New Neighbor encroaches 9 inches over existing boundary, loses 20 feet after landowner orders survey: 'Homeboy should have just let sleeping dogs lie...'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 6, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

Sometimes, it's better to just leave well enough alone. By making an issue about what you "do or don't" have when you're, well… wrong—you're more than likely to end up with less than you started with in the first place. Especially, as it turns out when you're disputing what you think is the boundary of your new property… Because, as in this story, the neighbor who has been there for longer probably knows a thing or two about why that "boundary" was established in the first place

As at any point in life, it's always best to be kind even if being friendly isn't an option, especially when you're neighbors with the person who you should be being kind to and quite literally landlocked onto adjacent properties with them. A property that moving from would quite literally require uprooting your entire life. 

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  • By not even attempting to go about things in a courteous manner, you're basically guaranteeing that you're going to have the relationship of two feuding old gods—each unmovable and unyielding and escalating perceived slights against one another until you're not just taking each other's territory but going after each other's demigod children and turning each other's mortal lovers into cattle and swine and living in a verifiable Cold War with every action and inaction being taken as an affront against the other.

  • 01
    POSTED NO TRESPASSING "You wanna try to take 9" of our property? We will take 20' of yours..." "
    via Peggy Sue Zinn
  • 02
    You wanna try to take 9" of our property? We will take 20' of yours We have lived in our house for about 8 years in a rural neighborhood in Arizona. About a year ago this dude from California bought the lot next to us and threw a fit about the stuff we had on the property line. We had put a single fence pole vaguely where the property line was (we hadn't had any sort of land survey done, it was supposed to just be a temporary marker that became a perminant marker)
    via kingofzdom
  • 03
    Dude was absolutely livid that we had vehicles parked "on his property" (they very tip of one of our cars was touching the established boundary) He threatened to have our vehicle towed. So we simply had an actual land survey done and it turned out the property line was a good 20' into his property. Homeboy should have just let sleeping dogs lie and not been an about a few inches.
    via kingofzdom
  • 04
    OAG-OAG 2h ago • We got an angry text from our neighbor rambling on about private property, mowing over the line, asking if we want to pay his property tax, and other crazy stuff. We've been neighbors for years with O problems. I decided I needed to plant something so we couldn't even see each other, and hired a surveyor to show me the line. Turns out, he's about to lose 12-15 feet of (what was) his front
    via kingofzdom
  • 05
    fence. We have informed him why the new stakes are there, and told him to respect our private property. I have an appointment with a lawyer to make sure I take down the fence legally. I'm thinking very loud chain saw when the time comes.
    via kingofzdom
  • 06
    busyshrew ⚫2h ago This happens more than people think, especially with older properties.
    via kingofzdom
  • 07
    NO-MAD-CLAD 2h ago Please tell me you had a fence put up exactly on that new property line. Like a 50 ft tall fence that blocked the morning sun from his home/s
    via kingofzdom
  • 08
    • old_and_boring_guy 1h ago I did something similar...New neighbor came in and built a big fence down the property border, but he built it a good bit onto my side, and then started trying to get (my) trees removed. Put a stop to that, got his fence ripped down, then built my own fence a good way into "his" lawn, right down the actual property line...The previous owners were good friends of mine, and they'd
    via kingofzdom
  • 09
    come over and asked if they could move in on the wooded DMZ between our houses, and I was fine with that. I'd have been fine leaving it too, but not after that Same guy went around to my neighbor on the other side (we "share" a lawn over there) and started badmouthing me and telling him he needed to get an
    via kingofzdom
  • 10
    assessor and that guy pointed out that his house was built right against the property line on the side between him and me, and the whole yard on that side is mine. Some people just don't understand how to be neighbors.
    via kingofzdom
  • 11
    micspar • 2h ago This is such a satisfactory outcome for all of us who have been victims to these types of neighbors
    via kingofzdom
  • 12
    Wonderful_Minute31 . 1h ago Coworker just had similar. Out of state guy bought the lot next to them and started clearing and leveling. Put in a septic tank and was pouring foundations. He started going off on my coworker about water drainage from their property moving dirt on his. They were chill and offered solutions. Guy kept being an . Their lawyer suggested they get a survey. Guess whose septic tank was on the my coworker's lot?
    via kingofzdom
  • 13
    Reasonable_Star_9... . 2h ago Was he sheepish or apologetic after he found out your property extended 20' further than thought?
    via kingofzdom
  • 14
    oldbaldpissed off • 2h ago This is why you always have a survey as a stipulation of sale before closing. It's amazing to me how many people move the property marker thinking nobody is ever going to question it ..
    via kingofzdom
  • 15
    Striking_Pianist_559 • 2h ago I'd leave the new markers there, make sure the neighbor knows what they are and what they signify. And when he inevitably asks what you're going to do, just smile and walk away. I'd let that sit and stew for a long time, just to make sure he knows he I up. The part where he goes. crazy just wondering what you're going to do will be your true victory!
    via kingofzdom
  • 16
    SnooWords4839 • 1h ago This is why everyone should always have a survey and a copy of the plot that is filed with the town. Glad he lost even more space; I hope you put a fence down that line.
    via kingofzdom
  • 17
    spectaphile • 1h ago Recently had a survey done as the fence needed to be replaced and I wanted to double check as it had been built before we owned the property. I felt SO BAD because we got nearly 3 feet from the nice old lady next door. She said it was ok because she was too old to garden anymore, but still.
    via kingofzdom

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