But poison the cat (I’m going for the SDMB Miss Congeniality award).
(I’m assuming no kids, no sandboxes - roaming cats are a big problem for people with kids and sandboxes - and when choosing between punishing the cat and my kid’s health - I’ll take dead cat over toddler fondling cat feces any day).
Actually, I’d probably have a little nice as possible tete a tete with her. Explain the fence thing. Explain the cat thing. Tell her she is being a bitch (as nicely as possible) and that people in glass houses shouldn’t complain about a few pinecones, or they might end up regularly picking up their cat from animal control and moving a fence.
Then I’d break off all contact with her and move as soon as possible.
And contact a lawyer in your state just to make sure the fence thing won’t cause problems with the sale.
IANAL, but since we’re all talking so much about adverse possession, let’s get out a little property law 101. CAVEAT #1: the following is a generalization, as property law is a state matter, and so YMMV:
The concept of “Adverse Possession” is based on statutes of limitation for recovery of real property. A statute of limitations is a time limit within which someone must bring a claim or lose it. These statutes also vest the adverse possessor with as perfect title as if there had been a conveyance by deed. However, this title isn’t a matter of public record until a court determines that title has been acquired by adverse possession and the court’s judgment is entered on the public records. The length of time in statutes of limitations vary greatly from state to state: in some states it’s twenty years; in others, it’s seven years or even less.
Traditionally, the purpose of the doctrine of adverse possession is to suppress dormant claims, to quiet title, to require diligence on the part of owners and penalize those who sit on their rights too long, and to reward the economic activities of a possessor who is utilizing land more efficiently than the record owner is.
There are five (sometimes six) elements to make out a claim of adverse possession. The adverse possession must be:
Actual (ordinary use to which the land is capable and such as an owner would make of it);
Open, visible, and notorious (meaning not secret or clandestine but occupying as an owner would occupy for all the world to see);
Exclusive (meaning sole physical occupancy or occupancy by another with the permission of the person claiming a title by adverse possession);
Continuous and peaceable (meaning without abatement, abandonment, or suspension in occupancy by the claimant, and also without interruption by physical or legal eviction); and
Hostile and under claim of right (meaning that the possession is held against the whole world including the true owner; that the possessor claims to be the owner whether or not there is justification for her claim, or whether or not there is “color of title” being a paper or other instrument that doesn’t qualify as an effective legal conveyance but that the claimant may believe is effective)
The sixth requirement fluctuates from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some require that an adverse possessor have color of title. Other jurisdictions just shorten the statute of limitations if color of title is present. A more common “sixth” requirement is that the adverse possessor pay property taxes.
C3, I don’t know what state you’re in, but since you’re talking about pine forests, I’d imagine that you’re in the Southeast – I say this because I used to live in Georgia, which was largely a pine forrest. I just so happen to know that Florida – the very northern portion of which is a pine forrest – happens to impose the property tax requirement. If such is the case for your state, C3, then you don’t need to worry about losing that strip of land for the time being. It’s exceedingly likely that your neighbor’s property tax valuation was made on the basis of land survey using the correct property lines, and your neighbor doesn’t sound the type to kick in a little extra to the local government to cover the extra strip enclosed by her fence.
IANAL, but I’ve seen some vicious neighborly feuds. (My parents pick the lousiest neighbors, for some reason. :dubious: )
Before I touched the tree, I’d ask the bitch for documentation that her insurance company said the tree was a danger, and refuse to act until I got it. I’d ask her for something in writing from her insurance company (like a report from an inspector), or talk to them directly. IF they said the tree was a danger, and specified WHY the tree is a danger, THEN remedy the problem. I’m willing to bet that she hates the tree, and is using her insurance company as a justification for getting you to act in her behalf. Also, if you do get something in writing, pass the information on to the HOA so they know what’s going on and can take appropriate measures.
In short, stick to your guns, and make her PROVE her claims. Don’t buy into anything she says without something in writing, preferably from someone who knows what they’re talking about. You’re also going to want to pass everything on to the HOA so they can keep track of this woman.
Finally, about the fence, if you haven’t done this already, get your own surveyor’s report, in case the fence becomes an issue at sale (or in court).
One more thing. You might want to research the penalties for insurance fraud in your state, and pass this along to the bitch, in case she gets the idea to start filing claims against your insurance.
MsRobyn, why would her insurance company care if a tree on my property was hazardous? (it’s not, by the way - it’s a healthy tree, not leaning or anything) If anything happened and it fell or something, my homeowner’s insurance would be responsible, not hers. That’s a good idea, though - if she tries to contact us again (I don’t want to go out of my way to contact her), I’ll ask her to provide us a copy of that letter.
As far as insurance fraud - she’d have to do some pretty significant digging to file a claim. On the advice of my insurance agent, we’re not going to give her any information about our carrier, policy number, etc.
(No cats will be harmed during the pine tree negotiations )
You could - assuming you have a coverable sandbox. My parents, however, have a beach - its hard to cover a beach. And if you did cover the sandbox then the neighbor kids could uncover it and the neighbor’s cat could use it as a litterbox. You could then fence your yard to keep your neighbor’s kids out of your sandbox. Or you could padlock your cover onto your sandbox - assuming such a system could be rigged. And then you have to assume that the neighbor’s sandboxes that your children play in also have covers - and that the local playground covers their sandbox (yeah, right). And then the cat poops in the flowerbeds - where your toddler finds it anyway while helping mommy garden (and of course, if mommy is pregnant, gardening in cat shit is a whole 'nother problem). Of course, you could watch your toddler like a hawk every moment of every day to make sure if he stumbles across the neighbor’s cat’s shit, he doesn’t eat it (you probably don’t have quick enough reactions to keep your kid from touching it) - but that doesn’t work if you have multiple small children.
People who live in neighborhoods with small children should keep their cats indoors - or not be at all shocked when the neighbors call animal control.
We don’t have kids, so I’m not worried about health issues arising from the cat - it’s just annoying to have paw prints on the car. I wouldn’t even care about the cat at all if the neighbor hadn’t started this thing with the pine tree and done it in such a nasty way.
I really don’t want to do anything to the cat, even call animal control, because it’s really not the cat’s fault and it’s not causing me any real problems. Also, we have a dog (indoor dog, but who goes out in our backyard to relieve herself and occasionally lie in the sun) and I’m concerned about retaliation from the neighbor effecting her (I don’t want a mysterious puddle of anti-freeze showing up on my property).
I am sorry for participating in a hijack in your thread c3. The idea of someone suggesting that you should just poison someone’s pet made me angry. Some people are just evil.
I was kidding about poisoning the cat - that’s what the whole “actually” paragraph was about where I said “animal control”. Although, around here, three “intakes” to animal control will result in the same thing - so calling animal control is starting kitty on the road to the blue juice.
The issue really isn’t the specific tree, it’s that she’s asking you to modify your property at your expense on her say-so. She’s gotten the HOA involved with a complaint, again on her say-so. The burden of proof is on her to give specifics on why the tree is so dangerous that it needs to be removed. I can understand not wanting to contact her, though.
The insurance fraud can be an issue with her own company, or with the HOA’s policy. Even though she may not have your information, she can still file a fraudulent claim against her company for damage “caused” by this tree, which would prompt her insurer to collect from you through subrogation. Even just the information on the penalties for filing false claims would help put a damper on whatever nuisance claims she’d think to file. Fighting an insurance company determined to collect would take months, if not years, and lots of money.
And, as others have suggested, keep a good record of what this woman is doing, in case the mess lands in court, or whatever.
Did anyone else notice that C3 said she would be selling the property in the next couple of months? If you’re moving anyway, do as little as possible to make the crazy neighbour mad, trim a few branches if it shuts her up, and just move on and put it behind you. And please, don’t cut down a beautiful, healthy living tree to appease a nutcase.
Yup, I saw that. While C3 may be moving soon, no one wants to inherit a bad neighbor. From my parents’ experience, however, it’s a pain trying to sell a house with a problem neighbor. It’s better to solve the problems now, before the “For Sale” sign goes in the lawn.
Many years ago, my parents were trying to sell their house in California to move to Texas. The neighbors, who were assholes in every sense of the word, tried their level best to derail any possible sale. IIRC, it took longer to find a buyer willing to put up with these people (or the neighbors decided they liked the buyer, I’m not sure which) than it would have if the neighbors weren’t assholes.
Believe me, no one would confuse these people with a Mensa convention. These were very nasty, very prejudiced people who always wanted to go back to Montana so their kids could be raised in “the right element”. Read the phrase in quotation marks as code for “no blacks or Jews”, and you have their motive for behaving like assholes whenever a potential buyer showed up. Their MO was to be so nasty that no one would want to live next to them, and if it hurt my parents in the process, so much the better. Sadly, their gambit didn’t work; the couple who ended up buying the house was Jewish.
The house has actually been on the market since March 2002 (and yeah, we’re getting a bit frustrated). The neighbor is actually a licensed realtor, although I’ve tried to find out what firm she’s with but can’t seem to find her, so I don’t think she actually practices. I’m sure she knows the house is on the market, but I don’t think she’s had any interaction with any potential buyers. Our real estate agent comes to every showing (he lives on our street), so I would hope he’d offer a bit of protection. She wouldn’t want to do anything in front of him that might jeopardize her own career.
(update: We asked the neighbor for written permission to allow the tree crew access. She refused to give us anything directly, but said she’d provide something to the POA. They haven’t gotten anything yet. We let her know our insurance company told us that she should contact her own insurance company. She (again) threatened to sue us. My husband, who has the patience of Job, finally broke and told her she could do whatever she felt like doing. I called the insurance company again, anyway, and they said they’d have an agent call her and tell her the message directly, so that we don’t have to speak with her again.
I was expecting a package from Airborne. They accidentally delivered it to her door. I found it in our bushes the next morning - she obviously flung it across the property line. What a tool.)
)