Property Line Dispute

[Lake Junkie]

Originally Posted by BigRedIdiot

And, with real estate, if it wasn't isn't in writing it's as if it never happened.

It can actually stand up in court if you have good witnesses, but you're oh, so much better off to have everything in writing.

Great info, BigRedIdiot...I don't think you deserve your screen name...

[GeekOfTheOzarks]

Good luck on your situation with the neighbors. I had a similar experience in a condo many years ago. My outcome ... the zebra didn't really change his stripes. The nonsense started back up a few months later, I sold the place and moved on.

[luvmypackers]

What they are doing is called criminal trespassing and the police should be called to issue a ticket and the courts can issue a cease and desist order. Any costs would be bourn by the defendents.

[BuffaloTransplant]

Originally Posted by wolfdogg

Actually, this might be better labeled "Not a nice neighbor".

I moved into my home 2 years ago (Springfield, Mo.) and as I have two dogs, I decided to build a privacy fence. My backyard is one acre and I live in the city. I had a survey company come out and mark the boundaries. My neighbor, a rather large old woman who's lived in her home about 30 years, was remarking how she had spent a great deal of time planting and nurturing a tree and she hoped I did not have any plans of removing it. So.. to appease her and try to be a good neighbor, I actually moved my fence 5 feet closer to my home, thereby giving up all that extra space in the backyard for the sake of being a good neighbor.

Now.. keep in mind that I only built the fence in the back. The side and front of our yards have no fence/boundary line. But.. the surveyor marked the whole lot. She removed the stake and started mowing over into my front yard about 20 feet. I went and pulled my back stake on the other side of my house and put it back where that one was. I buried it very deep. She drove around it on her lawn mower for the next 2 times. I decided it wasn't worth fighting over. I pulled the stake and decided she could mow my lawn if she wanted.

Enter this summer. Her son-in-law moved in with a family of 5 because he couldn't find work. He's been mowing and has started mowing even further over in my front yard.. at an angle from the back of their house to the front middle of my house by the street. Then, he went and bought mulch and put it around my 2 trees! "Too much" I thought. I went out and asked him what was up. He explained that he was trying to make them easier to mow around. I said, "You don't have to worry about those. I can go ahead and mow around them as they're in my yard". "No their not" he says. "Your property goes off the end of that fence and and angles right down that path." He's lived here 1 month!! I explained that I had a survey done and this wasn't the case. I showed him where the boundaries are. He just looked at me and said "I don't know. You'll have to take that up with [old lady]. She just told me where the property line runs" and walks away without another word! 2 weeks later (today), he mows again and comes over even further!!!

Now here's the real gotcha. If I was to go out and buy a chain link fence and decide to run it between our yards (which I'm now considering), it would not only shorten the side of their yard up by about 25 feet of what they think it is, they would literally have only about 5 feet to drive their mower from front to back!! I seriously own almost that whole side. All I want is for them to mow where I put the fence in (I halved our side lots) but they refuse and keep coming over into half my yard!

First of all, I assume I could still put a fence in the front on my actual property lines, even though I scooted the back fence over about 5 feet right? I'm seriously thinking of reclaiming my true property line since they won't respect the extra yard I've given them.

Equally troubling, he has a huuuge commercial trailer that he now parks where?? Right in front of my house! My wife and I can barely get out of the driveway without fear of getting smacked every time. We can't see around that thing at all.

And lastly, they've taken it upon themselves to attach a wire fence to the privacy fence that I spent all summer building there in the back yard! The new son-in-law has 2 dogs that bark all the time and he didn't even bother to ask if they could attach to my fence!!

Can you sense the frustration?!!!

Oh.. and nice to meet you all.

1) find out if there is a town code and zoning and find out what the laws on fences are. You need to follow them.
2) Show these people the survey and tell them where the line is and where you could have put the fence
3) Fence it in by code ; have a company do it with the survey and code in hand. Many locations have a 3 ft fence in a front yard ( here, it is 3 feet until you get 35 feet from the road and then it can go to 6 feet, unless you have a pool and then it can be 4 feet all around. You generally need to be about 8 inches in from a property line.

As to the other problems:
1) the truck may not be allowed to be parked in a residential neighborhood. Town Code has that information.
2) If the trailer is allowed to be parked there, you can probably cite it as a safety issue with the town police and have a report on file that he has been told that. Any accident, he should be responsible!

[marmac]

When it comes to property lines, it is dangerous to be " the nice guy".

It sounds from your OP that the phrase-----" give an inch, they'll take a foot"-- applies.

[jeffdoorgunner]

or simply clean your shotgun in the yard while he is watching and give him a big grin.........