Encroaching Neighbor (1 Viewer)

My house is on a private drive and I own 6 acres. Yesterday I noticed that water was running down the driveway so I went to find the source. On my walk there, I noticed that my neighbor is encroaching on to my property. They only have 140' of frontage onto the shared drive and they are well on my property with brush piles and trees that they cleared from my land. The survey pin that was there has also now vanished. I am pissed off beyond belief. These neighbors just moved in to this newly built house and the pin was there before they moved in.

So, instead of banging on their door at 8:30 pm I thought I'd take a time out to think about how I should approach them. Believe me the thought of breaking out the shotgun crossed my mind (I don't really have one).

How would you approach a neighbor in this situation?

Keep in mind this lady is a potential kook from what my wife says from talking to her while waiting for the bus with my daughter. I don't really talk to the neighbors which is why I bought this house in the first place, can't see them nor do I want to.

PS. I have my plot plan along with the entire neighborhood plot sizes from the town.

I would call my local authorities for advice on what to do and who to contact before confronting the neighbor. Did they remove the pin, or just the pin marker? That may be illegal where you are. Also, if they are clearing your trees, that may also be illegal.

You have an important decision to make that will determine how neighborly things will be and maybe how happy your family will be at your home for years to come.

I would invite your new neighbors over to your home for drinks or dinner. At some point I would bring up the border issue and if it seemed appropriate ask if they wanted to go halves on a fence along the border. If you like them it could be a friendly fence with a gate between your properties. If not, skip the gate. A survey may be necessary.

Good fences make good neighbors.

I'd try and give them the benefit of the doubt and try the rational approach first. Let them know where the boundary is; if they still dispute it, have the city come and survey it to make it official. I'd bet their realtor probably told them incorrectly where the lot line is to help sell the house.

Or.. you could go out to the lot line and put one of these up:



I have a potentially similar problem with a neighbor cutting down trees on his property. He's coming awfully close to our lot line, so everytime I hear a chainsaw I step out in the driveway to see where he's at.

I have to echo sentiments of some of the others...

Be careful how you approach this. Done the wrong way, you could set up some serious bad feelings on both sides for years to come. It's no fun having neighbors who don't get along.

It could be they're just dumb, in speaking with them my wife thinks that they are just book smart and lack common sense.

But stupidity is/should not be an excuse.


We'll find out tonight when I talk to them with plot plans in hand.

I waited the day so I had some time to cool off.

I think if he owns 5 acres and has to make a special trip out just to see that they've encroached on his property... eh I wouldn't be too worried about bad feelings.

Bring a plate of cookies and welcome them to the neighborhood, then hit them with the property line thing later or towards the end of the conversation. I would be really nice about it, there will be plenty of time to be nasty later if they refuse to stop dumping on your land. Better to give a neighbor the benefit of the doubt until you know whether they are jerks or not.

I think the sentiment here is correct: I'd bet a dime to a dollar that the real estate person 'insinuated' that their property extended a little further than it actually does. Most likely just a misunderstanding, but one that still needs to be addressed.

Ah that's the funny thing, they're not that new. They've been there a year or so. My wife has spoken to them at the bus stop. I've lived there for 8 years and I don't know any of my neighbors and wanted to keep it that way. I can't see them nor do I want to. That's why I bought all of the property.

I'm not anti-social I just don't want to deal with neighbors.

That's what makes me even more mad, they're forcing me to deal with them.

Over for cookies and milk is out of the question then ?

I hear ya. I agree with the other posters. I would hate to be in a situation where I'm worry about being sabotaged. Why do I get the feeling that you're not going to be nice about this . However, I don't blame you for being so upset. I would be too.

Keep us up-to-date.

I think your best bet would be to talk to them about it calmly and see if they are not willing to stay off your property. After that, it's fair game to get authorities involved.

We live out in a rural area and have one close neighbor. They are fabulous neighbors. The husband even taught me how to use his chainsaw when he helped us cut down a tree that had partially fallen on our fence. I couldn't ask for better neighbors.

Just make sure whatever you do, you don't go in all mad and upset about the situation. Make sure you let them know that they have encroached on your property adn would appreciate it if they would be more careful when clearing things.

Hope it works out for ya.

Prediction: If they are nonconfrontational people, they will immediately apologize and it will be the end of it. But, still, depending on how you approach them, they (and you) could harbor some bad feelings. If they are more confrontational, it could get ugly.

I try to put myself in the situation. Let's say the very first time my neighbor confronts me about an error like this he brings along the plans pointing out all the borders of the property. He is noticably upset about the situation. If I am truly in error, I apologize and do what I have to to fix the situation, but I am resentful that he had to be such a jerk about it.

On the other hand, if we are just talking, and during the conversation he asks me what I am doing with all the brush and stuff, he kindly points out that that is across his property line... That is different. If I don't believe you, or if I continue my actions after this point. Then you drag out the plans. If that doesn't do it, then you contact authorities.

Mistakes happen. Take it from that approach from the get-go. If it turns out to be something else, deal with it as it comes. Don't go looking for trouble. And if you don't like having to deal with your neighbors... Well, too bad. You have them. Now try your best to deal with them like a civilized person.

In my opinion, it is not worth causing more of a problem than is needed over it. Life is too short for that kind of shit.

Good fences make good neighbors.

Poison cookies!

It's good to try and get along with your neighbors but the removal of the pin sounds like a deliberate effort to 'steal' your land. Try to be nice, at first, but confront them about it. Moving the pin is a lot different than going over the border due to ignorance or oversight.

I've dealt with something similar. For years, my widowed grandmother allowed her neighbors to get away with this. The pin was actually moved. Then a nice shed was built, then a carport, and finally, new shrubs with a very nice border. All crossing over by two feet. They even planted a nice new lawn and took two feet of my grandmother's front yard! Every time I went over there, I would ask her to let me confront the man. She never allowed it.

After she died and the time eventually came to sell the house, I asked my family to let me go over there and confront the guy. Knowing my methods and probable reaction to this jerk living next door, they wouldn't let me. My family ended up selling the house and just telling the new owner

my grandparents had a driveway poured to a new garage behind their house years and years ago, at least 20. Well, turns out someone bought the house next door and the driveway was on their property, after a certain amount of time that property becomes theirs, I think it's 10 years

I think I'm just going to go over there and say "I was trying to locate the source of this water running down the driveway and I noticed that you're cutting trees that are on my property. There was a pin here (points to spot) that would've shown you the property line. Could you please stop cutting my trees, remove the gigantic brush pile that are the remnants of my trees and replace all cut trees with Japanese maples? And, I would like to show you the rest of the property line before you start your clear cutting of the rest of your property."

That's the gist of it, except the Japanese maple part.

The water is another fun story, there is what looks like plastic well pipe coming from this or possibly the next neighbor over that is pumping water onto our already beat up gravel drive. It's constantly muddy. Maybe I can get to the source of that as well. (poor pun intended)

If someone knowingly has a pipe draining onto your property and the pipe is of reasonable size, run to Home Depot, Lowes, or the hardware store and buy a PVC cap with the proper primer and glue. Go out there at night and glue the cap on and then bury the end of the pipe. They'll soon get the message.

Wow, I'm glad I don't live next to some of you folks! He hasn't even tlaked to them yet and you are ready to start sealing pipes and demanding satisfaction? Let's take it easy folks, I'm sure these are people living next to him and not killer robots from the future.

And Mark:



Uhh ... that's what the term anti-social means.