Neighbor removed my property line pin

[ray66v]

Appreciate all the great advice guys. I'll consult a lawyer. I'm not really worried about loosing a little road frontage as I got plenty of it.

I would make sure the amount your considering giving up doesn't make lot 1 unbuildable. Sometimes there is a minimum amount of frontage.

Even though you may not think so now, you or your heirs may want to sell that, or give it to one of your kids someday, and it would be a costly mistake.

 

[riptides]

Adverse Possession may be a moot question in the State of VA. What ever happened to 8.01-218.1 Adverse possession abolished.

No action or defense shall lie or be maintained in the Commonwealth for adverse possession upon which the action or defense arose on or after July 1, 2010.

Richmond Sunlight ｻ SB67: Adverse possession; abolition.

VA was trying to join Washington State and abolish "Adverse Possession".

That bill failed.

 

[pclausen]

I would make sure the amount your considering giving up doesn't make lot 1 unbuildable. Sometimes there is a minimum amount of frontage.

Even though you may not think so now, you or your heirs may want to sell that, or give it to one of your kids someday, and it would be a costly mistake.

Thanks. I'll be sure to bring that up with the attorney.

 

[riptides]

I would make sure the amount your considering giving up doesn't make lot 1 unbuildable. Sometimes there is a minimum amount of frontage.

Even though you may not think so now, you or your heirs may want to sell that, or give it to one of your kids someday, and it would be a costly mistake.

Thanks. I'll be sure to bring that up with the attorney.

The lot directly across from your problem line looks to have a smaller road frontage than what your having to deal with now. Is it in the same sub-division?

This may not be an issue for you. Looking at that GIS pic, I'd trade road frontage for a stand of timber on the second lot.

I'd also refrain from developing it for a while, to keep the taxes low and your options, unlimited!

Good luck!

 

[sixdogs]

Don't swap. Just buy theirs if they want to sell.
You rarely go wrong buying property surrounding your house.

 

[pclausen]

The lot directly across from your problem line looks to have a smaller road frontage than what your having to deal with now. Is it in the same sub-division?

Yes. Here's an even more zoomed out view. The red line represents the split between 2 subdivisions. I own the 2 lots outlined in yellow below the red line and we (mom) just purchased the one outlined in yellow above the red line. That is a 6 acre lot with nothing but mature lobllolies on it that I'm harvesting. If any more land comes in either of the subdivisions, I'll see if I can afford to snatch it up. Most of the lots are still undeveloped and range from 6 to 15 acres each. As someone else pointed out, they don't make land anymore!

Another nice feature is the 13 acre lot outlined in orange that borders against one of my lots. That is a "common" area for use by lot owners in the subdivision above the red line. Since mom just bought a lot there, I know have free range of that area as well for hunting, etc.

 

[riptides]

Yes. Here's an even more zoomed out view. The red line represents the split between 2 subdivisions. I own the 2 lots outlined in yellow below the red line and we (mom) just purchased the one outlined in yellow above the red line. That is a 6 acre lot with nothing but mature lobllolies on it that I'm harvesting. If any more land comes in either of the subdivisions, I'll see if I can afford to snatch it up. Most of the lots are still undeveloped and range from 6 to 15 acres each. As someone else pointed out, they don't make land anymore!

I'd swap for the timber, and the "new" line would match up well to your neighbor across the street. See "green" line additions for the idea.

 

[TCBoomer]

Not really sure if this will help anyone, but here's what led up to my decision to block my neighbor out of view...permanently. I'll do my best to keep it short...but not likely, lol so I may break it up into a couple posts


This 30 acre rural subdivision was once all farmland. My neighbor bought prior to me and started to build his home. Shortly after a private builder purchased what was to become my property and also built a home. During the build process for both...according to what my neighbor told me...the contractors for my place were using his driveway for access. {My lot had at the time a difficult access and included a fairly steep incline of about 25 degrees close to the house. Narrow, rutted and always washing out, that dropped off into a valley. Can't say I blame them either...it was a little freaky looking over the side} As a result, my neighbor built a cheap single rail wood fence from a stone wall/tree line to his house site...about 300' in length. The stone wall ran perpendicular from his driveway through my property. This effectively blocked these contractors from access to what would become my place. I should point out that my neighbors lot is a flag lot with a 25' wide 1000' in length driveway. No easement or right of way, he owned that strip of land along with his lot out behind me.

Then I came into the picture and bought my place. Over the years I did many improvements and continue doing so today. One of the improvements was to remove the previous mentioned stone wall/tree line...about 250' in length...that was located about 10' from the house itself. Since I owned property on the other side of this stone wall, I wanted to open up the area. Unfortunately by doing this it also left an open field...my property... next to my neighbors driveway where there was no single rail fence in place. And shortly after- what started to happen was the stray or nosey driver that would wander down my neighbors driveway and realize a house was back there. So they'd back up until they got to the open field part and ...BINGO...they could turn around instead of backing all the way to the street. Make sense? Hard to put in words and no pics of the area at that time. I did post a current shot of the area in another thread that has the 20'+ tall arborvitaes.

I personally witnessed countless vehicles--cars , trucks, some towing trailers, even a small buss pulling this turn around stunt over a period of time and causing damage to both my neighbors blacktop driveway edge and ruts in my yard due to soft/loose farmland soil. My fix was the arborvitaes...and now it gets interesting which I'm sure will generate a few comments.

So with a chain and tape measure, I started at the concrete marker on my property down at the street level. Located what I thought to be the property line between my property and the neighbors. We both agreed to my planting the arborvitaes on the property line next to his driveway from the corner point up to his single rail fence. I planted 100 trees in an -L- fashion and told the neighbor I'd continue the plantings down the property line when I had the funds. Here's an idea of what I did. It's not to scale but the X's are my arborvitaes and the dotted line is his single rail fence, the S's are the stone wall...I edited this too mark the stone wall location so I hope it didn't mess up the illustration
*****the edit didn't transfer correctly...the S's should be located at the right end of the driveway X's I'll redo it later if need be

_______________________________________________________________________________
Neighbors driveway
_______________________________________________________________________________

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.......................................................
X S
X S
X S
X S
X S
X S
X S
X S


I'll continue this in the next post

 

[TCBoomer]

Everything was fine for about 8 years and no problems at all. During that time I had been slowly cleaning up the fields surrounding my property and removing all the rocks, boulders, oddball trees & sapplings. In 2004 I was ready to install the lawn. Plowed it all under, regraded and brought in topsoil as needed. It came out pristine as a golf course. Lotsa of jealousy for sure. Upon completion, my neighbor commented that he wanted to remove the fence as he felt it was an eye sore...more likely-he was tired of taking care of it. The cross rails were just basic 2x4's with a stain coat applied. They'd last a couple/few years and rot away. So once again I informed him I would definitely continue the tree line when I had the $$$. I refreshed his memory about what would likely happen if he removed the fence...and after all the work I just did installing my lawn I sure as heck didn't want to deal with all the bafoons turning around in my yard and causing damage. He agreed, we made a gentlemans agreement and shook on it. So much for his word........

Fast forward to 2007...I guess my neighbor couldn't wait any more and early spring he removed the fence. He didn't say anything to me so I figured ~maybe~ he was going to continue the tree line. Nothing was said or done and exactly as I had predicted...once again countless vehicles used my property as a turnaround area and caused damage. The sad part is many of these vehicles were friends and visitors of his and his family. I kept my mouth shut the whole time and watched these ignorant disrespectful bafoons all summer long. Until one day, late summer I reached the breaking point...

On occassion my neighbor would have a party or whatever and his visitors would park along side of his driveway. The fence and my first planting of arborvitaes would keep the visitors where they belonged. Now that the fence was gone it became a free-for-all and one day during one of his parties, a young kid was trying to park. It was obvious he didn't know how to parallel park, so he just drove onto my property cut it hard and left it. I literaly snapped and blurted out...NICE ####ING PARKING JOB ###HOLE!!! yeah I should have kept my cool but lost it. After months of abuse I couldn't take it anymore...self control or not. I'll skip the rest of the details or I'll never finish this lol

A day or so later my neighbor comes and pays me a visit. It turns out his elderly parents were within earshot when I blurted out...they were hidden behind the arborvitaes walking to his house. I apologized immediately, not that I expected it to do any good. In addition I also told him..."listen, whether it be your parents or mine, or even the POTUS for that matter, I would have said the said exact same thiing!! Doens't anyone have any common sense anymore?" I asked him about the fence and the agreement we had...his reply..."well that was 3 years ago"

Knowing this conversation wasn't going anywhere and now knowing his word meant nothing, I walked away. Next day I went and purchased 100 or so 3' stakes and put them where the fence used to be. talk about an eyesore! I didn't care as long as it kept his visitors off my property. Next I hired a surveyor and had the property line properly marked. I did that because at the other end by his house I never knew the exact boundary other that what he told me and what the seller of my property showed me. They were both wrong as I found out!!

Next I located someone that had the 200 arborvitaes I needed and could plant them ASAP! This cost me dearly as the new arborvitaes wer 6' tall, unlike the first set that were only 2-3' tall when planted years ago. However what really smoked my neighbor was the fact that not only did I plant where the fence line was, I also continued another perpendicular line to his driveway right in front of his house with the trees. Not only did I eliminate the spectacular view of my lawn from him...thats another story!!...it also kept his teenage kids from having their wild parties in my yard...yep another saga there as well. I had as much right to plant these trees as he did removing his fence. I suspect I may have affected his property value by planting in front of his house, but so what! He should have gave more thought to the placement of his house when he built IMO! Not my problem and as a result of his breaking his word with me, I really was only interested in what was in my best interest not his. I even told him after the fact..."listen, you are free to do as you want with your property as I am with mine. You gave me your word that the fence would remain and you broke that word. Since I no longer trust you and have no respect for you or your property anymore, deal with it like I had to deal with what you did" Harsh? yes and well deserved all things considered IMO

I'll continue as there's more...lol told ya it might get a little long winded!

 

[TCBoomer]

I tried my best to keep this soap opera short but considering all the relevancies, it was difficult. Seems like I skipped a few details along the way and here's one that's fairly important to property lines. As it turns out when I planted the arborvitaes on what I measured out as the property line along his driveway, it was actually in my favor. The tree line is actually 8" inside the line on my property which made me feel better as I owned them entirely even if the branches extended into his....I'll leave that last statement open ended for later other than to say this...At one point during this whole saga(forgot the exact time though) I even made the comment to my neighbor that I regretted where I planted the arborvitaes along his driveway and wished I had planted them 3' off the line like I did with both of the perpendicular tree lines on each end. His reply..."why? they're fine where they are" My reply..."to prevent any problems down the road" And once again...I was correct!

The dust finally settled after the planting and a few years went by with no communication at all between us. However this neighbor continued playing his little childish games...tossing his dog carp over the trees into my yard, blowing all his leaves into the trees and I'm talking a serious amount of leaves mind you!, plowing snow into the trees and causing damage---which brought a second visit by the state police. I ignored all his games other than the tree damage from his snow plowing,

Fast forward again to late last winter...he approached me asking if I would keep the trees trimmed back so he wouldn't lose any parking along his driveway. At first I balked and as sarcastic as I could(he deserved it IMO!!), gave him an earfull stating in no uncertain terms would I trim any. If he wanted to do it...have a ball, but remember you damage or kill any, you own them!! Otherwise the state police will pay us a visit again.

A few days go by and having given some serious thought to his request, I reconsidered. The last thing I wanted was to allow this situation to get ugly again or even worse someone getting arrested. I went back to my neighbor and told him this..."in all fairness to you and your property...not that you deserved it...I will keep them trimmed back so you can have your guests parking. However, if you expect me to do this then I want the games to stop, ALL the games!!. Your pushing your luck with your immaturity towards me and I've had enough" He didn't reply so I assume he knew what I was talking about.

And that brings us pretty much to the present time and where the situatuon is. As I said, I skipped a number of details to keep it short...so much for short lol

I just got over several days of a bout with the flu. I'm behind on my chores and with a bright sunshine outside right now, I need to get caught up. I did this whole text in 'word' over the last couple days so I'll copy/paste it all.

Enjoy and I'll return later tonite...