SURPRISE, AZ — One family in Surprise is dealing with more than just damages brought by the monsoon storm after a tree, taller than their two-story home, came crashing down on their property.
It’s especially devastating for the Fernandez family because they recently remodeled their house and put it on the market in hopes of eventually being able to buy their dream home. Those dreams have come to a halt because of the damages caused by a tree that wasn’t even theirs.
“The memories here. The laughter, the happiness just all turned into sadness and devastation,” said Crystal Fernandez.
Fernandez is still in shock after coming home Friday to extensive damages in their backyard.
“We found a tree that was twice the size of our home toppled over from the neighbors onto our property. Every time a storm, even a little drizzle comes, I’m always worried about this tree,” she added.
Friday night, that fear came true.
She says she has contacted Kinney Management, their HOA, about this issue since 2021 and even showed us documentation to prove it.
“I tried to prevent thousands of dollars worth of damage, however nobody listened to me,” she said as she looked at what used to be a cement barrier wall separating her home from her neighbor’s home.
Now, she is left with thousands of dollars in damages.
“We just invested $70,000 in the landscape alone. Our pool was crystal clear. Now unfortunately it looks like a swamp. An alligator or something may be coming out of it,” said Fernandez, while looking at her pool that is now green and filled with debris.
Then, Saturday afternoon, she says eight men were cutting up the tree but…
“They didn’t have our permission to be here. They didn’t have a work order to be on our property. So essentially, they trespassed and left behind all of this damage. Additional damage to our turf...left this huge mess. It’s an unstable wall. Obviously, you can see that it’s buckling over,” she told ABC15.
The family called police and showed us the police report.
“Eight men were here, and they are going to be trespassed from the property and charged with long-formed for criminal trespass,” she added.
While Fernandez says this is extremely frustrating, she is optimistic everything will be resolved.
“This is just a little hiccup that happened, and I know that we’re such a strong family that together, we’re going to fix this,” said Fernandez.
The Fernandez family has contacted their insurance and will be filing a claim, as they wait for a response from the owner of the property where that tree once stood.
We have also reached out to that property owner and to the HOA but have not heard back.
