Hello. I am a long-time lurker and have recently decided to join the board. Please don’t eat me.
I seek opinions on the following: A hairdressers opposite my house has claimed the road to use as a car park. They don’t own it. It is a small dead end terraced street, with the shop on one side and three houses on the other. The staff and customers will park in the middle of the street and block in other cars, including mine if I left it outside. It is nominally a residents only street (there is a sign up that advises accordingly), but this is not enforced. I could complain to the police but they have a business to run so I park elsewhere.
For many years I have parked on a grass verge nearby. A woman living opposite the grass verge has now claimed the land by having a small round flower garden dug into it. Again, she does not own the land. She left a passive-aggressive, anonymous note on my car, written in green ink. I have negotiated an alternative parking spot for now.
Anyone reading this may think that I’m posting from the Klondike during the gold rush. Or might just be bored and about to click on another topic. I live in a small town in Yorkshire with a culture of vendetta that would put a remote mountain village in Sicily to shame.
Has anyone else had any experience with people claiming land solely because they feel entitled to it?
Move or just call in your local version of cops and the town council. I had issues with a neighbor doing hair weaves from her house; some of her clients would park across my garage blocking it. About the third ticket and second car towed, the gene pool in question caught on. Yeah - I got some dirty looks for a year or so from her husband (who was still buffed out from his last stint in prison) but that faded and life went on.
Come to any northern US city after a snowstorm and look for the chairs, garbage cans, milk crates, and anything else that is big enough to hold a shoveled out parking spot for a few days.
Thanks for the reply. I put up with the shop as they also own the house next door. It gives me a bit of a bargaining chip if they rent it to problem tenants. My real problem is with the flower garden thing. I find it irrationally bothersome.
Why, the goat Loves Italian dressing! Also, Italian undressing; Oh wait, that’s methinking about Monica Belucci again.
Welcome to the board, Steve!
Is the land in question public property or privately owned? For that matter, is it for sale?
The petty part of me would throw a whole bunch of dandelion clocks into the plot every week or so and watch her dig them all up as they reek havoc…
It’s public land. I’ve confirmed it with the land registry. I have also been advised to plant Jeruselem Artichokes in it, as they are perfidious little blighters.
Accumulate evidence. Take a load of photos, and document the instances with details. That will be persuasive when you do take it to the police.
Ideally, document that you tried to settle the problem yourself, with your neighbor. The police prefer it when citizens solve their own issues. If you tried to talk it out, and were rebuffed, that helps justify escalating it to the police.
In the US, if someone parks a car in such a way as to prevent a resident’s use of his own driveway, the resident calls the cops with a “Tag and Tow” request.
The parking authorities love these - it is a major ticket, and they get to throw the towing company a bone as well.
As for the the lady trying to claim the land through “adverse possession” (typically 7 years) with a flower garden - don’t plant anything. Get the strongest concentration of RoundUp brand herbicide and apply it straight - it will kill about anything and keep it from coming back.
The Council needs to know about the bitch’s little ploy - they probably don’t like residents trying to steal their land.
Can you park on the garden? In the passive aggressive vein, “Oh, there was a garden there? I didn’t even see that. It being public land and all…” Of course, that’s a bit of an escalation…
Yes, the barren soil approach might be better. Odd how nothing grows there. Maybe a half dose of the weed killer. Just enough to make things a bit brown and mopey. Nothing conclusive.
I don’t suppose you’ve a dog who could “walk” through there every day? Lift his leg, make some deposits?
Thistles are lovely. Hmmm. There must be all sorts of suitable plants.
The plants in question are planted on public property - they belong to the City (or whatever) - the thieving bitch relinquished title by planting them on property she does not own.
I noticed that the new fence installed on this property is about 18" beyond an older fence.
I don’t know where the original property line was, but I suspect somebody decided to grab a strip of the neighbor’s lot.
Still, poisoning the plants on your own is a bad move. It isn’t going to please a policeman, and it won’t please a judge.
Ask the planning board or city engineers or parks division to remove them, but don’t take those kinds of matters into your own hands. It smacks way too much of vigilantism.
