Our neighbor of 6 yrs has recently (last 2yrs) added in to their driveway and redone landscaping. Great, no big deal. Problem is, we recently got a survey done to build a shed and also redo some landscaping, and that survey showed he has put his new extended driveway, landscaping and extension of concrete for basketball hoop on my property. When we discussed this, he asked if we would simply deed it to him so his new improvements are solely on his property. We respectfully declined. We’ve hired an attorney who advised us to grant a “permission to use” letter so the) can keep as is for remaining useful life of concrete, etc, BUT, acknowledge this is OUR property and waive claim of adverse possession. Well, he refused to sign. He now got his own attorney who is asking us to reconsider a change in deed or grant easement so it is a “fair and acceptable outcome for all”
Am I missing something? It’s not fair to me to give up a decent portion of my property due to his lack of checking log lines. No claim of adverse possession/has not been 15 yrs. Easement not essential to get in/out of driveway. No offer to buy land either, just thinks it’s being “neighborly” to deed over. Any advice or opinions…I feel Bad and I’d rather not be at total war with neighbors (not close to begin with-very different people), BUT, I need to protect my land and assets
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“Fair and acceptable outcome for all”? LOL, if someone made me a fair offer, I’d think about it, but this person hasn’t.
Your attorney is saying to let them use it because if you allow it (and it’s not a hostile situation), they can’t claim adverse possession on your land.
But if they’re being difficult, I’d just get a fence company to put up a fence. And thanks for the basketball hoop, by the way!
Don’t feel bad about this; that person is trying to take advantage of you.
I’d go talk to your neighbor and say that if they’re not willing to sign an easement letter (the permission to use letter), then our attorney thinks the safest legal move is to put up a fence along the property line. So, I’d give them a heads up to maybe move their basketball hoop while they still can. And it’s nothing personal—while we have a verbal agreement and I don’t mind them using it, if something happens to them or they sell, I might end up in a legal mess with their heirs or a new owner. So, to avoid that, we’re putting up a fence.
I bet they’ll back down once you say that. But I wouldn’t hesitate to get a couple of fence contractors out for quotes.
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my “fair” offer is to have them correct it without me calling code enforcement to see the permits and have the city / county force you to rip it up.
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Have the contractors come out when you know the neighbors will be home.
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I might even have a couple friends come over, with a beat up truck and a clipboard. They can take some measurements, spend some time looking at the survey. Walk around and point at the ground. Make some chalk marks on the concrete where we’d need to jackhammer it, take some more measurements.
I’d feel bad wasting the real fence company’s time if I actually intended not to follow through. But I’d not hesitate to passive-aggressive the neighbors into signing the easement.
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Have the lawyer communicate it to their lawyer, I’d add…
Sign the letter or return the property to the original condition, or I will place a fence on the line and sue you to return the property to the original condition.
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This! This is absolutely what should be done! Return my land to its original condition or I’ll sue you til you do it anyway.
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Man, it cracks me up to see things like this.
You didn’t have your property for sale. He tried to take it from you. You are saying no. You have a right to say no and there is NO reason for you to feel bad about his irresponsible behavior and ludicrous expectations. Where was THEIR neighborly behavior when deciding to build out their driveway and ball area?
Because they don’t seem willing to meet you in the middle, I would encourage you to consider being ok with alienating them. They can get their stuff off your property or buy the land from you at a price that is at or above market rate (with them paying the costs of an appraiser & surveyor chosen by you to determine pricing if you use market rate as the standard.)
Perhaps you could take that much of their yard in exchange, I suppose, if you both agreed to have the surveyor to write it up accordingly.) You should randomly draw the line to you give yourself an extra fifty feet.
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This seems like one of those cases where the guy doesn’t realize how screwed he actually is.
He’s been offered a fantastic deal, Option A of being allowed to keep using the land free of charge. He rejected that deal.
Option B could be a fence along the property line cutting off his use of any property.
If he gets too angry about that and starts acting out, option C could be a fence along the property line and a lawsuit to cover the costs of removing all the stuff he put on your land and restoring it back to original condition.
The fact that he hasn’t jumped all over option A is astounding.
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Probably cost $5K to get an attorney to draft new legal descriptions for the two new lots, get any lenders with liens to sign off on them (this will require two appraisals not just one) have the tax assessor record them, and hire a title company to get both parties to sign all new docs on it. And that’s without any actual money changing hands for that piece of land.
Offering an easement is the only way to be a good neighbor about this. That OP’s neighbor wouldn’t accept, tells them he’s not a good neighbor. Or probably very smart.
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