Neighbor

tld · Jun 20, 2005

Another question about property lines/neighbors.

My neighbor has a 50 ft wide piece of property that he uses as a drive back to his property. that 50 ft wide piece is next to my property. I have a fence (wire field fence) along that side. It's 1000 feet long and I dug each posthole by hand and stretched the fence by myself, so I guess I'm personally attached to it!

In the past 6 months or so, neighbor has done the following:

In an effort to clear the brush etc, has run into my fence in 3-4 separate places, stretched it and pulled the staples out. and pushed over several posts about 6-8 inches.

he then brought in some fill and pushed the fill over and burried about 6 inches of the bottom of my wire fence. The boundaries are clearly marked and my fence is at least 6 inches onto my property.

After about 2 months, I went ahead and fixed the fence. I figured it wasn't worth the hassle with him. however, this fill thing really has me questioning his motives.

He did threaten another neighbor last year over a similar incident.

Any ideas?

shvl73 · Jun 20, 2005

( He did threaten another neighbor last year over a similar incident.)

I would discuss it with him once. Call law enforcement if there is a reoccurrence.

hudr · Jun 20, 2005

I would be sure of the boundaries before talking to him. But I would talk to him. We have lots of fences, few neighbors and luckily everyone around me is pretty cool about those fences. Usually, if we have some new property line fence to build, we talk to the neighbor and end up w/ some kind of "partnership" fence to split the cost. Upkeep is usually left to the person running whatever kind of livestock is behind it. I don't know y'alls situation on livestock, type of fence or if y'all have one of those "Community Rule Book" things. But, if you are putting out all the expense, I would definitely talk to him about it. But be nice. Even if he is an ******* about it. We had a disput like this go on for years between a couple of guys and it wound up going to court, several years later it ended in gunfire. This was over an actual property line and the guy in "the wrong" was the one killed...but.... that was a unique situation anyway. Hopefully, if this guy acknowledges where the boundary is and that the fence is "yours" he will be understanding. Just remember, honey catches more flies than vinegar. Hope it works out.

Cityboyfarmer · Jun 20, 2005

I would talk to the guy once to see if he is reasonable. If he is not, you may need to call the law out. Whatever you do, keep a cool head and don't let things get out of hand.

I had a similar situation where my neighbor actually bull-dozed several trees on my property. When I went to talk to him, he went ballistic. He disagreed with where the boundary pins were located. I went to relocate the iron boundary pins and re-mark the line and could not find them. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I locate all my property pins anually so I know they were there last year. So I spend $670.00 to have a surveyor re-set the pins per county record, and "true-line" the boundary with wooden stakes to make the property line perfectly clear. Well, he comes and pulls up the wooden stakes the next day! He didn't mess with the iron pins this time, but I figured I paid for the wooden stakes and what he did constituted criminal trespass under Georgia law so I called the sherriff. He admitted he pulled the stakes up and the sheriff's deputy told him in no uncertain terms that if he pulled a stunt like that again he would arrest him.

Had I been smart, I would have left it there and the neighbor probably would have left the issue alone as well, but I let my pride and ego get the best of me and I went to the magistrates office and filed a criminal trespass warrant against him. In my county if a citizen swears out a warrant, the accused is summoned to a warrant hearing to determine if the charges are valid. The magistrate ruled that what he did was wrong but did not "rise to the criminal level" and that if I wished, I could pursue the matter in civil court.

I eventually got about $400.00 in damages from him without going to court by threatening him in a certified letter with legal action.

Since then, the relationship has remained strained and borders on hostile. I have had to call the sherriff out to make him keep his dogs from chasing our cars up MY driveway and we have come inches from a physical altercation. The whole story with this guy could go on several pages, but I'll wrap it up in the next few lines.

There was a point where this whole issue possibly could have been resolved had I not gotten so angry and let my mile wide ego and pride cloud my better judgement. I stressed him and myself out pretty good. Looking back with my unique ability of hind sight /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif I could have conducted myself better and perhaps had a better outcome.

tld · Jun 20, 2005

Thanks for the help. I will talk to him and try to work it out.
I think he is the type of guy that likes to stir things up. He has been arrested two times for spouse abuse, if that tells you anything. My neighbor on the other side is just as good as this one is bad. His kid hit the fence with an ATV and he was out there within 1/2 hour splicing and restretching it.

Laminarman · Jun 20, 2005

Tom

Good luck with your situation. I have a guy who put a gravel drive and shed literally on my property line- the day I closed on the property! I went out, photographed it, sent a strongly worded letter and then realized I had just alienated a neighbor before even meeting him. He ended up being a very nice man, and I offered to give an easement to him if he gave me one at the back of his property for a barn I planned on building. We came to terms and have a good relationship. I thought he was trying to cause problems but it was an honest mistake. Now, if this guy is not reasonable when you approach him nicely, you might just consider the law. But I would only threaten that if you really plan to follow through. Are there any setback laws? Six inches from your line seems aweful close. Where I'm from the setback is 12 feet.

have_blue · Jun 21, 2005

Tom,

If the neighbor is that hard-headed, it's a no-win situation you have there.

All I can do is tell you how I would approach the situation. I would ignore the "problem" for the time being. I would do my best to make friends with the guy. If you make friends with him, visit him often when you see him out and about. Let him bring up the subject of the property line. Since I'm friends with all my bordering neighbors, that's easy for me to say!

A late friend used to say "It doesn't do any good to butt heads with a bull to force him into a gate. Just leave the gate open a little and walk away, and eventually he will go in".

Good luck!

Tom_H · Jun 21, 2005

I think this guy's twin lives on the other side of me. I don't have any sage advice; I'll just say, "Good luck. I wish for the best."

Soundguy · Jun 21, 2005

( My neighbor on the other side is just as good as this one is bad. His kid hit the fence with an ATV and he was out there within 1/2 hour splicing and restretching it. )

Yep.. good neighbors are deffinately a plus. Out in the small horse community ilive in.. It isn't out of the norm to come home from work and see a neighbor resetting a fence post of yours that he accidentally hooked with a mower.. or to see your dogs in the neighbors yard, that he collected and held for you as your dogs dug out.. nice people watching out for each other is the name of the game.

Fencing is of particular interest for some reason in our neighborhood. Just about any time you see a fellow go out and start repairing his fence, you see a coupl eother neighbors walk over with hammers.. etc.. and just fall into place... I guess it's so distastefull of a job that when you see a neighbor fixing his fence.. that you go offer to help out of pitty. Has happened to me before, as well as me hopping over to offer help as well.

I'd much rather have a good neighbor I could trust.. then one I was worried about... too bad we can't choose our neighbors all the time!

Soundguy

Michigan_Mike · Jun 21, 2005

Good luckm and I hope talking to him helps.
One of my neighbors put in his garden a few years back, and it looked very close to the property line. The area that he mowed each week also seemed to be getting bigger and bigger even though I told him not to mow our field.
When the survey stakes couldn't be found, we had our property surveyed, and one of the stakes went right inside his garden. The next year he moved the garden, but not very far. One corner is right on the property line. Now that doesn't bother me, but when he mows his yard, he mows all around the garden, part of which is my property. He's hit the iron stake, so he knows where the line is. In this case, talking didn't help, and the problem isn't big enough for the police, so I just steam. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif