Clearing a fence line/ property line

[TiffanyK]

What is the name of your state? Oklahoma

About a week ago, my neighbor told me that he wanted to have the property line cleared and move the fence to the true property line. He went out on the property line with a GPS and put orange flags marking what he believed the true property line is. My husband was going to demand a survey be done before any bulldozers cleared property, but yesterday while we were gone they cleared a 30 foot wide path. It clearly encroaches on our property, without an actual survey, it appears that they cleared an equal amount of property on both sides of the boundary.

Is there anything we can do about this? Is there any standard that allows a neighbor to clear part of our property on the property line like this? We were not asked, notified or anything that this was going to be done in this manner or this quickly. Anyone aware of where I might be able to look up and read any Oklahoma laws that pertain to clearing property lines and fencing?

Thanks for your time,

Tiffany

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: Is there anything we can do about this?

A: Get a boundary survey, a title report, and a lawyer (in that order). Your neighbor may be in trouble for trespassing.

 

[TiffanyK]

seniorjudge,

Thanks so much for your quick reply and information. It's discouraging that it's going to cost for their actions! I was hoping to hear that there was a law or something I could cite to force them to have it surveyed now and then go from there.

What is a title report exactly? I have my deed with the legal descriptions and I do already have an attorney since we are in a legal battle with the gas company that actually did the bulldozing for this neighbor over a gross violation of the terms of an agreement we had with them last year.

Thanks again
Tiffany

 

[seniorjudge]

A title report is a document from a title company that says who owns the land, what the taxes are, what the legal description is, what liens/encumbrances, etc. are on the land, stuff like that.

That, plus a survey, will make a lawyer's eyes light up.

I'm not sure what your beef with the utility company is, but filing a complaint with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission always get a utility company's attention.

http://www.occ.state.ok.us/

Mention all this stuff to your lawyer.

 

[TiffanyK]

Thank you again for your reply.

The beef with the gas company is well, it's a gas and oil company that drilled for gas on our property. They agreed to put the road in a straight line on the south property line and instead horse-shoed into our property about 500 feet off their easement. The corporation commission doesn't get involved in "civil matters", but they've helped us in getting the gas company to clean up a lot of their mess while we are suing them for the 50k in damages that they've done. Just in case you were curious about that.

So this gas company signed an agreement with our neighbor to drill a well on them and part of the "perks" for the neighbor was that they would bulldoze the neighbors west property line (our east property line). The gas company told our neighbor that they legally had to hire the bulldoze operator themselves so that the gas company wouldn't be liable for damages to our property and that is where we are at with the neighbor now. I hate that they've put me in this position, because we've always gotten along pretty well, but I am really upset at this and calculating the linear footage comes out to about an acre of land that they cleared on our property (give or take a few feet).

Thanks again for your time and advice! I appreciate it.

Tiffany

 

[seniorjudge]

You are welcome.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

The gas company told our neighbor that they legally had to hire the bulldoze operator themselves so that the gas company wouldn't be liable for damages to our property and that is where we are at with the neighbor now.

The gas company managers / legal council is either sniffing their own byproducts or just stupid. The hired bulldoze operator is an agent of the drilling company. The company isn't going to be able to hide behind that shield.