don’t know how long the fruit has been on the ground.
A Los Angeles Times poll found that most respondents agreed that it is acceptable to pick up fallen fruit unless it is in a trespassing area and under certain circumstances:
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62% find it acceptable if the fruit falls in their own garden.
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51% if the fruit is on the public road or in the gutter.
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30% if the fruit has fallen on the ground under the tree, but is easily accessible from the public road or sidewalk.
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8% said never.
What would you do with a tree full of fruit that no one harvests?
Few people would suggest bringing a ladder and bucket to get fruit from someone else’s tree — and people generally recommend asking before you pick. Here’s what respondents said they would do in the Los Angeles Times survey:
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60% would knock on the door and ask for permission.
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28% would not eat anything from the tree at all without a sign saying the fruit is on offer.
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21% would only take a few pieces of fruit that are easily accessible.
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11% would take whatever they could get.
What about tree maintenance in New York?
In New York, a property owner is responsible for all trees on his property — specifically, trees whose trunks are on his property. Ownership of the tree depends on where the trunk of the tree is located, regardless of where the branches are located.
If a tree trunk is on a property line — sometimes called a “boundary tree” — that tree may be owned by both homeowners, based on the percentage of the tree that is on each lot. Insurance companies sometimes use those percentages to determine who is liable if a tree falls and causes damage to the property.
That percentage also applies to the fruit on each fruiting border tree. Since the tree is jointly owned, so is the fruit. The tree owners must draw up a plan on how they will divide the fruit.
A homeowner is allowed to remove branches that overhang their property — up to the property line, even without the tree owner’s permission. However, the law also states that if a homeowner cuts branches off a tree and it damages the overall health of the tree, that person may be liable and may have to pay to replace the tree. Some trees can cost hundreds or even thousands to replace, and the liability can sometimes be more than the actual value of the tree.
And as for all the leaves that blow from the neighbor’s tree onto your property: sorry, you’ll have to clean those up.
Contributor: USA Today Network Reporter Brandi Addison
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Is it legal to pick fruit from a neighbor’s garden? What NY law says
