On Sunday, October 6, 2013 8:01:40 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sun, 6 Oct 2013 07:21:35 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:
On Thursday, October 3, 2013 1:09:14 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Thu, 3 Oct 2013 08:59:37 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:
On Wednesday, October 2, 2013 5:11:50 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tue, 1 Oct 2013 12:42:12 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:
My back neighbor's fence is on my property anywhere from 1 inch up to 6 inches in places. We have known about this since we moved in but felt that 6 inches wasn't anything to really worry about. However, this neighbor has been nothing but a pain in the behind. Last year he tried to claim 2 feet of our yard because a next-door neighbor was putting up a fence. He hired a company to survey the property which clearly shows the fence is on my property. Now he is blowing his yard waste through the fence and into my yard along with any sticks/branches that fall from his trees over the fence into my yard. We had planned on ignoring the 6 inches but now I want him to move the fence in accordance with city ordnance of 6 inches inside the property line.
Wow! A whole six inches?
We have been dealing with his unstable ways for 7 years now and I've had my limit. He was blowing leaves into our yard last night and I politely stated, "Mr. Howard I would appreciate it if you did not blow your yard waste into my yard." He became very belligerent and hostile, accused me of having an unkempt yard and kept calling me sweetheart. He said "There's nothing you can do to stop me sweetheart." Sorry but that just sounds like a challenge to me and I've had enough of his condescending ways towards women.
Let me get this straight... You have known about this for seven year,
now he as ****ed you off for something totally unrelated, so to get
back at him you want to force him to move the fence. Does that sum it
up?
Two questions: Can I legally make him move the fence in a set period of time?
You can ask a court to "make him".
There may be no need to ask a court to make him do
anything. For example cites were cited here for states
where if a neighbor puts up a fence on your property, you
just need to give him some notice and if the fence isn't
removed, you can tear it down. And I'd say that is one
of the more lib states. In others, if it's on your property
and you tear it down, well that's your right.
You'd better make DAMN sure it's really on your property. It's not
unusual for surveys to be off several feet and each survey to show the
area in question belonging to the respective property owners. When it
gets down to inches, it gets dicey. A judge can settle the issue. *I*
certainly wouldn't do it any other way. Then again, I wouldn't ****
on a neighbor's Wheaties for a fence being 1-6 inches over the line.
The situation is a little different when the neighbor has been
a hostile jerk for the past 7 years. If you do nothing, how about
if he makes an adverse possession claim? The neighbor already had
his own survey done a year ago that showed the fence is on the wrong
property. I'd hire another surveyor to survey my lot and if
his line agrees, that's pretty compelling to me.
It's going to be tough to make that clam and so what if he does. It's
1-6" fer chrissakes!
1" I agree. But if it's 6" it's not hard to make the claim. You
have one surveyor who already apparently showed that the fence is on
the wrong property. If you hire your own surveyor, he will give you
a survey that shows the fence on it and which property it's on. He'll
leave pins in the ground at the property corners. With a string and
a camera you take pics. If the area is long, winding, or has other
issues, then I agree, it could be more difficult. But for a typical
straight backyard fence, if it's off by 6" it should be easy to prove.
As for getting a judge's order to take it down, I'd evaluate
what that is going to cost versus what the neighbor is going
to get if I tear it down and he sues me and it's later
determined that I was wrong.
It sure wouldn't be worth it for me but small claims isn't that big of
a deal. It's only a frigin' couple of inches! If the neighbor is
such an ass, I certainly wouldn't even tempt him to sue me.
I don't believe you can take such a case to small claims, at least
not to force the neighbor to take down a fence. Small
claims court is generally limited to monetary judgements and
maybe the return of some personal property, that kind of thing.
They typically can't order someone to do something. If you wanted
to try it, you'd have to first determine if small claims is the
right venue.
If it's proven I was wrong, but I have also put up a nice new
fence of my own to replace his,
I would think the neighbor would probably get close to zippo.
There is a brand new fence there that serves the same purpose,
so what exactly are his real damages?
The cost of the fence, to move it A COUPLE OF FRIGGIN' INCHES. Good
grief!
The point is that if I put up a nice new fence on my own property that
replaced an old crappy fence, the "damage" the neighbor has suffered,
even if it's later determined that I was wrong,
is questionable. The purpose of a fence is to separate the properties.
There is one there now that's better than the old one. So, even if I
tore an old one down by mistake that was just on his side of the property
and replaced it with one of my own that is on my side, it's not clear
to me that the neighbor has suffered real, measurable damage.
And it's probably not the cost of just moving anything, because
I tend to doubt a neighbor taking down an old fence that's on his
property is going to do it in such a fashion as to save it, keep
the fence, etc. The old fence would probably be in the dump. As I
see it, if I was wrong, but did it based on a survey, reasonable
evidence that lead me to believe the fence was on my property, etc,
the most the neighbor would get is the depreciated value of his old fence.
If it's 15 years old, cost $2000 new, maybe he gets $500.
And if I tore it down and put up nothing, then he'd get the
depreciated value of an old fence, which probably isn't much,
depending on what kind of fence, how old, how long, etc.
So, you have the sure thing of paying a whole lot in legal
fees to go to court vs just the possibility that you might have to
pay some amount for the cost of the fence you tore down.
I would agree that I'd consult a local lawyer first, but I
doubt going to court over this before tearing it down is
necessary or cost effective.
I certainly wouldn't go to court or set myself up to be taken to court
over of A COUPLE FRIGGIN' INCHES. ...particularly when he's made it
clear the issue isn't the fence, rather, being dissed by the neighbor.
An inch, I would agree. Some of it is 6" over though. We don't know
how much of it is off by 1 vs 6. And if the
neighbor is a hostile AH, you're OK with letting them establish a
possible legitimate claim for adverse possession, by you doing nothing?
Or as time goes on, the neighbor puts in trees, shrubs, etc that then
make it even more difficult of a problem for you to reclaim your land?
If it was a neighbor you got along with, that would be a different story.