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Thanks everyone. I must have forgot to mention that we do have a HOA and that is who I have been arguing with. They say she can lock the gate and I must give 24 hour notice before I can get access. I have he by-laws and it says nothing except trees and shrubs cannot be planted in the easement area. I guess I am going to have to visit an attorney.
I have thought about putting a cover over the dryer vent area and I am going to get it taken care of but until that time, I just want access to my vent to keep it clean.
I just don't think my HOA is correct because the neighbor on the other side of me has a water spigot inside my fence. I do not lock mine and think she shouldn't have to give me 24 hour notice to use her own spigot.
Oh, and the homeowner of he property next door moved to Arizona and has a property management company in charge of the home. I guess I could contact them but I was waiting until I knew for sure if she is llowed to lock it or not.
Good advice already. Additionally, you might do a tiny bit of landscaping of those 3' so this doesn't come up again, if only a few stones along the property line. You might also get out your plat and call law enforcement that someone has locked your access to you property which can even cause a fire in your dryer situation.
How would it be then if you also put a lock on your shared gate? If she can, according to the hoa you can. Take the tact that whatever element she's afriad of...you don't want to get involved in that element.
There's something called Adverse Possession. By not disputing your neighbor's holding hostage your property, your neighbor may eventually have rights to it. Keep disputing.
If you ever hear a noise in your back yard, call law enforcement and have them deal with it and the locked access gate. They may even be able to determine it's illegal and dangerous.
I just re read your first post. I'm curious how are your gas and electric meter read since they are in this locked area? I don't believe it's legal to have them locked away from the utility companies like this.
Call the utility companies and inform them. They may be able to do your work for you here.
Go to a HOA monthly meeting...or perhaps a more largely attended annual meeting is coming up. Perhaps you could bring other like minded neighbors. Perhaps there are people afraid any dangerous occurance in their side or back yard will not be able to be addressed quickly enough if people start putting locks on their gates. If a group...or even just one person...brings this up in a group meeting it will be more in the face of the board so they need to address it more fully.
I still would question the meters (are they read remotely?), but if the HOA says it's okay to lock the gate (and the meters aren't an issue) then I'd say this is NOT the time to contact a lawyer.
Do the common sense thing and get a duplicate key as suggested. If they don't want to share a key, you could always get another lock yourself. Just interconnect the two locks so that unlocking one will allow the gate to be opened (no need to unlock the second lock). I know of owners who have multiple locks interlocked on the same gate and it works fine.
EDIT: If they won't agree to that, I have some bolt cutters you can borrow.
Thanks everyone. I must have forgot to mention that we do have a HOA and that is who I have been arguing with. They say she can lock the gate and I must give 24 hour notice before I can get access. I have he by-laws and it says nothing except trees and shrubs cannot be planted in the easement area. I guess I am going to have to visit an attorney.
I have thought about putting a cover over the dryer vent area and I am going to get it taken care of but until that time, I just want access to my vent to keep it clean.
I just don't think my HOA is correct because the neighbor on the other side of me has a water spigot inside my fence. I do not lock mine and think she shouldn't have to give me 24 hour notice to use her own spigot.
Oh, and the homeowner of he property next door moved to Arizona and has a property management company in charge of the home. I guess I could contact them but I was waiting until I knew for sure if she is llowed to lock it or not.
Just curious, any updates?
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