2.5 years ago a major storm came through the Spring, TX area and knocked a small limb off a neighbors dead tree (see image below) and it feel through the roof.

Also alarm the house and transfer the monitoring to the new owners when you sell.Lastly, MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE NEIGHBORS!

This is another situation where it is impossible to have an informed opinion without seeing the chain of title, complaint filed by the neighbors and your husband's title policy. 

He told me of somebody we both knew, who used his neighbor as his Qualified Intermediary. 

There is one just down the street from me, and the neighbors don't like it at all.

Anyone else deal with this kind of insanity near a “city-managed” neighbor?

Cops and HOA don't seem to think there is a real issue with these neighbors.

Have you actually spoken to your neighbor about the tree?

They have been saying this since the 1990's when I lived in neighboring Belleville and Newark had the highest per capita crime rate in the Nation.

To me, that says that -- no evidence to the contrary -- he rented out in violation of the town ordinance and (my take) now wants to whine that he got caught.AirBnB and other short term rentals (STR) need to be regulated because they impose externalities on neighbors and deprive local governments of revenue and -- depending on circumstances -- pose unfair competition on local hostelries.