FL neighbor dispute

DontEvenAsk · #1 10-30-2008, 11:42 AM

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

We moved into this house in 1999. At the time my neighbor's brother owned the property. The neighbors drove through the yard anywhere they wanted to until we complained and the brother put a stop to it. Then they just came real close to a second garage/shop we had put up. In 2002, we purchased the homestead property owned by the brother and an additional parcel next door owned by the sister of the neighbor. The neighbor's property is actually behind our 2 parcels. When we purchased the property, I noticed that the 30 foot by 280 foot driveway that the siblings had said was granted easement had in fact been deeded to the neighbor. The neighbor was unaware that the driveway was actually deeded until I told him. Well, now that he knows it is his and not ours, he has put metal posts on the outside of our fence so we cannot get our classic cars out onto the road. There is no other way unless we turn our shop/garage around and have at least 50 loads of dirt brought in. And because the land next to me cannot be fully cleared, to gain access to the full property, I no longer can get to my blackberries and so forth. The rest of the land is wetland and the water management district and FL EPA have notified us that we cannot clear any more of the property. It was okay for them to tear up the land when they thought we owned it, but now we can no longer use it to gain access to our land? I asked him about access and offered to continue to maintain it like we have, and even offered to compensate him financially if necessary. He was 'sure, fine, that's great' until I said it had to be in writing. He wants my money and maintenance without an agreement in writing??? That is just plain crazy. I just laughed and walked away.

Do you see any way that he can be made to allow us access to our property? This just doesn't seem quite right. And now that I won't pay him, he and his family, are tearing our fence up. Leaning all kinds of junk up against it, and say they are doing nothing wrong. What good is an 8 foot fence if you have 8 foot of junk piled up against it? Not to mention the fact that his junk is partially on our property, since we didn't put the fence directly on the property line. I cannot make heads or tails out of the real estate laws of FL. They have my head spinning. Anyway, any advice would be helpful. I only want to seek an attorney if I know I have a good case and I know what I want him/her to do for me. I couldn't even find one that would speak to me about it for less than $650. I just want to understand the general terminology and exactly what I am wanting them to do for me. Then I can proceed. Thank you.

rowz · #2 10-30-2008, 09:27 PM

If, as you said, cannot understand the R.E. laws of FL, then I would talk to someone that DOES and makes it their business to undretsand them.

Those people are called lawyers.

The fee is split like this: 150.00 for talking to you about th issue & 500.00 for knowing what he is talking about. If you can afford to play around with classic cars then you can afford to learn what the situation is with your REAL property.

Or not.

The education you will get may be considered expensive....but measured that against the cost of your ignorance of the situation and the cost is actually quite a fair value.

DontEvenAsk · #3 10-31-2008, 12:45 AM

Well I am a bit disappointed. I really was hoping for some help. Not judgemental chit chat. The classic cars we PLAY with are the same ones we WORKED for in HS. So I would appreciate it if y'all didn't judge me because I still have my very first car I ever bought brand new. I live in a modest house, from paycheck to paycheck. Like most do.

nomonojust · #4 10-31-2008, 01:02 PM

I agree you really need to get expert advice. Did you get a survey done when you bought the property to know what you were buying? Do you have legal recorded access to get to your house from the city road? Do you have any recorded easements through a neighboring property? Have you offered to buy the portion of land you are seeking? You may also try to contact the title company that holds your owners's title policy for answers to these questions. If in fact you are not landlocked, but desire to get to a portion of garage or your property through any part of your neighbor's deeded property, you are in for a long legal expensive uphill battle. I suggest talking to the neighbor to temporarily use the land to get your cars out so you can move them elsewhere on your land were you won't be trespassing on the neighbor's property in the future.

DontEvenAsk · #5 11-02-2008, 12:14 PM

I can get to my house. I just have no other way to get the classic cars out except by using his driveway. We cannot buy it from him. He would have no access. We have a survey. We could get the cars out another way if we pay to have 50-60 loads of dirt put in and then the dirt would be above the bottom of the building and we still wouldn't have use of that part of the land. The other property is not landlocked either however the access to the rear part of the land is not reachable from the front because of trees and underbrush that we cannot clear because of the water management district and the EPA. So without access from his driveway we cannot access the rear parts of our land.

[/quote]I suggest talking to the neighbor to temporarily use the land to get your cars out so you can move them elsewhere on your land were you won't be trespassing on the neighbor's property in the future.[/quote]

Quote:

I asked him about access and offered to continue to maintain it like we have, and even offered to compensate him financially if necessary. He was 'sure, fine, that's great' until I said it had to be in writing. He wants my money and maintenance without an agreement in writing??? That is just plain crazy. I just laughed and walked away.

I don't see how we are all the sudden trespassing on his land when we used it for all these years until now. Why can we not use it now? It doesn't seem right or fair.

HomeGuru · #6 11-03-2008, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DontEvenAsk

I can get to my house. I just have no other way to get the classic cars out except by using his driveway. We cannot buy it from him. He would have no access. We have a survey. We could get the cars out another way if we pay to have 50-60 loads of dirt put in and then the dirt would be above the bottom of the building and we still wouldn't have use of that part of the land. The other property is not landlocked either however the access to the rear part of the land is not reachable from the front because of trees and underbrush that we cannot clear because of the water management district and the EPA. So without access from his driveway we cannot access the rear parts of our land.

I suggest talking to the neighbor to temporarily use the land to get your cars out so you can move them elsewhere on your land were you won't be trespassing on the neighbor's property in the future.[/quote]

I don't see how we are all the sudden trespassing on his land when we used it for all these years until now. Why can we not use it now? It doesn't seem right or fair.[/quote]

**A: do you have a current survey and title report? If so what does it state?

DontEvenAsk · #7 11-04-2008, 05:52 AM

The survey shows that more than half of his double wide mobile home is on our property. Just over half. And it extends into his driveway.

I don't know what the title policy says. I'll look it up and let you know.

DontEvenAsk · #8 11-04-2008, 06:36 AM

Schedule B of the Title Insurance Policy states:

This policy does not insure against loss or damage (and the Company will not pay costs, attorneys' fees or expenses) which arise by reason of:

General exceptions:

1. Rights or claims of parties in possession not shown by the public records.

2. Encroachments, overlaps, boundary line disputes, and any other matters which would be disclosed by an accurate survey and inspection of the premises.

3. Easements or claims of easements not shown by the public records.

4. An lien, or right to a lien, for services, or material heretofore or hereafter furnished, imposed by law and not shown by the public records.

5. Taxes or special assessments which are not shown as existing liens by the public records.

Special exception 6: The mortgage, if any, referred to in Item 4 of Schedule A, if this schedule is attached to the owner's policy.

Then it has the standard exceptions 6-9 referring to taxes after we bought it, sovereign lands, oil, gas and mineral reservations.

Then it says:

NOTE: General exceptions 1, 3, 4, and 5 and Special exception 6 are hereby deleted.

End of schedule B

And the same wording is on the title policy for the property next door we bought at the same time.

Also, it is interesting that you would quote a partial reply regarding 'talking to the neighbor so we can move our cars' to my post but not the answer I gave to that quote. Any reason in particular? We DID talk to the neighbor. And he put up two steel poles so we cannot even open our gate at all. Our land is 100 feet wide. We have a house, garage, septic tank, and drain field there. Where are we going to put the cars? Exactly, behind the house, garage, etc. where they are now. There is no street parking or front yard parking permitted (Thankfully).

HomeGuru · #9 11-04-2008, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DontEvenAsk

The survey shows that more than half of his double wide mobile home is on our property. Just over half. And it extends into his driveway.

I don't know what the title policy says. I'll look it up and let you know.

**A: what is the date of the survey?