Strange property line issues

18 years ago

We finished building our house about 7 months ago. I posted quite a bit on the building forum during that time.

I have a situation concerning one of my neighbors and our adjoining property line.

We bought 6 acres in 1999. It is a long and narrow piece of property. The property line in question is approx. 879 feet long.

When we bought the land, we planted leyland cypress trees to create a future privacy screen. We planted over 100 trees. The land next to us was still for sale. We planted the trees 8 feet into our property line to allow for growth and spaced them 8 feet apart. This way the trees would not be crammed on top of each other as I have seen in other areas.

The land next to us sold a couple of years later.

Fast forward to 2004. We start to build our house. Our Leylands are about 12-15 feet tall and are doing great.

One day while out at the building site I noticed the neighbor planting leylands next to ours. He planted some

right on the property line and several were on our land. He planted the Leylands 2-3 feet apart. Leylands grow 60-70 feet tall and 12-15 feet wide!

He also began to cut down beautiful hardwoods trees to plant leylands. He cleared out a large portion of oaks, maples, and poplers.

Our leylands will touch and create total privacy within 3-4 years.

After we moved in the house, I would see him planting more and more leylands. I very nicely told him some of his leylands were on the property line and some were on our property. I suggested he move them back on his line as to create a better air flow around the trees. Leylands have problems with bagworms and spider mites and need some space between them. I mentioned we would have the property line remarked. He moved the trees 18 inches.

I just paid $200 to have the lines remarked. While examining the property line markers, I noticed the neighbor had cleared some of our land. In one area he encroached our land by about 3 feet. He cut down several poplers that were on our land.

This is the strange part. This area had some heavy shrub growth. Our Leylands are only about 4 feet tall due to less sunlight. My neighbor decided to plant more little Leyland cypress trees in between our trees. He knows this is our property. My husband did not believe me. He said they must be trees we planted 6 years ago that did not grow.

Well, I showed him the trees and pulled them out of the ground. The roots were fresh and shaped like a 4" pot.

I can not tell if when he cleared his land he may have accidently run over some of our trees and decided to replace them and not tell us. I can find no evidence of our Leyland cypress trees being accidently mowed so I have no clue as to why he decided to start adding trees in between our trees.

When he cleared his hardwoods we now have a direct view of his house. His house is built about 300 feet away in the woods. We do not understand his obsession with his leyland cypress trees and our property line. He has ignored the rest of his property. There is trash all along the front of his property.

I am at my wits end with all the problems with my builder and our house and I just do not want to deal with this neighbor again. My husband has agreed to talk to him this time.

My other neighbor just loves our trees and has left everything alone.

Thank you for letting me vent. The whole thing is just so strange and it is adding to the tension of this whole building process.

LSST

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Comments (9)

Margerie
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sorry to hear about this LSST. I know you have had your challenges with your build. All I can say is people get weird when it comes to property lines. Our neighbor dug about 6 huge holes 30 yards into our property to plant some trees. She wanted to block our house from their view. We put up a fence and she hasn't meddled on our property since. We just have these huge holes to deal with. What are these people thinking? I guess I would talk to the guy and/or put up a fence if you can.
lsst
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks Margerie.
When the land was remarked yesterday, I was not home. When I returned the front of our property was marked 20 feet in from the road for the full length of the property. There were wood stakes at these pins marked "property corner".

I called the survey company and mentioned we thought we owned to the road and was told that someone else owns that 20 foot x 300 foot strip in front of your property! Well, I was quite upset thinking about right of way issues and just who could own this strip of property. I had major landscaping plans for it.

Back when we bought the land, we had an attorney do extensive research to make sure all right of way and access to land issues were accurate.

I had the survey company back out to question the front and thank heavens they found two more pins at the road so we actually do own the 20 footx 300 foot strip.

So, when I wrote my message last night not only was I dealing with this strange neighbor and his trees but I thought someone else owned the land we thought was ours!

LSST
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Hi! I read your post and it sounds somewhat like our situation (though no accusations about affairs or anything--just unsupervised children!) Anyway, since we moved to our home with a 2 year old, and another on the way, I insisted that if we did nothing else to our landscaping, we needed to install a fence! Since our neighborhood was somewhat established, and none of our bordering neighbors had fences, we opted for a split rail fence with a green mesh exterior--which is nearly invisible against the grass and landscaping. This design allowed us to "pen" our child(ren) in, keep the neighbors kids and dogs out, and it was subtle enough so as not to look like a "spite" fence. Once the fence was up, we then planted a mixed row of Rose of Sharon, smallish arborvitaes, along with roses, and barberries (the thorns are also helpful in the fight against would-be entruders!!! LOL!) The other nice thing about this kind of fence is that is CAN be temporary and removed after other plantings fill in, and it is one of the least expensive fencing designs, and both the mesh and individual timbers can easily be replaced if needed. We were able to fence in a relatively large 1/2 acre back yard for about $4000--it may sound a bit expensive, but it was WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! Just something to consider! Good luck!
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Something that bothers me in particular to this situation of mowing into the neighbor's property, is how so many people have a lawn service now. Those lawn services (at least in my perspective) don't show any regard for others properties. The yards here where I live are relatively small, yet they all use huge ride on mowers. The lawn service guy is typically a lone male having his own small business, while another might have two other guys there so, again, they created a small business with their own work ethics. I don't know what governs them and speculate they just make up their own rules. The city ordinance allows them to begin at 8 a.m. and in other area's it might be 7:30 a.m.. Here, the services across the street and next door, both sides, all arrive first thing in the morning, roaring loudly, and many times there's 4 or 5 different services arround at once! The riding mowers and the powerful blowers produce noise that is so loud, it's frightening and drowns out phone call conversations. So if the services arrive on a work day when you have a conference call, it's never good. Eagerly, I await when these loud mowers will be against the rules and outlawed. I've been reading how California is headed that route... YAY! I get why they look for fast ways to mow, but realistically, these lawns are not big enough to justify riding mowers. The one service is out there now, it's just him, so he spends over an hour mowing and blowing with professional equipment! We (neighbor and I) have side fencing. The riding mower can't get into small spaces or some around landscaping, so he just mows 4 feet, even 5 feet into my yard so he doesn't have to do any of her yard by hand. He mows so far in that he's mowed over 3 of my sprinkler heads, which are far enough away from the property line to not mow, but he seems to care none. I've gently spoken with him. He blows her yard leaves up against my home side and side fence, creating a large mound. This also happens on the opposite side of my property by another lawn service. Their services cause my property to appear to be a total of at least 8 feet less wide, at times 10 feet. They mow so low they scalp the grass, and, because of the wood fencing, it's visible they've mowed plenty over the property lines. The sad part is the lawn services do it for their mowing conveniences, so it says they have no respect for my property as long as they can more easily do their jobs for the neighbors, yet the neighbors don't ever mention it to say how sorry they are, or that they're trying to remedy it. To add insult to injury, the one neighbor has been burning pinion wood in her patio chiminera that is placed so closely to my yard and blows downwind, that my home often reeks of the burning wood. The smoke fills my yard and the smell permeates into my home. She is too close in proximity to be doing that wood burning. My home will reek like it's on fire, which I used to think it was in the walls. We are not neighbors at odds, so there's nothing going on there. She burns so much pinion wood that I wear a cloth mask to sleep in because my throat has become scratchy, and now I cough a good bit, which I suspect is due to the wood burning. My sinuses seem to be highly irritated by the smoke. My bedroom is in close proximity to her patio. I'm not far from age 70, own my home and have lived here over 25 years. Her inconsiderate styles are becoming such a pain that infringe on my life, and I'm afraid the laws don't care about me in any of these situations.
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Like you, I have a neighbor who is very controlling of MY property. Problem is, we live on less than 1/4 acre and we're practically on top of eachother. In no time, we put up a fence, but he was really bitter because of that. He liked having access to our yard, and would always comment that he comes in our yard when we are gone - very weird. He was upset that he had to trim the grass along our fence, so instead he started spraying grass killer. In the process my plants along the perimeter of my fence started dying. We also put a LOCKING gate at the back of our property, and keep it locked at all times. Who actually goes into their neighbors property all the time like it is their own? He would also yell at me (he's an older guy) because I over fertilized my own hostas one year and they started dying. What business is it of his? He has also sprayed my basement windows with his hose because they get dirty after it rains. In the process, he cracked one of my window panes. Luckily, I was getting the windows replaced with glass block anyway, but he wears on me at times. Trying to be "nice" to people like that who are inconsiderate in the first place is not the way to handle it. You have to be very frank with them. I told him to never spray along my fence again because he's killing my plants. Enough said, he got the point. I agree - send a certified letter outlining dates, times, take pictures and tell them that if they continue to destroy your property you will consult with an attorney regarding your rights. This is a civil matter. You may also want to consider posting "no trespassing" signs. we have a woodpile behind our garage, and found out that a neighbor, who happens to be an ATTORNEY, was helping himself to our wood. We had to cover it with a tarp and post a NO TRESPASSING, PRIVATE PROPERTY accordingly. The message is clear. They have no regard for your property, and people like that will eventually try to take it over.
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If your neighbor did not get a survey when he bought the property, or he bought it some years ago he may have a misconception about where the property line was. Did you get the property surveyed when you bought the property? Before getting a lawyer involved and putting up a fence, go down to the local register of deeds, and get copies of the OFFICIAL survey of both properties. Make sure the lot description are the same for the dividing line. (I know the stake on my back lot line for that neighbors lot is six inches inside my lot. ) You do not have a legal problem unless you or neighbor wants to build a structure in that area. Once you find the line descriptions are the same for both lots, take the maps over to your neighbor, show him, and ask him to help you define the lot line. Fences and lawyers are barriers to good relationships between neighbors. I only bought this house four years ago. Until the house next door sold last year, I had let the line drift about two feet into his lot. This may sound strange, but there are about four large trees that sit on the line, so it is difficult to sight the line. In addition the front lot line stake is about 10 feet below the highest point on the line.
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nokeysyet
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
LSST- wow. sorry to hear of your troubles. we are having similar if not smaller issues w/ property lines & trees being planted, and trespassing on one side (an issue because federal law prohibits cutting of wetlands fauna and our neighbor still continues to think that our land is their land...but now WE would be liable for his cutting & clearing). it's weird... our neighbors on the left and the right still feel that our property is a 'commiunal' property. it is rather awkward at times. in our case we are installing split rail fences on each side for now. i feel this is a nice if not upfront way of setting boundries without being so obvious. (would love to do a row trees like you, but we do not have the room, and the neighbors on each side already planted tall psipheas (sic?) when we went forward on purchasing the lot 4 yrs ago.

if all does not go so well (and we have major privacy problems on one particular side. read: we are in a fishbowl!) we might have to install a larger stockade fence. this might have to be a solution for you?? hope you can sort it out otherwise.

congratulations on your build - best wishes for this latest bs.
lsst
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Nokeysyet, I would love to do a split rail fence but I can not talk my husband into it yet.

My husband thinks that why put up a fence if in a couple of years our trees will grow together to form a privacy screen.

It is amazing how many people have problems with their neighbors and property lines. Mine seem little compared to you guys.

Tonight about 8:30 a tree service truck passed our house and turned into the neighbors driveway. I wonder what trees are to be cut next. sigh.....

LSST
Mee_Too
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
LSST --

Any updates on your situation?

What trees were cut down in the latest visit from the tree service?
lsst
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Mee Too,

We paid $200 to have the property line remarked and extra pins added. I have left the wooden stakes up.

The trees are planted about 6 inches from the line. We suggested he move the ones directly on the line ( before we had the lines remarked). He moved them 6 inches back!

The trees are only about 2-3 feet tall and are already crossing over our line and crowding our Leylands which we planted 5 feet into our line.

I pulled out the trees he planted amongst our leylands.

Every Sat, I hear the chain saw. He originally built in the woods but apparently decided he no longer wants the trees near his house. Our house is about 400 feet away and even with all the summer leaves we now look directly into his garage. I am sure this winter with all the leaves gone we will see the whole house. (sigh)

OT, I used to post quite often on this forum but after 8 months in our house we still are having a time even getting our builder to complete the 30 day punch list.

We still are having problems with getiing our scratched windows replaced. ( another long thread-along time ago when the window washers hired by our builder scratched 16 windows).

We have a failing paint issue on our exterior wrought iron-minor hardiplank issues-electrical issues- air infiltration issues- carpet issues etc.

I am so sick of waiting on contractors who do not show up.
I have 4 months left on the one year warrenty and now have to begin a more aggressive approach. If these items are not repaired within the one year mark, I am retaining an attorney and filing a complaint with our state licensing board.

Sorry for the vent
LSST
lsst
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Our trees are currently 5 feet from the line at 16 feet and with the property line remarked the neighbor's trees that he did not move are 6 inches from the line.

LSST
Mee_Too
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sorry that the joy you should be experiencing from your new home is being clouded with these issues!

Hope you have a speedy resolution of them!
lsst
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks, Mee Too.

LSST

Strange property line issues

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Margerie

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Strange property line issues

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Margerie

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