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Thanks for the link Gus. met the neighbor once, seemed nice enough. What’s odd is him thinking his property line was another 40 feet from his house, when the plat maps are pretty easy to read, and count GIS maps are available for free online. Also, the surveyor found the property pins without issue, still had the orange caps poking out of the ground, which he added stakes and orange tape to for visibility Would have been easy to find when he built. And I know they’re accurate, as my lot contains the POB.(point of beginning)
Last edited by burbsgrrl; 08-19-2021 at 08:29 AM..
The neighbor probably has grounds for a hardship variance if he is told to remove the structure. Time elapsed benefits the neighbor. Even though his hardship was self-inflicted, many jurisdictions grant hardship variances for financial or personal reasons.
I would sell the lot and buy in a different place. Your going to make an enemy of your neighbor and you will live there a long time. It’s not worth having a neighbor who hates you so close. Everything you do they will turn you in for, any noise etc. Be prepared for a nightmare.
I don't think so. It's more likely, IMO, that the other owners are simply unaware of what's happening and what's at stake in this situation. If the OP carefully goes about contacting the other property owners (including the owners of the vacant lots) and carefully explains what's at stake for all of them, it's likely that he will receive considerable thanks and support rather than condemnation.
Put yourself in their position. If you owned a house in the area and wanted to protect your investment, wouldn't you want to know if someone was doing, or had done, something that jeopardized your investment?
My comments aren't based on just idle speculation. Several decades ago I was in almost the same exact situation as the OP except I already had my house built and a lot of money in the place. When a new owner started building a house that clearly wasn't in compliance with the CCR's, I contacted my attorney and explained what was happening.
My attorney sent the violator a "nastygram" letter that in effect said that if the violations were not corrected immediately, the property owners in the community would file suit to enforce compliance and the violator would also have to pay our legal costs in addition to correcting the violation. Well, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!! Within a week or two of receiving the nastygram letter, substantial changes were made to the construction of the new house that brought it into compliance with the CCR's.
BTW, my attorney didn't disclose my name to the violator but simply said that he had been retained by property owners with a legal interest in the matter. I later told the violator that I was the one who initiated the legal action and told him why I did it. He admitted that he knew he was doing wrong, but thought he would try to get away with it. He understood that he was in the wrong and simply got caught.
Also, before I contacted my attorney, I spoke with several other property owners and explained what was at stake and all agreed that they would help in the legal fight against this violator. As it turned out, it cost me only about $100 to have the letter sent and I just paid it myself. It would probably cost several hundred bucks to send that letter today, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to what's at stake.
The neighbor probably has grounds for a hardship variance if he is told to remove the structure. Even though his hardship was self-inflicted, many jurisdictions grant hardship variances for financial or personal reasons.
There is no "jurisdiction" that has a say in the matter. The other property owners are the "jurisdiction" in a CCR's case.
There is no "jurisdiction" that has a say in the matter. The other property owners are the "jurisdiction" in a CCR's case.
The county may have a say, as it violates building codes, and the setback is set at 20 feet due to fire codes to help prevent spread between buildings. Just not sure what the time restriction is since it was put in in 2013. I think it’s 10 years, but have to confirm.
I don't think so. It's more likely, IMO, that the other owners are simply unaware of what's happening and what's at stake in this situation. If the OP carefully goes about contacting the other property owners (including the owners of the vacant lots) and carefully explains what's at stake for all of them, it's likely that he will receive considerable thanks and support rather than condemnation.
Put yourself in their position. If you owned a house in the area and wanted to protect your investment, wouldn't you want to know if someone was doing, or had done, something that jeopardized your investment?
My comments aren't based on just idle speculation. Several decades ago I was in almost the same exact situation as the OP except I already had my house built and a lot of money in the place. When a new owner started building a house that clearly wasn't in compliance with the CCR's, I contacted my attorney and explained what was happening.
My attorney sent the violator a "nastygram" letter that in effect said that if the violations were not corrected immediately, the property owners in the community would file suit to enforce compliance and the violator would also have to pay our legal costs in addition to correcting the violation. Well, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!! Within a week or two of receiving the nastygram letter, substantial changes were made to the construction of the new house that brought it into compliance with the CCR's.
BTW, my attorney didn't disclose my name to the violator but simply said that he had been retained by property owners with a legal interest in the matter. I later told the violator that I was the one who initiated the legal action and told him why I did it. He admitted that he knew he was doing wrong, but thought he would try to get away with it. He understood that he was in the wrong and simply got caught.
Also, before I contacted my attorney, I spoke with several other property owners and explained what was at stake and all agreed that they would help in the legal fight against this violator. As it turned out, it cost me only about $100 to have the letter sent and I just paid it myself. It would probably cost several hundred bucks to send that letter today, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to what's at stake.
Wrong. I bought the lot knowing the house looked closer than it should be, but also knowing that setbacks in neighborhoods change over the course of 25 years. I haven’t had any intention of doing anything about this until the neighbor bitched and raised a stink during my approval process (which went through with flying colors). It is his mistake, he f’d up and now he wants to make my life difficult because he’s a dumb ass? Sorry, not putting up with that crap.
So, he started the pissing contest and you're going to escalate it.
Maybe offer to sell him a few feet of your land so he is in compliance, if he doesn’t want to risk the possibility of removing his room addition. Sorry you’re in a crummy neighbor situation. Seems like he’s just mad someone bought it and might infringe on his privacy. Lesson learned for him: don’t start stuff unless your stuff is in perfect order or you might regret it.
Just be sure you think of all the potential long term consequences before deciding what you will do.
Thanks Joylush. Yeah, you’d think he would approach with that type of offer, but so far silence. I’d say no anyway, as a 12 foot lot line adjustment would be too detrimental to my lot and he likely doesn’t have the funds to pay for it anyway. The pathetic thing is he could have bought this lot for like $10k 24 years ago and he wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Thanks Joylush. Yeah, you’d think he would approach with that type of offer, but so far silence. I’d say no anyway, as a 12 foot lot line adjustment would be too detrimental to my lot and he likely doesn’t have the funds to pay for it anyway. The pathetic thing is he could have bought this lot for like $10k 24 years ago and he wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Yep. Sounds like he feels he has ownership rights because of the time that has passed. He’s really just mad someone bought it and that he couldn’t or didn’t. He feels you’re raining on his parade because he’s been there longer. Very frustrating.
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