After nearly 9 years, I've met the neighbour.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

After living here nearly nine years, I’ve talked to the neighbour for the first time. A little background:

I bought this house from my best fiend. When he bought it, he started fixing it up. There was a weird jog in the fence at the back of the property. He straightened it. The neighbour went ballistic. See, a few owners ago there was a bit of a dispute. This house was built in 1934. At some point, I’m guessing at more than 20 years ago, an owner encroached on the neighbour’s property. He planted trees and put up a low fence. I’m not sure how everything went down, but there was a lawsuit. The settlement was that the fence could stay where it is, but the property line in the back part of the lot was to be moved over into this yard to compensate for the loss of the property on the other side. So when my friend straightened the fence, the woman next door was a bit miffed.

The fence is rotting. The people who take care of the yard next door are not careful with their mower, and parts of the fence were leaning this way. Now, I’m not big on yard work. Still, not long after I bought the house I tried to at least get the fence upright. A handy way to do this at one part was to screw a 2x4 into one of the trees and to the top of the fence. It worked well. A couple of months ago I bought some T-stakes and propped up the fallen bits. I tried to be very careful to put the posts in their original positions. I’d heard about The Issue, and wanted to make sure I didn’t encroach any more.

We haven’t seen the neighbour much this year. She’s had a knee replacement and lives in Seattle. Today she drove up. I have the top off the MGB, and we had a torrential T-storm yesterday. I’d put a tarp over the tonneau cover. (It’s designed to keep the dew out of the interior – not to keep it dry in a downpour.) The woman sees me and approaches. ‘Is that your property?’ Not ‘Hello’ or ‘How are you?’ No preliminaries. Just a confrontational attitude. ‘Did you see that stake in the corner? Because I had the property surveyed, and that’s the property line.’ She claims the fence corner had been moved. I told her I never touched the corner; I only picked up the fence and put it upright in its original position. She said she’s not going to worry about a few inches, but the fence had moved and she wants to make sure it doesn’t move any more. I reiterated that the fence had not been moved since I’ve been here. She pointed out my 2x4 brace and said that that’s ‘wrong’. ‘The fence should be against the tree. All of the trees are on the property line.’ Um… No, the fence is where it was when I moved in.

I said that if I ever have some extra money, I’d like to put up a low (same height) block fence in place of the wooden one. Easier to maintain, and easier to trim along the edges (on both sides). She said, ‘I don’t think that would be very woodsy. I think if people live up here, they should like things woodsy.’ (I should note that I would put the wall inside of the existing fence, so she’d be getting a few inches back. I didn’t tell her that.) She said if I ever wanted to re-establish the original property line, she’d help pay for a fence – even if I want a masonry one. Now, I’d toyed with the idea of finding out where the original property line was and restoring it. But I wasn’t going to tell her that, since I didn’t like her approach. Now I’m inclined to keep the line where it is. Decades ago there was an adverse taking. It was settled in court long before my friend bought the place. I’ll not have my balls busted over it.

Other than that, she seemed nice enough. Amenable to having piped-in gas installed, said she might ask for my phone number in case of emergencies. Has a nice-looking fluffy grey cat.

But 20+ years is a long time to obsess over a property line issue that has been settled.

And the nine years? Hey, I’m from L.A. We don’t talk to neighbours. :stuck_out_tongue:

2

I am reminded of this Gary Larson cartoon.

3

We’ve lived here 8 years. The only words we exchanged with the people next door was when our idiot dog decided she wanted to go into their house - the daughter brought idiot dog home, and we thanked her and apologized. That family has since moved, and a new couple moved in (they’ve now got a toddler) - we’ve talked with the husband and he helped us move some heavy stuff into our basement and my husband helped him pull out a trailer that got stuck in his yard. I’ve never seen the wife, and I’ve seen the little boy at a distance.

There’s an elderly couple that lives behind us. About 6 years ago, he stopped me while I was working in my yard and warned me that illegal aliens were walking thru my yard at night - illegal aliens from Puerto Rico. :confused: Oh, and my yard is on the corner lot, so anyone wanting to get from the front to the street behind us would have a much easier and safer time going down the street rather than navigating the downed trees, rusting fence, and assorted debris on the unlighted 2 acres.

One day when my husband and I were installing a new mailbox (an idiot kid from down the street crashed into it) we met another couple from across the street, but for the life of me, I can’t recall their names. I still see them walking in the neighborhood and I’ll wave.

Eight years. I guess we’re not too neighborly… To be fair, tho, most of the lots here are 3 acres or more, so it’s not like we even see each other all that often.

4

I do chat with the elderly Canadian couple across the street when they’re here, and one set of people on the other side of me occasionally ask me for help moving heavy things. And there are others with whom I exchange pleasantries as they walk down to the beach. So I’m not a total recluse. :wink:

5

My neighbor had been using a portion of my property since before I moved here. Since they used it, they also mowed it.

Every year they asked to buy the piece of property. Over time, they turned out to be assholes, so I set a price of $750k for what is probably 1/4 acre. They were PISSED, but then quickly became frenemies again? I didn’t think much of it, but at least they quit trying to buy it.

Then, last year, I got it surveyed and put a fence right along the property line and even offered to put in two gates so they could continue to use the property as they had done in the past.

I have never seen such a melt down in my life. You would think I was installing a wall of speakers to play heavy metal music 24/7. When the fence guy showed up to work, they flew up here, veins popping out of their skulls screaming that my fence would cost them THOUSANDS of dollars somehow and that I couldn’t put the fence in because it just wasn’t ‘right’ to do that. I was totally baffled until someone pointed out that the next year, they could have filed an adverse action to get the property that they’d been trying to buy for nearly 15 years for free because they’d been mowing it.

We haven’t exchanged words since and it wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t exchange words for the next decade. I’m thinking of putting pigs down on that little spot so they have to go by that smell every day…

6

I don’t talk to any of my neighbors in my apartment building unless there is a problem. Have spoken to the guy across the hall in a friendly manner a couple of times, but each time he sees me it’s like we’ve never met. He’s a guy in his 30’s from Africa with a new baby, so it’s not like he has alzheimers or anything, but it really strikes me as odd that each encounter is like the first time he’s ever laid eyes on me.

7

Hmmm…this morning I went out to feed my horses and found the neighbor’s two in with mine. I walked the fence line and saw where they broke down the hotwire and got in. The neighbor is about 1/2 mire down the road and on the other side of the road. I stopped by their house on the way in and let them know where their horses were and asked them to be sure they didn’t let mine out while retrieving theirs.

StG

8

What on earth were they using it FOR? Unless they’re digging gold out of there, I can’t think of what would be worth that kind of fuss. Do they have dead bodies buried there? Were they ‘mowing’ hay for their own animals? That’s just…weird!

I definitely wouldn’t install access for them unless and until you know exactly what they’re doing there, and are ok with it. :stuck_out_tongue:

9

Neighbour? Did you move to England? :slight_smile:

10

Long story short. They are an entire clan, lead by a guy. I’m a single female, so obviously I should defer to their wants and desires.

11

Maybe they drank his milkshake.

12

Well, obviously you’d be in the right to just ignore them and do whatever you want with your own property. But it seems odd it’s unknown what they’re DOING there.

13

Long story short, my ass! Log story long! I’m intrigued! Details!!

14

This was also bolded in the OP, so I’m wondering if this turn-of-phrase was intentional? It’s kinda neat, either way.

15

Yes. I always call him that.

16

There isn’t anything strange about WHAT they were doing, they used my ground to get to the property of another neighbor. That’s why they kept it mowed. The strange part was how he looked like his head was going to physically explode over a simple fence, even after I and the fence guy explained that there would be gates so he could still get to the neighbor’s property.

I live in a bit of a hill-billy area where women just don’t buy their own farm. If they “want a farm, they marry a man who has one or can buy one for them” (actual words used to explain why the locals were so weird when I came here!).

One of the rumors to 'explain how a woman bought that farm" was that I was given a grant from some big NY city non-profit to start a commune for lesbians. I found out because my farrier asked me where all the lesbians were after he’d finished trimming my horses. And yes, I sound like I’m wacked, but I really could not make up half the shit that has happened here at this farm.

It wasn’t until later that someone suggested that the neighbor was >this< close to having the time in needed to file for an adverse taking action in the courts.

17

The SO and I came home from errands yesterday. The weekend neighbour was just getting out of her car. She waited for us.

This is the second time I’ve met her. Once again, she launched right into the property line thing. She wants me to attach a string to the post in the back of the property, and to the post in the front of the property, and she’ll pay half to put up a fence. I told her I couldn’t afford to put up a new fence. I reminded her that I had not moved the existing (rotting) fence. She said the trees were moving it, and she just wants to protect her property rights. I told her I work full-time, have other things going on part time, and have other responsibilities. I don’t have time to think about a fence or property lines. I told her I have no intention of encroaching on her property (as defined by the lawsuit 20 or more years ago). She doesn’t even go into her yard because she had a knee replacement. I told her that if she wants to tie a string to the posts, be my guest. I don’t care. She said, ‘Hey, I can just put up a fence on my side!’ Yes. Yes, you can.

I don’t want to be a bad neighbour, and she claims she doesn’t either. But Crist in crotchless panties, woman! You said yourself I’m the third owner since the settlement! Children have been born since then, who are going to college now! Just chill!

I’m just a bit offended that both times we’ve met, she immediately harped on the property. What ever happened to ‘Hi, how are you? How’s life treating you?’ Way to make a friendly impression, woman! The SO likes to know neighbours, and likes to be on good terms with them. She snubbed Obsessive Woman and told me she scares her. She does not want to be her friend.

Yeah, I’d like a new fence too. I’d give up a few inches of the settled property line just to make sure she’s not being cheated. I’d pay for half, if I could afford it. Hell, I’d put up a new fence on my own if I could afford it. But I can’t. I live here, and she doesn’t. I don’t have a problem. If she does, she can bloody well take the initiative.

18

Maybe she should sue the trees.

I live in a historic district. My house is surrounded on three sides by city alley and a street in the front. We have on street parking. Only one house on the non historic side of the street has a garage. Anyway, one alley has to be left open, the cross alley too. But the one on the right of my house is impassable due to a tree and a steep drop.

I went to the city to buy the alley on the right side of my house so I could have off street parking. I don’t need the whole alley, just about 15 feet in. The city said that one of my neighbors on that side of the alley (there are two) had come in to open the alley so they could put a garage in their backyard ‘someday’, but that I was free to pay for a curb cut and put in gravel.

The ‘someday we’ll put in a garage’ people once stole firewood from my back yard. I’m not going to pay for a curb cut, remove the tree, level the area and install gravel so they can then decide that ‘now’s the time to put in a garage’. Screw 'em.

PS with obsessive neighbor my suggestion is the next time she comes over to complain, sigh and say “Hi, I’m XX, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, it’s a hot day would you like to come in and have a cold drink so we can get to know each other?” If that is met with rage get a restraining order.

19

The reason they maintained the property - and the reason his head was about to ‘splode - is that he was fixin’ to acquire the property via adverse possesion.
mmm

20

Johnny, it’s your fault because you moved some moss. She saw that. It’s your fault.

The moss gave it away.