Put a sign in a visible place.
PRIVATE PROPERTY. NO PARKING. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED.
Then put a phony security camera aimed at where you park your truck and a motion sensitive light that goes on when someone walks near it. Tell the other landlord that you have a security camera and a security light, and you will prosecute vandals.
Problem solved.
I don’t think you are being a bitch at all and slashing tires can be a criminal offense. However, the most obvious solution and/or preliminary step is to post your parking area with “Private Parking - Tow Away Zone” signs and then follow up aggressively on the policy for violators. The signs don’t have to be fancy but it will help you when you need to defend another dispute. The land is yours and you have every right to defend it and determine who uses it. It is a bad idea to let people use your property for long periods of time for any purpose even if you are trying to just be nice. That could create easement issues legally. That probably wouldn’t happen with hooligan tenants living next door but it can in some cases.
I agree with the NRA analogy. You are completely in the right so don’t budge a millimeter and punish them even harder if they even try to “compromise”. You don’t owe them a goddamn thing. It is your property and you have the right to use it anyway that you see fit.
I had the talk with the landlord, pissed as I am I can see his side of it.
I have no proof who the cars belong to.
A middle aged? black woman lives in the first floor apartment. In the over a year I’ve been here I’ve seen her once. She’s very quiet and has lived there for years. She has no car, so it is not her.
The tenant in the upstairs apartment is a 30ish white woman with a small boy. She only has lived there maybe two months. She drives the jeep and she is the one I got into it with. According to the landlord, they are the only people who live there, or who should be living there.
The guy I had towed is a 40ish? black man, who says ‘his friend’ told him he could park there. I know he was at that house but I have no idea which tenant is his friend. The landlord doesn’t know him, but I got his name from the tow company. He is the one I suspect slashed my tires. The tow company said he was a total jerk, threatening to sue them, etc. The landlord said he is going to find out which tenant knows him and the situation will be rectified.
The other problem car belongs to a 20ish white guy, the one who said he was there to see his mother. Neither of the women tenants can be his mother, unless he was adopted.
However, there is an older white couple upstairs, whether they are living there or visit a lot, I don’t know. I don’t watch the comings and goings of next door. The only way I know the older couple are there is that I see them when they go out on the deck to smoke, or when they leave the blinds open with the light on. The older woman could be his mother.
From my perspective, the tenants are a problem. The parking problem out back has gotten worse since the upstairs tenants moved in. From the landlord’s perspective, he doesn’t know who these people are.
At this point anybody who parks out there is getting towed.
Then I will work on my other options, including getting some cameras.
Either fence and security cams or move.
It doesn’t matter who they are, what matters is that they are parking on your property and blocking you in.
Frankly, you should have seen this when you bought your house. Renters are always more of a problem since they dont have a financial stake in the neighborhood.
I guess keep doing what your doing and maybe eventually they will get the message.
That is until a new renter moves in and the whole thing starts over again.
I’m so glad I moved away from a house who had renters and we had similar problems.
Security cam time. Plus the motion sensor light.
The slashed tire means they can’t be trusted.
Whatever you do, it can all be for nothing if you don’t install a security camera so you can capture them in the act.
As I understand, security cameras are now very inexpensive. If you can, make sure the camera is in your house so no one can just take it away. Also, if possible, I would try to have the recording medium off your premises. That may be more expensive than it sounds. But if someone can slash your tires, they may decided to come into your home and bring their stupidity into your home. It would be a real shame if they did anything to you in your home (for which they could go to prison for a very long time) if they could just remove a tape or disk from your recording device so that you could not prove it.
It would be so sad if you recorded them doing something that should send them to prison but they just steal the tape or disk on which you recorded it. If the recorder sends the images to some place away from your home, it would be much better.
I don’t mean to frighten you. The odds that someone who slashed your tires will force their way into your home and do violence to you is extremely low. But if it was me, I would pay the extra cost to ensure that if it every should happen, they could not get out of it just by removing the tape or disk from your home and destroying it.
I sincerely hope that you will be able to capture whoever slashed your tires in the act. Then, I would hire a lawyer to handle contacting the police.
IMHO, it is so much better to have a lawyer represent you when talking with the police. There are many reasons for that. If you just walk into a police station with your evidence in hand, you can never tell just who you will wind up dealing with or what their attitude will be. They may have problems with your gender or your race or any one of many other attributes.
But a good criminal lawyer will likely know a police detective who will be sympathetic to your problem and who will want to help you. Also, if you just walk into a police station and you are not taken seriously, what would you do? A lawyer would know how to get the police to take you seriously and they would know what to do.
Best of luck to you. It really angers me to hear that some coward would come by when no one can see them and slash your tires. Someone who does that is not likely going to be someone you can reason with.
I hope you can arrange for them to spend a very long time in prison. Long enough so that if and when they ever get out, they will be too old to ever do this sort of thing again.
P.S. If I lived in the USA in 2015, I would def have a serious weapon in my home so I could defend myself. The most important thing to do when you have a weapon at home is to do whatever is necessary to ensure you are well trained in how to use it. I know most people might disagree with me about this. I guess I should say this is just my opinion.
One other thing. If you decide to purchase a weapon to keep in your home, another very serious factor is that you should invest the time to learn just what kind of weapon would be best for you.
It would be a terrible shame to invest the time and energy to get properly trained in the use of a weapon if the kind of weapon you buy is inappropriate for you.
Again, best of luck to you. And, never tell anyone who asks why you want to purchase a weapon that you want it for self-defense. So much better to say you want it for “sport”. Like target shooting or something else. Then, once you get the weapon, be certain that you go target shooting a few times so that you can prove that you did not buy the weapon with the idea in mind to use it to defend your person or your property. If you ever have to use the weapon, it will be much better for you if you can prove that you bought it for sport and did not have in mind that you would use it to defend your property or your person.
Where I live, if you ever say that you want to purchase a weapon for self-defense, that immediately raises a red flag and they won’t sell you anything.
Is there a sign? Honestly, if the neighbors were in the habit of parking there, and you never put up a sign, I have a little sympathy for them. Not enough to excuse slashing the tires, of course, but a little.
Step one, put up a big, visible sign that says “Private Property, NO PARKING, violators will be towed”.
Put the phone number of the tow company on the sign.
Call the tow company whenever you see a car there that you didn’t authorize.
Step two, get those security cameras. If you have video of someone slashing your tires, you can prosecute. Oh, and put the cameras out of reach, but have at least one be visible. Put up another sign that says “Property under video surveillance”
Step 3, consider better gating. But that probably costs more than the other options, and you might not need it.
Step 4, consider renting out a space. It sounds like there is more parking than you need. Maybe one of the neighbors would be willing to pay for parking.
But try to make it really clear what you want, and what you will do. People react better to punishment that they expect than to unexpected consequences. And it really is better if you don’t end up at war with your neighbors.
I like the idea of renting out a parking space,provided it doesn’t impede your access. It likely cuts the number of people who might wish you harm by a third, gains you a “parking enforcement ally”, and some money to boot.
Speaking of: find a towing company who will share some of the towing fee with you.
All that said, though: no matter how right you are, and how wrong it is to give in to bullies, when tires are getting slashed, I’d give at least some thought to moving.
As a friend on the MMP I know she just bought the place recently and worked damned hard to get it, so moving is a no go.
Really all the answers are here: cameras for security, sign for information, towing for enforcement. Minimum investment, minimum fuss.
Good luck!
If you agree to let them park over the property line, in time that might become some kind of easement or adverse possession and you won’t be able to change your mind.
Having one camera visible is a real good idea. In fact, I would think that some enterprising company would manufacture and sell “fake security cameras” so that would be idiots could see the camera and hopefully that would be enough to discourage them.
But, of course, it’s far more important to have a real camera in operation.
All of this is beside the point. It doesn’t matter what the age or race of your tenant neighbors are. You are not basing towing decisions on demographics. You are basing towing decisions on whether or not there is a car on your property. It could be neighbor A or neighbor B or even the gas meter reader; a car parked on your property gets towed. Put up a sign and have a tow company on speed dial.
Others have mentioned most of what I would: fix the gate latch, get a camera (so you can get a description of anyone who touches your car), put up no parking signs.
I would also look into a sign that says “Do Not Block Driveway, Violators Will Be Towed”.
Then enforce it.
Maybe you are being extra-bitchy, but people are being dicks, and it isn’t like you’ve been setting their cars on fire or anything. Your responses so far seem proportional to the provocation.
Tell Landlord that you and he are okay so long as it isn’t true that he’s telling his tenants they can park on your property. The issue you have is with whomever is parking on your land/blocking your driveway.
And the next time somebody gives you the "My landlord said I can park here: line, say “Well if you got that in writing you should have no trouble getting the towing fee back from him, because legally he can’t do that because this isn’t his land.”
Thank y’all again.
I’m reading and taking everything in.
I think my anger yesterday clouded my thinking, I was literally shaking when I saw the car out back. I should have just had it towed because even if the landlord had painted the line out there the car would have been way over it.
I felt like I couldn’t call to have it towed because I had agreed with the landlord previously to let somebody park there.
I have considered renting out a space but I really don’t want to fool with it.
Just randomly
I looked into reporting the house next door as a nuisance but they don’t have that kind of law in this county.
I wouldn’t be dealing with the landlord next door at all except for the tenant said he said she could park there. I was all ready to have it out with him but he really is nice and since he hasn’t owned the house long I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he thought there was enough space to park one car on his property.
He has also told me he has no problem evicting the tenants if any more problems come up.
I think he wants to resolve this peacefully as well.
I’m pretty sure the property line is my fence because it is a double fence, privacy fence on my side and an about 1 foot high concrete wall with chain link on top on his side.
I didn’t know I was moving next door to a rental, however I did talk to several people around here (including the mail lady) and this street is considered to be one of the nicer ones. It really is pretty quiet here - except for the asshole a few doors down with the car horn that plays ‘charge’.
Anyway Thank you for all your input.
This has to be repeated until people get it.
One of the strongest legal defenses against adverse possession is to very specifically give permission. If you say ‘you are allowed to use my property’ they can not adversely possess it. You can rescind permission at any time.
Oh – and get a survey, and find out (and mark) where the property line actually is. Maybe there is room to park one car in the back on your neighbor’s property. Maybe there isn’t nearly room. Worth knowing.
Fake security cameras have been around for years. Just do a Google search. Hell, you can even get them at Walmart!