Professor Richard M. Alderman, Associate Dean at the University of
Houston Law Center, who is known to many as "The People's Lawyer", answers your most common questions. If you have a question pertaining to the law in Texas, please e-mail Richard at peopleslawyer@www.law.uh.edu. This page answers your questions on Property Rights
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A. Probably not. Generally, you cannot force someone to pay you for your services by performing without their consent.
You may want to contact the city and see if they can force the owner to clean it. The property may be in violation of a city regulation.
Q. My family bought some land in 1919. The seller retained the mineral rights. Nothing has been mined on the land since it was purchased. Does the seller still have rights to the minerals?
A. Yes. Mineral rights cannot be abandoned. The seller retains those rights and can sell them or transfer them to others, even if he never asserts his rights.
Q. My next door neighbor's tree limbs hang over my driveway, low enough to hit my car. He has refused to cut them. I told him I would cut them, and he said he would sue. Do I have a legal right to cut the branches that hang over my property?
A. You ask a very difficult question. From a legal standpoint you probably do not have the right to cut your neighbor's tree. If you did, and damaged it, you could be responsible.
On the other hand, your neighbor is responsible for damage to your car if he negligently lets his trees damage your property.
I suggest you speak with your neighbor one more time and let him know that you are concerned that the branches will damage your car. If he still refuses to cut the branches, or let you cut them, you have a difficult choice. You can either wait until there is damage to your car and sue, or you can cut the branches and hope that you do not do any other damage to the tree. Hopefully, neither option will be necessary and you can resolve the problem by speaking with your neighbor.