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Jeff Wisnia
 
Posts: n/a
Default Neighbor disputes my property line location

MiamiCuse wrote:

Just bought a property in Miami-Dade County, Florida and want to build
a fence along the property line on my side.

The neighbor has parked a vehicle on the grass with half the car over
on my side. The hood is up and the engine is out and he is apparently
fixing it in his garage. He has a few other cars parked on his
property that are partially disassembled.

I recently had the survey done during the purchase and the surveyor
sprayed painted the iron pin locations and one of them is right at a
power pole. The survey shows the line is 25 feet from the exterior
wall of my house, which is about 7 feet from the exterior wall of his
house.

When I mentioned to my new neighbor that I am going to build a fence
and whether he mind moving his disassembled vehicle out of the way he
said yes no problem. Then later he came back and seemed upset and says
he disagrees with where the property line is.

I showed him the spray painted iron pins. I showed him the power pole
from the utility company, I showed him my survey and measured from my
wall to the spray painted location - 25 feet. He disagrees. He says
it should be half way between the two houses. I stated to hiim this is
not the case as the property line is defined in the legal description
and this is what the survey is going by, and that if he has a survey of
his house he should be able to confirm this. He says he does not have
a survey.

I said to him he is welcome to hire his own surveyor to check this. I
also said when I build the fence, I will be getting a permit and the
county will have to approve it and they will not approve it if the
fence is on his side. He walked away angry and says he is not going to
move the car.

Now I ****ed off a new neighbor and have a mess in my hand.

Any advise?

MC



You just pointed out after the fact a good reason for getting a survey
prior to your closing the deal on that house. If you had, the seller
might have been able to get further with his neighbor than you, the new
kid on the block are getting now.

As others have said, you've got to decide which way you want to push
your problem, you'll likely not be able to end up with both your fence
where you want it and a good relationship with that neighbor. Take your
pick.

**************************

Ah feel yur pain, 'cause a new neighbor swiped about 300 square feet of
our home's lot a couple of years ago when I wasn't paying close enough
attention to what his landscapers were doing. He had them build some
stone retaining walls and planted grass and shrubs on an uncleared
portion of our lot which we weren't using. 15+ years of tree and brush
growth had dulled my memories of where the original survey lines were.

Before I mentioned anything to him I hired a surveyor and spent about
$1,250 getting the lines restaked. A couple of the new survey markers
ended up plunked into his new lawn. This time I made sure I took several
photos of the survey markers in relation to fixed objects so I can use
the pictures for future reference.

I approached the neighbor and asked if he'd be willing to buy the land
he was using from me, for it's proportionate tax assessed value (about
$6,000) or perhaps do a deal with me to annually reimburse the property
taxes I pay on that bit of land (about $90/year nowadays.)

He stalled me for a few months, and I finally decided that it wasn't
worth getting into a ****ing contest with the guy over a bit of land I'd
prolly never want to use anyway, or get involved in a legal hassle which
would undoubtedly benefit my lawyer more than it would me. (Like my
uncle Schlomo used to say, "What do you expect from a pig but a grunt?")

Even putting up an ugly fence along my property line through part of
what he'd turned into "his yard" would be an expense that wouldn't gain
me anything, but would give the neighbor reason to hate my guts and
perhaps do nasty hard to prove things to our property or pets.

So, this way I'm still able to wave hello to him when we're both
outside. He returns the wave, and then I turn away so he doesn't see me
muttering "asshole" under my breath.

That neighbor put his place up for sale a few months ago and I called
the listing realtor, introduced myself, and told her to make darn sure
she told potential buyers where the property line was. She seemed to
understand. Maybe the next owner of that home will have a more
responsible attitude towards things and want to do a deal with me over
"my land" when they buy the place. It still does **** me off a little
four times a year when I'm writing a check to our town for property tax
and I remember that the neighbor is enjoying the use of part of "his"
back yard "tax free".

BTW, adverse possession isn't a factor in our case. Our lot is a class
of property called "Registered Land" here in Massachusetts, and we
retain the right to kick any encroacher off no matter how long they've
"borrowed" the use of part of it.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."