'He was fuming, but I didn't care': Resident gains extra yard space and hundreds of dollars in neighborly dispute

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Oct 9, 2023 1:00 PM EDT

Neighborly arguing is bound to happen when property lines get fuzzy, and the truth becomes a prize to be sought after, even though one side is clearly bending it to their favor. I have had my fair share of neighborly disputes, whether it was because some people were simply very loud, inconsiderate, or entitled. Unfortunately, I did not win every case, but the ones I did are etched in my memory like a 1st grade participation award. 

In this case, the OP was dealing with the type of person who thinks your grandma owes them cookies and pocket money. You get the idea. This clever OP had to get creative with how he was going to react to his neighbor trying to take his yard, and luckily, he found a way. To say OP won would be an understatement. Scroll down to read about it, and then check out this fleet foreman who took the techs with him when quitting his job with managers who were ungrateful. You might not want to mess with the best employees… lest you be left with nothing.

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  • 01
    Plant - "Oh, this is YOUR yard? I dont think so."
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  • 02
    Font - Oh this isn't my yard? All of this is your yard? XL OC My wife and I bought our first home in early 2021 at the perfect time. Our house is in an older neighborhood but is a new build. Prior to the house being built, it was just a plot of land that was overgrown with trees and bushes.
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  • 03
    Font - We bought our house and the backyard needed work. There was about 100 feet deep of backyard we could play with but that was all due to some overgrowth of vines, bushes, small trees, bamboo; you name it. To give some context, our plot of land is shaped like a parallelogram. It doesn't just go straight like a rectangle. Our yard is sort of angled.
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  • 04
    Font - My wife and I worked hard to start clearing it out. It turns out, we still had about 25 feet deep of backyard to play with once all of the c p was removed. We started out in the center and cleared it out then started working on the sides of the overgrowth. We got to the neighbor to our left and found our survey stake so we stopped there. We started on the otherside and after a few days of working on it, we come outside to a patchwork "fence" from our neighbor to the right. This fence was
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  • 05
    Font - still had a good 15 feet or so to reach our other stake but, seeing as though we hadn't met or talked to these neighbors yet, we decided to stop there for now since it was getting colder out and we didn't want to step on the new neighbors toes. Fast forward a few months and it's spring time. That patchwork fence had long fallen down and limbs and things had been removed. I start mowing my lawn and I mow from my front stake
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  • 06
    Font - diagonally to where my back stake is which I am able to see pretty clearly through the overgrowth. I start cutting the overgrowth and I get through most of it that day. I make a huge pile in the back of my yard and a company comes out the next day to remove the brush with 4 truck loads. The next week I go to cut my grass and see that there's rocks and sticks laid down way into my yard about halfway down and it goes all the way back to where the original patchwork "fence" was. I'm curious
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  • 07
    Font - would put them there. So I started doing some research. I pulled out our survey from when the house was being built and started walking our property line. From our front marker to our back marker matched. So I walked between the back left marker to the back right marker; it also matched. Our survey said 115' of length between survey pins. I used both a really long tape measure and one of those walking measurers and got +/- 3¹ of 115'. So I knew we were right on the spot.
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  • 08
    Font - Of note, I had also tried introducing myself to my neighbors and the husband was quiet but nice but the wife just ignored us. No waves, no smiles, nothing. So I move the rocks to the back of my yard and throw the sticks in the yard waste bin. I finish cutting the grass and start working on spraying the little root systems from the brush that I had removed the week prior. All of a sudden, our male neighbor comes outside and
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  • 09
    Font - walks toward me. He says that "hey, just so you know, you removed our privacy plants that helped conceal us from the people behind us. Not sure if you thought your yard extended this far or what but this is all our yard." I tell him that "Well, our survey shows that the distance between these two pins in the back should be 115' which is what I got when I measured them. Also from measuring from the front pins to the bottom pins, both of those numbers were about right as well. So everything
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  • 10
    Font - He says "Well, my wife works for the city and they can see exactly where the plots are and my plot goes to here (while pointing like 15 feet into my yard)." I tell him that we can split the cost of a survey if he wants and he's not interested and goes inside. I keep doing my thing in my yard and two weeks pass by and I go to cut the grass again. There are now bricks, rocks, more limbs, yard spray paint and flags 15' into my yard. I'm now
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  • 11
    Font - really irritated. I knock on the door with no answer despite them both being home. I know this because I could see them through the window when cutting grass. I also saw they were live viewing me on the ring. I move what I can and finish cutting the grass. I go to lowes and pick up some string and run string from my front stake to my back stake. Next week its cut and laying way inside my yard. When he was getting into his car later that evening I ask why they cut my string. "My mower must
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  • 12
    Font - I tell him that its strange his mower ran over it and it ended up in my yard where he says my yard ends. I then tell him that my survey is new and more likely to be right then whatever system his wife is using to determine plots. He tells me "Well then I guess you're going to have to pay to get a new survey done."
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  • 13
    Font - Okay, I will. I got many quotes and the two lowest I got were $550 and $980. The highest I got was $4400. The $550 was from the company who did the original survey before house was built. Not sure why the price was so vastly different for the same services but whatever. I pay the $550 and have the survey done. They put up a total of 15 stakes down that side of my property line. The kicker? I was wrong! My yard didn't go to where I thought it did. Instead, it went further into their yard b
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  • 14
    Font - asked the surveyor to explain. Apparently, there used to be an old rock feature between our houses that was mostly on my neighbors plot but some was on the empty plot where my house was built. My neighbor didn't want to deal with the hassle of trying to tear down and rebuild certain spots so the builder paid him for the land the rock wall sat on plus about a foot into their yard and builder removed the rock wall.
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  • 15
    Font - I had the pins down and was worried they'd try to mess with them so I bought some outdoor cameras and pointed them at my property line. We went on vacation and when we came back...yep. The stakes were gone. I leave another note because they don't answer and explain that what they did was illegal and how we needed to talk about it and left my number. I watch the video and see his wife taking up all of the stakes.
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  • 16
    Font - I don't hear anything for a few days so I end up speaking with the husband while he was about to go for a run. He claims he never got my note and he didn't know anything about any stakes. I tell him I have his wife on video removing the stakes. He says he will talk to her. I get a text that night apologizing and saying they wont remove the stakes again. What happened to not getting my note that had my number?
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  • 17
    Font - I'm like? No, you wont remove the stakes again and you will be paying for another survey. He says that they didn't know it was done by an actual surveyor. I tell him it doesn't matter. We go back and forth before he eventually concedes after I threatened small claims/police. I call the original surveyors and explain the situation. They say "Well we don't want to do a job that has potential criminal implications like this so we wont do it again"
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  • 18
    Font - I call the next lowest quote I got. They were now able to do it for $900. I say let me get back to you and let my neighbor know. He's fuming, saying no way is that right, a survey doesn't cost that much, blah blah blah. I tell him he's free to get his own quote for that side of the yard and give him five companies I tried (not the original since they didn't want to be involved).
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  • 19
    Font - A week passes and I ask him what quote he ended up getting that was the cheapest and he says it was the $900 but he wouldn't be paying it. I tell him okay, pay the $500 fine, get a misdemeanor and we will go to small claims and you'll still end up owing me since I have it on video and via text. The next day I am handed $900 all in 10 and 5 dollar bills and he walked off. The $900 quote ended up going back up to >$1000 since we waited too long and they
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  • 20
    Font - had too many bookings. I call the original company and told them that "hey, we settled our differences, he paid me for the cost of the survey and I'm just going to get another one done. Could you come out and do it?" and they came out and did it for the same $550. I know have a fence and trees lining both sides of my yard and I believe the neighbors are moving soon based on the furniture I see them taking out.
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  • 21
    Font - TL;DR: Neighbor tried claiming my yard was their yard despite me having a <1 year old survey saying otherwise. I get a survey done, end up with more yard than I thought I had, and eventually neighbor had to pay $900 for me to have another survey done since they pulled up the stakes from the survey I had done. I was able to get survey done again for $550 and made profit and got some more yard.
    via u/Co***Nurse

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entitled neighbor malicious compliance house neighborhood fence property lines plot of land yard space backyard neighborly dispute payback malicious compliance reddit neighbor
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