Next door neighbor....fenced 3/4 Acre of my farm..Tenant

[powerpace]

Adverse possession varies in different jurisdictions. Cases of property owners not checking the boundary have resulted in legal loss of the property. In Oregon poor monitoring of homesteading land from the 1800's, has resulted in legal disputes with heirs of the original settlers losing.

In most jurisdictions 20 years of use by a non-owner can result in the owner losing that piece of land.

This probably won't affect most landowners but it is food for thought.

 

[sixdogs]

You know, these situations usually deteriorate anyway, but from a dispute resolution perspective it never hurts to try to see the other person's point of view in order to avoid humiliating them. That can solve alot of problems in advance if you allow the other person respect. First, I'd let the rental people figure it out but sometimes it doesn't work that way.
Maybe ask what they are doing; the answer may surprise you and solve the problem. Maybe not. Maybe they had a misunderstanding. Maybe not. Then you take it from there, stay in control and it is your property so you make the rules.
Just my two cents here.

 

[brin]

As I said in my post...I called the Realtor who had rented the house next door and spoke with her and followed up with an email...She called me back yesterday early afternoon and apologized for the fence and said the tenant had signed a lease that specifically required him to get permission from the landlord before he made any modifications to the property and the lease had the survey attached and clearly showed the property he was leasing. She then had the tenant call me...He was very courteous and apologized a number of times and said he would have the fence down and staples removed before night fall..

The funny thing is....the reason he gave me for putting the fence up....He wanted to keep his father in law from driving around the gate on his driveway...He said he would close and lock the gate and his father in law had a small car and would drive over on my property and go around his gate ....Imagine that...wants to keep his father in law out with a fence....

The reason I have never fenced that area of the farm is that it is at the front of the property and that fence would have to be installed right on the edge of his paved driveway which is abut 400 feet long...It would really hurt that property and whoever lived there if I did that since it would prevent any wide trucks from ever being able to drive down their driveway.....the fence would also not be attractive in the front of the property running along a driveway like that and since the edge of the road is the exact property line there has never been a problem in 40 yrs...this was a first...The rest of my farm is fenced and crossed fenced mainly 4 board fence .

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions....this one was resolved peacefully with all parties.

 

[MossRoad]

So the Mrs. and I and our dog went out to our farm this morning...drove down our road , checked our lake and pastures and we were driving back down our road to leave when my wife said " What is that fence doing over there ? " I looked and there was some field fence installed coming from the road next door clear onto our property toward the front acreage and continuing in a zig zag fashion taking about 3/4 Acre and then tying back into a gate on the road next door....Somebody had fenced in part of our property...

The house and 6 Ac. next door has been for sale so I called the Real Estate agent and told her about it...and she said..." Oh no...that must have been the new tenant ...we just rented it..." I told her to get the new tenant to get the fence down today and all fence staples that were driven into our trees up , out and off my property or I would be calling the Sheriff and would bill the tenant for the cost of removal and they would be charged with trespassing and criminal damage to property..

Just hard to believe how stupid some people are....So anyone out there...be sure and drive your property often...there is just no telling what you will find.

Why didn't you just go over there, introduce yourself, tell him you think he put a fence on your proptery, walk out there together and show him the property line, and show him the alleged damage to the value of the timber and see if he agrees that he is in the wrong? If he agrees, tell him you would appreciate it if he removed the fence within X days and agree on having a forester inspect the trees for permanent damage/solution.

Pretty simple and non-confontational. If he's a jerk, then go the legal route. Seems a lot easier than getting all worked up right from the get-go.

 

[MossRoad]

while tree will heal and probably not die unless galvanized or brass / copper nails there fact remains it will be an issue some day.

mark

If the metal is removed promptly and the tree heals, there will be no issue in a few years from a fence staple. In fact, if the tree heals, there will be about zero visible damage to the bark, wood, etc...

All veneer trees had branches at lower levels at one time or another in their lives and they fall off or are trimmed off with no loss of value to the lumber within if done properly. That's far bigger damage than a fence staple.

 

[MossRoad]

If there was any possibility of sawlog or especially veneer quality in those logs it has been greatly compromised. .

To repeat, if the fence staples are removed promptly, there will probably be zero loss of value in a few short years.

 

[MossRoad]

Tread carefully though; there was a very infamous thread a few years ago where a TBN member lost his shirt in a dispute with a neighbor.

I will agree 100% with that one. That was a nightmare for the poster.

 

[brin]

Why didn't you just go over there, introduce yourself, tell him you think he put a fence on your proptery, walk out there together and show him the property line, and show him the alleged damage to the value of the timber and see if he agrees that he is in the wrong? If he agrees, tell him you would appreciate it if he removed the fence within X days and agree on having a forester inspect the trees for permanent damage/solution.

Pretty simple and non-confontational. If he's a jerk, then go the legal route. Seems a lot easier than getting all worked up right from the get-go.

First MossRoad did you read the whole thread or at least my original post ? I had my wife with me, I did not know who lived in that house since as of late it has been a rental house and has been for sale at the same time. The house in question sits 1/4 mile off of the main road. I am not going to drive my wife into an unknown situation like that....would you ? I had no idea how many people lived back there or what they were like. Judging by the haphazard way the flimsy 300 ft. of fence was nailed to my trees..it showed a total disregard for not just my property but anyone's so that is an indicator or a possibly unpredictable individual . If I had driven back there now I have placed myself and my wife on his property and he is then free to call the police and say I did or said anything he can make up...I don't think that is ever wise or professional.

I chose to call the realtor, I did not get worked up...and neither did the realtor...She called the tenant and asked him why he did not follow the lease he signed and get permission from the landlord...the tenant apologized to her and she told him to call me and he did and apologized to me and took the fence down yesterday afternoon...all is well and without me risking a confrontation with someone I did not know on his property....How about that.

 

[MossRoad]

As I said in my post...I called the Realtor who had rented the house next door and spoke with her and followed up with an email...She called me back yesterday early afternoon and apologized for the fence and said the tenant had signed a lease that specifically required him to get permission from the landlord before he made any modifications to the property and the lease had the survey attached and clearly showed the property he was leasing. She then had the tenant call me...He was very courteous and apologized a number of times and said he would have the fence down and staples removed before night fall..

The funny thing is....the reason he gave me for putting the fence up....He wanted to keep his father in law from driving around the gate on his driveway...He said he would close and lock the gate and his father in law had a small car and would drive over on my property and go around his gate ....Imagine that...wants to keep his father in law out with a fence....

The reason I have never fenced that area of the farm is that it is at the front of the property and that fence would have to be installed right on the edge of his paved driveway which is abut 400 feet long...It would really hurt that property and whoever lived there if I did that since it would prevent any wide trucks from ever being able to drive down their driveway.....the fence would also not be attractive in the front of the property running along a driveway like that and since the edge of the road is the exact property line there has never been a problem in 40 yrs...this was a first...The rest of my farm is fenced and crossed fenced mainly 4 board fence .

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions....this one was resolved peacefully with all parties.

Glad you got it resolved. Wasn't so sinister after all was it?

 

[MossRoad]

I chose to call the realtor, I did not get worked up...

Your writing in your fist post sure seemed pretty worked up to me. :laughing:

Anyhow, glad you got it worked out.

How are you going to handle the damage to the trees now?