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A lot of people (more than you'd think) don't actually analyze a survey, you know. And I'm asking, was there a detached garage at the back of the lot and the driveway was the only way to reach it? Is there parking elsewhere on the lot? The verbal agreement was probably made BEFORE she purchased. If I remember correctly, the land was used as a driveway before she moved in.
A lot of people don't do lots of things that they should do. That's fine. It's the ones who complain about it or feel that they are exempt from something or entitled to something due to their laziness or ignorance that I have no patience for. I've done my share of not doing what I should have done but I also accept that there may be consequences to my actions and I don't expect others to bail me out of the predicaments I might have created for myself.
Just because we might think that the new neighbor should do something doesn't mean that he must do what we would like to see him do. Look at it this way, maybe there was an existing verbal agreement between the woman and the old neighbor. Even so, once the old neighbor moved, she had no right to expect that the new neighbor would give her the same permission. Unless the law says otherwise, I say it is the new guy's property to do whatever he wants to do with it. He might not be a nice guy by our definition but that's his right.
I was a fool and trusted my neighbor when I moved in 12 yrs ago and I did have the survey. Did I check it? No.. He felt he had the right to move the property marker stealing 3" of my property. God forbid if you touch his property. I honestly hate living here all over a driveway and this senior citizen ruining part of my property. Houses should have to have 50' between property and NO shared or side by side driveways. I can guarantee you that too many people are in the same or similar situation. It's their property period.
Neighbors can really be jerks. I once had a problem with the opposite side of a house from the driveway. It was a grass area with the property line somewhere in it, but it blended together. Neighbor only wanted to mow his and wanted us to do the same. I was never quite sure where the line was, so if I mowed mine first and got it wrong he would mow his and leave a little sliver of long grass that I missed on mine. Aye whole.
I think there's probably a big part of the story missing -- the backstory. Something tells me that perhaps from the start there was an unneighborly-like relationship. It isn't possible to know if the newcomers, the Stucks, were jerks or if the existing residents, the Hickmotts, were crappy neighbors.
If I was in the shoes of the Stucks and wanted to put up a fence for privacy, I would have done it a little bit differently and given the needed driveway space to the Hickmotts regardless of ownership, regardless of bad blood. The article's photo doesn't show what's on the Stucks's side of the fence, but a virtual drive down the street does - the Stucks have plenty of space on their side of the fence. There's a grassy area with a large tree, and a parking space next to their driveway with a two-car garage. Undoubtedly the placement of the fence was spiteful. But the question remains were the Stucks driven because of something the Hickmotts did or didn't do?
I'm not trying to justify the behavior of the Stucks, but sometimes people are driven to act - we can't know their motivation nor if they regret their actions now.
Of course I have no way at all of knowing the personalities of either family, and impressions in a photograph cannot be taken as valid ways to say a person is nice or not. However, there's this: the Hickmotts's house is a bit of a mess with a crooked mailbox, a hose is running along the driveway, electrical wires are exposed running under the shakes with duct tape holding the box closed, green algae exists on the lower shakes. A google-street-map shot shows a neat enough curb appeal, but the eagle over the door is crooked, the front yard has more dandelions than grass, and the white roof looks either dirty or was repaired with mismatching shingles. As I said, you can't judge a book by its cover. But I get the impressions that some things are not a priority to the Hickmotts.
The street-map view, taken before the fence was put up, also shows the Hickmotts's car backed into the driveway and parked at their side door, hugging the grass side of the driveway even though they do have a full driveway that continues to the detached garage behind the house. You wonder why it's absolutely necessary that they have to park in that exact spot, especially when it means the car has to be parked so close to the driveway's edge in order to leave room to open the door without hitting the house. Parking the car in that spot also means the Hickmotts have to travel over the neighbor's property to put their trash barrel out (you can see the wheel marks in the neighbor's grass where they walk the barrel more than 4' over the property line to go around plantings - and who knows which property was taking care of those plants).
The Stucks's property is a large corner lot with a large house, and it's meticulously kept. The impression I get is that there's a clash of lifestyles and priority lists between neighbors. I'm not judging either family's choice, just thinking they are probably on either end of the spectrum.
It appears that maybe the newbies, the Stucks, moved into the neighborhood and didn't pay attention to how things were done. The house on the other side of the Hickmotts's is separated from theirs by the width of a driveway, and that scenario occurs all the way down the street. Such things are a way of life in the neighborhood, and the Stucks didn't follow.
The Stucks's reasoning - privacy for their pool - is shot full of holes. That could have been accomplished by running the fence off the back corner of their garage parallel to the street, and then running back along the Hickmotts's driveway. Perhaps the Stucks didn't mind the Hickmotts parking where they do, but maybe the Hickmotts were disrespectful and used the Stucks's property all the time to get from the front to the back. Personally I wouldn't like it if my neighbor dragged his barrel across my lawn every week, but I would ask nicely if they wouldn't mind not doing it. Perhaps the Stucks did ask the Hickmotts not to, and perhaps the Hickmotts just thumbed their noses and said this is how we've always done it. If this was by chance the attitude, maybe I would have put up a fence just as the Stucks did.
Yes, and every parcel has a legal description. The legal description for hers would not include the tiny bit which is actually theirs.
I don't think adverse possession should be allowed at all. That there is a legal way to actually steal someones property seems wrong to me legal or not.
^^^This, and;
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbronston
She should have known by having a survey done when she purchased. This is exactly why you should have a survey done when you are buying property and especially when there are structures of any type near what appears to be a property line. Either she knew about it (had the survey done) or she should have known or, at least, inquired. Everyone....EVERYONE...knows that verbal agreements (even if she was told there was one) aren't worth a thing. This is a good lesson for all buyers of property.
^^^. . .this!
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