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A guy I know claimed he lost 1 acre from his half mile ( 80 acres) when his new neighbot had the land surveyed.
( probable value of that acre would be $2500 maximum)
He hired his own surveyor------results were the same.
He hired a lawyer and took it to court under" adverse possession"
The judge ordered a compromise be reached-------he got back the 1 acre and signed a waiver to not contest the house that was being built too close to the old property line.
Yup, he won ( sarc)
He stated he got back his old acre ($2500 value) and it only cost him $13,200 to accomplish it.
This is a terrific debate. To clarify, the house is currently unoccupied and has been for several years. The current owner is critically ill, and moved in with her daughter several miles away. My best guess is that the seller's agent was the one to give up the information regarding our realtor. The agent has been doing most of the work on the house, due to the seller's health condition, and has been pulling his truck to the back of the home using the driveway in question to do some trash removal.
I think that the neighbor is going to prove to be one of those difficult types - while the neighbor on the one side of the home has been helping out by mowing the lawn, the difficult neighbor called the township the one week it hadn't been done. The neighbor is also blaming the house for a mosquito problem - the swimming pool has a cracked filter which we plan to repair upon moving in. Said neighbor fails to take into account that there is a stream running along the back of his property. We are definitely going to use that driveway when we move in - otherwise we'll have to carry all furniture up a flight of stairs. Beyond that, probably no more than once or twice a month (Costco runs...).
We'll definitely know more in a day or two, once the survey is complete. Our attorney and the surveyor are aware of the situation, and will be paying close attention to that side of the property.
Weird situation here. I tend to agree with the "talk to your neighbors" angle, and try to add that personal face-to-face touch before involving any third parties. Maybe bake them some cookies, oh wait you are the new neighbors they should be doing that for you! I know I know, don't count on it.
I would have a friendly chat with them, and if you have to ask permission to use the driveway to move your stuff in, ask nicely and unless they are REAL jerks you shouldn't have a problem if you convey you aren't going to be using it a lot. By the way, just how much do you buy at Costco?
Over time, try and remain friendly with your neighbors (you don't have to kiss their butt), and eventually you can discuss a mutually-beneficial resolution to your problem. If you seek their input, or even make it seem like 'your' idea was theirs, it will probably save you a lot of time and money versus the third-party route.
It may also be a case where we(the new buyer as well) don't know the whole story from the neighbor's perspective. I'm on board with those that suggest toning down the rhetoric and meeting with the neighbor in question and see if feathers can be unruffled. It doesn't hurt to do your homework and gather facts first of course, but I'd first see if one could approach the neighbor in a friendly and informal way. One could even share the facts of the survey, local laws, etc after emotions have cooled so both property owners know how they stand legally, and then operate accordingly. I suspect if one approaches it the other way around, the neighbor is just going to become more difficult to work with.
The buyer noted that the house had been vacant for "years" and as a property owner that has lived next to vacant properties, I can attest that situation too can become a "neighbor from hell" itself as the property develops issues that aren't being remedied in a timely manner. Even just sitting there vacant with no or minimal issues can be an irritant. It may be that even if there weren't any "major" issues with the property while it sat vacant, that this neighbor is simply frustrated after years of minor issues they have had to manage or live with. So they may have developed a low tolerance over the years to anything happening next door.
One could approach a discussion with this neighbor keeping that in mind.
We've got a neighboring property that has been vacant and minimally maintained for about a year, and even in that short time it has become something of a sore spot for us. Although to be fair, the owner has "minimally" maintained it, and being vacant is better than the miscreants that had been the renters de rigueur for years. So I actually feel sorry for the next renter or owner of that property as we are prejudiced to be "on guard" from our 3 years of problems there. It's unfair, true, but it's an honest human condition that we'll try to temper based on the actual behavior of the new residents that eventually will come.
To be fair, of course I will absolutely talk to the neighbors, to hear their concerns and try to work something out that way. I'm quite friendly, but a little disturbed that this neighbor would go so far as to talk to my agent, rather than waiting to meet us as we're moving in. I'm sure he's trying to prevent the moving truck from pulling up on that side.
This "bonus" driveway is NOT paved, and we are not intending to pave it - it is merely a dirt driveway, with a concrete exit through the sidewalk to the street. I'm just trying to determine what, if anything, he could do if we did start pulling a car back there on a regular basis. There is no reason for us to do so unless we have a huge party. This is just a case of me being curious, and trying to determine what we may face from this neighbor in the future.
I'm guessing that he cannot impede your use of your property. What they can do is place blocks/rocks on their side to hinder your use of their part. I think it's a good idea that you are surveying the property. It may turn out that they don't own as much as they think they do and you'll have no problems getting in and out.
Worse case - I remember on Dateline where neighbors were having a dispute over adjoining driveways. One placed big rocks on his property that blocked the other's driveway. When the other neighbor found them he started going at them with a sledge hammer, so the neighbor with the rocks shot him and his wife. I think that was a little extreme, but does show how far a dispute can go.
There were a lot of situations like that in my old neighborhood - where there was clear evidence where a driveway USED to be (cement approach below the sidewalk) - but no further evidence of an actual driveway (i.e. grass/dirt where the rest of the driveway would have been)...
Never was sure what had happened. In some cases it looked like the driveways got moved from one side of the house to the other.
In this case, I would just take get your survey and see what you're entitled to. If in fact the surly neighbor is right and they do own several feet of the old driveway, then you really don't have the right to trespass on their portion of it. Even if the approach is there. In fact - that could be why the driveway was removed - because it split both lots??
Don't deliberately antagonize, find out your property lines, and if you have to - you can always drive on your own grass to get to the back of your property and there's not much your neighbor can complain about that (unless of course you're in an HOA).
good luck!
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