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I was doing some gardening preparing for the fence company put in our fence this upcoming Wednesday (everything already purchased for this day) and I noticed my neighbor just installed a sprinkler head on my property. The installation was very fresh (done within a week). I'm not sure where the pipes are and didn't check if there were other heads installed.
We already have a fence permit approved for our property line, which we have confirmed with a survey from last December 2015 when we purchased the house. The neighbor has only been living there for about 2 1/2 years. The reason they think it's their property is because the original owner of our house had a basic split rail fence that wasn't installed straight. Nonetheless, it is still our property and we obviously aren't just going to give up the land, which is 3 feet.
Any advice on how to proceed?
Are there any legal implications (I live in NY)?
**I also apologize if I'm posting this in the wrong place
Last edited by SoldataForte; 05-06-2016 at 07:21 PM..
Reason: new info
Put yourself in the shoes of your neighbor. How would you like to be treated?
Take the survey and permit and knock on their door. Tell them you *are* having a fence installed on Wednesday to fit your property line and let them know that they have a sprinkler head over the line. You don't want your side watered, nor a flood in your yard if it's broken during the fence installation and would like them to resolve it by Wednesday.
It's a trivial mater to shorten a sprinkler line if it's the end of a run. Slightly less trivial if it's in the middle, but still necessary.
I'm dealing with a property issue right now too... neighbor cut down 70' long, 6~8' deep worth of 40' screen because they followed a per-existing fence (that was clearly put up so the screen could be retained). The law is VERY clearly on the side of the property owner. I can't get my neighbor (it's a rental) to answer his phone, so it's off to court we go. Not the course I want, but I'm also not going to just take it lying down (screen blocked not only his noisy and obnoxious renters, but a main highway ~ both of which are situated 6' above my yard level thanks to living on a hill).
Good luck, hopefully your neighbor will be more accommodating. Just don't BLAME, remember what it'd be like if the roles were reversed. It's most likely an Honest mistake, give them the chance to make it right.
We definitely don't blame them and we know they didn't do it on purpose. I would've thought the same thing if I saw the fence. It's just unfortunate the fence was originally put in incorrectly because now they have to worry about paying to move things. This is just the first time I've ever dealt with something like this so I wasn't even sure how to proceed. We have a good rapport with the rest of our neighbors on the street, but never really talked to them next door.
We made a copy of the survey and talked to them today. They're going to try to get someone by Wednesday to fix it and if not they said they'll just turn the head towards our property so it doesn't flood on our fence. The only issue we're worried about is if the pipes are in the way, but hopefully they'll speak to someone ahead of time to at least check that out. We left the copy of the survey with them for their reference.
It’s a shame that your neighbors aren’t more helpful like mine were. Though shouldn’t the landlord intervene? It’s ultimately his/her property right? I wouldn’t take it either though. It’s always a shame when things have to head to court. Good luck!
Instead of turning the head, why not just ask them to install a riser cap (pipe that replaces sprinkler but is capped so no water exits the pipe)? This way it will not bother what you are doing. As for the underground pipes, if this was just done in the last week and its standard sprinkler piping, you should see where the pipes were installed as the ground should still show signs of disturbance. You can also have them dig down and expose the pipe to see the orientation of the pipe. Honestly, it's not that big a deal to resolve unless the pipe is running where you need to dig for the fence post; but nothing a hour of work can identify.
It doesn't really matter if the old fence was wrong. The contractor who installed the irrigation system is responsible for moving it to the correct setbacks from the property line since they were supposed to pull a permit to do so. Your fence project is on hold until that is done, as I strongly doubt your contractor wants to take responsibility for cutting the irrigation line with a post hole digger.
I’ve Installed Pavers in my driveway and my neighbor installed sprinklers on my property line which they wet up my car and has damaged my new driveway pavers I asked if he could turn his system off about 3 days until they set he came to me rude, so a few days ago I had my pavers sealed which I’m sure he heard the guys working and heard machines he normally has them set for 3 days Monday, wed. & sat., he had them on everyday didn’t give my sealer time to dry now it’s milky in my pavers cracks, now I have no choice but to put up brick fence to stop my car paint from getting damage and my pavers more damaged
Be sure to collect your thoughts before you start, speak slowly and clearly using sentences when you do!
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