Your Land is my Land

[dmccarty]

Now we have gone from a boundary problem to the neighbor being a nut job in a position of authority that will pull all the survey markers. I think we are jumping to conclusions.

No, being rational and basing possibilities on the "neighbors" irrational actions.

We had a "neighbor" who took down all of the flagging marking his property line before his house was started. He then laid out the foundations of the house so that it is not even close to being square and plumb to the lot.

Said "neighbor" then went to build a septic system but since he did not the know the property lines and the septic field ran parallel to our shared line, I knew he would have the septic filed installed on our land. There was no talking with this guy so I hired a surveyor to reflag the line so the "neighbor" would know where his land ended. The surveyor also put in a pipe in between the two corners.

The "neighbor" then tore down the new flagging. But the septic field stayed on his land. WHY did the "neighbor" take down the flagging? Me thinks it was to try to hide the fact that his house was not square and plumb on the lot which was important since he was trying to sell the house.

New owner buys the house and wants to install a very large and expensive fence. Did he survey the lot line? Of course not. Does he have a clue as to the location of the line? Of course not. Does he talk to me? Of course not. I see he is going to build the fence on our land so I go talk to him and take along a compass and property survey. He argues, but we find the pipe put between the two corners and Fence posts go moved.

Another property line I cleared on my side of the line and put in T posts marking the line and survey markers. A different "neighbor" took the posts. My guess is that he wanted the posts and he was using the cleared line to drive his ATV.

The first "neighbor" who I mentioned almost certainly loosened bolts on my tractor and also shot up our place. WHY he did this I don't know. We were nothing but nice to him. Sold him land at the same price we paid and I worked out a timber deal that basically paid for his land. All he had to do was sign the paper. What do we get in return? Nothing but scat.

Given that the OP's "neighbor" has already pulled out T posts showing the property line, had fits about said line, is a local big wig, it is a good possibility that the "neighbor" is going to go bonkers when he see the survey flagging and posts. Why not be prepared and record what the guy will do? If he does nothing, great, hopefully he got the message. If not, well, it is candid camera time.

Later,
Dan

 

[prichard]

Can you run livestock on your place? I doubt he would knock a fence down if it will let cows, horses, or a bunch of hungry goats into his vineyard.

Best idea in this thread. No confrontation, no retaliation. The crime for removing fence is self administered punishment.

Couple of questions?
How often does he do this? Weakly, monthly? etc.
Does he see this area from his house?
The reason I ask is I'd schedule survey and fence for right after his next trespass. If he doesn't see any of this in process less likely to have a confrontation and he'll be in for a grand surprize next time he's there.

Also another thought is if he is a semi big wig in town I'd hire a surveyor from a town or 2 away to make sure I wasn't hiring one of his buddies.

 

[dodge man]

I'd say after the survey is done you will see how this all plays out.

A short story. I did a survey for someone and the adjoiner objected to it. We went out and looked at it and ended up agreeing what I did was OK. On the ride to the property he told me a story. He had some other farm ground and there was a house on some small acreage that bordered his larger farm ground. He told me the people had there house surveyed and the corners fell several rows into his corn. His words were "I guess I'll have to stop farming it". His attitude told me a lot about how some people think. He was very hostile towards me and I imagine it was the same for the people that owned this house and he was farming part of their ground. It wasn't his fault, it was there fault he had to stop farming their ground. I know he wanted to argue with me about my work but when I said lets go look at it, it just took the wind out of his sails. He ended up not being a bad guy but I learned a lot about his mindset and how he was thinking.

Like someone else posted above, if you can figure out why this guy is doing it and what his mindset is, you have won half the battle. That doesn't make what he is doing right, but at least you can figure out what his line of thinking is.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

He might be turning on your land because that is what he is used to. Maybe his daddy did it. Maybe his daddy had permission and the son didn't know that. Hard to say. Maybe he likes being a jerk.

 

[rgr33]

I’m guessing the neighbor knows he is in the wrong, but doesn’t want to do what is necessary to make it right.

 

[hawkeye08]

We had a boundary line problem, neighbor surveyed and decided he wanted 100' of our property. He went to the county and convinced them that I okay his plans for cul de sac on my property. I caught wind of it and went to the county and shut the whole thing down. We then sued the neighbor and ended up settling before court, giving them a temporary easement for a water well they had put on our property for about what our lawyers fees were. Avoid a lengthy legal battle if possible. The lawyers make money, the neighbors loose.

 

[sixdogs]

We used to live in a very rural state and a nice guy neighbor down the road called the town to complain about a guy that had a bunch of junk cars behind his house that adjoined his property. Even though there was no zoning, you weren't supposed to have more than a few around. Anyway, the next day the junkman showed up at the nice guy 's house and asked what he was doing calling his cousin (a town selectman) to complain about him.

Long story short but the junkman pulled a 1970's Holiday mobile home (avocado green) right on the property line and right in front of the nice guy's kitchen window pastoral view. No zoning anyway but no one was going to do anything about it. It may still be there but it was there five years when we left.

The nice guy was a retired college professor with a first rate flock of sheep and living on his grandparent's 100 or 150 year old farm. It was beautifully maintained and he sure didn't need the aggravation dished out by the junkman. The junkman never sold any of the junk but lived on public assistance.

 

[TheMan419]

So the property next to us sold. IF the buyers build it will be the only house I can see from my property. Last summer/fall they would mow their property. I would mow mine. A line of weeds grew up along the general area we both thought the property line was. Because right at about the line there was a change in elevation you could not easily mow north and south, but would be able to easily mow east/west. Well that would mean we would go on each other's property.

Guess what? We right then and there just agreed to do so. Whoever was out mowing will look and see if that area needs mowed. If it does.... mow it. If not the other one of us will get it next time.

Oh and by the time we agreed to this the weeds were so high my neighbor's mower could not handle it. So I hooked up the bush hog and solved that particular problem.

I feel for you OP. I would not allow this trespass to continue either given the neighbor's attitude. You tried talking to him about it and he has told you in no uncertain terms to bug off.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Do you have an old two or three bottom plow? If you do run it down the line two or three times digging out the furrow and piling the dirt up. This will make it impossible for the helpers to park their vehicles on you. It will not be good on his equipment making the turns. If he fills it in hire somebody to come out and redo the work and send him the bill.

Establish that it is your land and you don't want him on it.

Be sure you are on your side with the furrow.

If that fails then go the lawyer route.

Cheapest thing you can do. Anything else is going to cost you money.

RSKY

I sometimes use my 3 point blade for trenching. I tip it up to 45 degrees or 90 degrees from horizontal, set it to it digs in, and run the trench line a few times with the tractor, until I have to start levering myself out of the hole with the front loader.

 

[Midniteoyl]

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