Do Fence laws make sense?

[radios1]

We had many encroachers on the folks property... a residential subdivision abuts on two sides. Most put their fences where they pleased.

It was often an irritation but Dad fixed all of that when he sold off the part that abuts almost all of the subdivision property to the city...

People would actually dump out their back yard and call the city to have the Property Owner clean it up... now they can call the city to clean it up and the city will fine them for dumping...

The old barb wire fence with square nails and redwood posts is all but gone now... the city has a blanket prohibition on barb wire... no installs or repairs.

Not sure what Mom will end up doing with the remaining land... there are several parcels adding up to 6 acres and the voters just passed a law last week subjecting vacant property to a $6,000 per parcel additional tax on top of the property tax and 27 existing special assessments... the property is our backyard with open space and garden/fruit trees... so now we get to find out what the definition of vacant is...

Tried to combine some of the lots but there are on different pages of the Assessor Book... so no simple lot line adjustment.

this must be in Salzburg Austria right?. this would never fly in the U.S..

 

[ultrarunner]

Oakland California... the voters have spoken... actually all 6 new property tax measures passed...

I expect new year there will be a tax on money you have in the bank...

Oakland, California, Measure W, Vacant Property Tax (November 218) - Ballotpedia

Mapping Oakland's Vacant Parcels | Terner Center

 

[MossRoad]

I know we've all suggested it, and I know your situation with your mom.... but get out as soon as you can.

I couldn't take it.

 

[ultrarunner]

One thought I had is to fence in the land for a horse... owned horses are permitted and then the land wouldn't be vacant??? It would have to meet fence laws in effect so no barb wire and no hot wire allowed.

Problem is no one really knows how this will be enforced... just that all the property tax measures passed without issue...

It is now official... the entire region is now one party and the laws keep coming...

The Bay Area no longer has any Republican representatives in the state Legislature.

Democrat Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Wins the East Bay Assembly District 16 Race |

East Bay Express

 

[YLee Kioti]

Your 1' of property by now is probably his if he wants to file on it. Use must be "open and notorious" and the land owner (you) must have done nothing about it. Depends on the various states how many years it has to continue. In Washington it was 7 years. I got an abandonded school grounds on that condition. In your case it may not applyi as some places a fence line that has been long established can become the legal boundary.

Hmmm...interesting...thank you for jump starting my interest.
We've been here two years.
I will use diplomacy and inform my neighbor that as I was clearing the fence line I had found our survey (yellow caped rods) stakes inside his fence line.Just to see what he says.
At that point I will consider it as he being duly notified and will document it.
I may have to speak to a real estate/ land attorney (yech!) and see what shakes out.

Enjoy the weekend.

 

[radios1]

Oakland California... the voters have spoken... actually all 6 new property tax measures passed...

I expect new year there will be a tax on money you have in the bank...

Oakland, California, Measure W, Vacant Property Tax (November 218) - Ballotpedia

Mapping Oakland's Vacant Parcels | Terner Center

I imagine if you keep the grass cut on those properties, they would be considered "used".. there is also THIS. "
with community oversight and exemptions for very low income, low-income seniors and hardship, be adopted?" sometimes, you get what you THINK you want, and then it comes back to bite you!..

 

[ultrarunner]

It is another full blown bureaucracy in the making... hearings, review boards, tax returns... etc...

So far fencing and using it for grazing seems to be my best bet so far... this land is adjacent to my parents home and portions are already fenced...

What has me more worried is the support it garnered and now a full cheer section saying the voters are on board and there is so much more we can do...

Maybe it will be a return to property owner and tenant... but this time the tenants rule?

 

[turnkey4099]

Hmmm...interesting...thank you for jump starting my interest.
We've been here two years.
I will use diplomacy and inform my neighbor that as I was clearing the fence line I had found our survey (yellow caped rods) stakes inside his fence line.Just to see what he says.
At that point I will consider it as he being duly notified and will document it.
I may have to speak to a real estate/ land attorney (yech!) and see what shakes out.

Enjoy the weekend.

Bsst to document it in writing - then there is no "he said, she said"

 

[Jstpssng]

It is another full blown bureaucracy in the making... hearings, review boards, tax returns... etc...

So far fencing and using it for grazing seems to be my best bet so far... this land is adjacent to my parents home and portions are already fenced...

What has me more worried is the support it garnered and now a full cheer section saying the voters are on board and there is so much more we can do...

Maybe it will be a return to property owner and tenant... but this time the tenants rule?

The real irony from this side of the continent is that Apple and a few other companies from Silicon Valley are buying up conservation rights here so that we can never have any kind of development; thus ensuring that the region stays poor.

 

[ultrarunner]

It seems never ending conflict is the rule rather than the exception...

I've been lucky in that everywhere I have lived to have the best of neighbors... only once was this not the case and a fence was involved too... his wife was committed to a mental institution and he hated the world... drank all the time... I just avoided him and life was good.