My neighbor was fined $13,000 for destroying my property – he now faces a $1m bill because he ‘wanted a better view’

A HOMEOWNER was fined $13,000 for destroying his neighbor’s property, however, local prosecutors say the damages could exceed $1 million.

Samih Shinway had more than a dozen trees on his property hacked off last year after his neighbor apparently wanted a better view.

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The neighbor, Grant Haber, was hit with a 13,000 fine for doing the job without a permit, however, he might have to shell out more money to replace and care for the trees.

Haber, a security exec from Kinnelon, New Jersey cut a deal with a judge to only be fined for 18 of the 32 trees that he had a contractor knock down last March.

If it were not for the deal, Haber would have faced a $32,000 fine and a trespassing charge.

He allegedly cleared the forest to get a better view of the New York City skyline from his five-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion, reported The Daily Record.

Haber eventually sold his home last November for $1.8 million – $500,000 more than what he paid for in 2014.

Meanwhile, Shinway said he’s “never going to be 100% satisfied.”

“I always use the analogy that if you hire someone to put a hit out on somebody, they are just as liable as the person who did it,” he said in a court hearing.

Shinway claimed some of the slashed trees were around 150 years old.

“I saw a landscape truck, a dump truck-style truck, with a big, large shredder, and four landscape contractors on my property,” he told the New York Post back in June.

After meeting with the contractors Haber hired, Shinway said he contacted local authorities, who told the workers to “cease and desist.”

“It breaks my heart. It angers me,” he said at the time. “These trees take a very long time to grow.”

A local town ordinance requires anyone who removes a tree to replace it with another of like or superior species.

Shinway said that restoring the green space won’t be easy as it will involve the construction of a roadway to the area, removal of invasive species, and years of watering.

The story went viral after a friend of Shinway’s posted a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, detailing Haber’s actions.

“A friend who is a municipal arborist just called to tell me about a guy who cut down 32 big mature trees on his neighbor’s NJ property to get a better view of NYC,” wrote user @SamAsIAm.

“He hired a guy who hired another guy. Cut them down and left the debris there,” the thread continued.

“I hope whoever this ass is he can’t pay and they lien and sell his property, the value of which he probably figured would be increased so much a $32k fine was worth it, to cover the cost.”

The thread has more than 4.2 million views at the time of writing.

A judge in Morris County will decide how much restitution Haber owes at a hearing scheduled for April 19.

Haber told the court on Monday that he would pay the fine within 30 days.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Haber and his lawyers for comment.

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