What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
My partner and I recently bought a house in California. The neighbor next to us has a house that is built to the very edge of their property line, and the small space between our houses is on our property. This pathway was blocked off with boards when we moved in to prohibit transients and drug addicts from crossing and using this property because it was burnt down. Our neighbor has a gate to his back yard and one to his front yard that open on to our property so that he may walk next to our house to access his back yard- which he may also access through his house.
We recently built a fence in the front of our property, which allowed us to remove the boards that blocked off the space between our houses so that our dogs could run from the back to the front and protect our property (as we are two women living in an extremely high crime neighborhood). Our neighbor wrote us a letter via certified mail stating that he has a prescriptive easement, and that we must block our dogs in our back yard so that he may use the pathway whenever he wants.
We had previously given him permission to work on the side of his house using this space, and are glad to provide him access to the side of our property to make repairs to his house and property. We have requested 24 hour notice via certified mail. But today, he was on our property without permision, and we asked him to leave and he would not.
He has lived in that house for 20 years. He does not need to use that property except in rare circumstances to fix the side of his house- but it's very likely that he has used it periodically for a long time. There is nothing on our deed or title about an easement. I have done a bit of reading about prescriptive easements, and I would like to contest his claim. He is requesting access to our property that severely limits our ability to use it (to store garbage cans in that pathway and to allow our dogs to protect the full perimeter of our property), and compromises our feeling of safety and security on our property.
Any advice?
Thanks!
My partner and I recently bought a house in California. The neighbor next to us has a house that is built to the very edge of their property line, and the small space between our houses is on our property. This pathway was blocked off with boards when we moved in to prohibit transients and drug addicts from crossing and using this property because it was burnt down. Our neighbor has a gate to his back yard and one to his front yard that open on to our property so that he may walk next to our house to access his back yard- which he may also access through his house.
We recently built a fence in the front of our property, which allowed us to remove the boards that blocked off the space between our houses so that our dogs could run from the back to the front and protect our property (as we are two women living in an extremely high crime neighborhood). Our neighbor wrote us a letter via certified mail stating that he has a prescriptive easement, and that we must block our dogs in our back yard so that he may use the pathway whenever he wants.
We had previously given him permission to work on the side of his house using this space, and are glad to provide him access to the side of our property to make repairs to his house and property. We have requested 24 hour notice via certified mail. But today, he was on our property without permision, and we asked him to leave and he would not.
He has lived in that house for 20 years. He does not need to use that property except in rare circumstances to fix the side of his house- but it's very likely that he has used it periodically for a long time. There is nothing on our deed or title about an easement. I have done a bit of reading about prescriptive easements, and I would like to contest his claim. He is requesting access to our property that severely limits our ability to use it (to store garbage cans in that pathway and to allow our dogs to protect the full perimeter of our property), and compromises our feeling of safety and security on our property.
Any advice?
Thanks!
