Neighbor using property

[leonard1269]

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

My husband was out looking for the boundary pins last night and the neighbor came out to see what was going on. My husband told him we were thinking of building a fence around our property for the dogs. The neighbor said "if you make any changes I will have to fight you on it".
Our properties join off a culdesac onto a dirt road my husband made to park trailers up there out of the way. There is no easement. We have owned our property for 6 years and the neighbor has been there for 1 year. The neighbor just built a shop and asked if he could park his "storage trailers on our property until it is done then he would get rid of the trailers, no problem. Now he wants access to this side of his property from ours. He says he has to be able to pull his wood hauling trailer through there. He has plenty of room to make his own road. I guess when I build something, I would plan it so I wouldn't have to use someone elses property to access it. Isn't that what property lines are for, that is yours and this is mine. Seems pretty clear cut to me.
I don't want to start a feud, but to me it is about principle, just because there is an empty lot next to you, you don't plan your buildings ingress and egress around having to use this. It just boggles my mind in some of the reading I have been doing about prescriptive easement, that someone can just start using your property and then have the right to so you can't make any changes.
Are there any clear cut laws against this or what can a person do to stop this from happening?
Thanks

 

[FarmerJ]

If he has been there only one year what you may want to do is first have a surveyor come out locate your boundries then while they are there (as long as there is no underground utils in the way go to hardware store , buy copper grounding rods and drive them in) very easy to find them in the future with metal detector. Learn what local ords are for fencing from your city , county and if there is no reason you cannot place a fence with in 4 to 6 inches of your side of the lot line then you could only as a courtesy send a letter via certified mail telling the nieghbor your going to put in a fence and if he can one last time use your property to pull his trailers out in order to make it easier to move them ( set date in writting ) and fence it in after that last date. ( that part about letting him have access one last time is only to be polite ) Your nieghbor has not used your property for a access long enough to establish any legal right to continue to do so. ( Having a surveyor locate your boundries makes it very clear and gives you a chance to remark the lot lines multiple times with rods inbetween the pins) What I found when searching was WikiAnswers - What is law governing adverse possession in Oregon and this is another start point Google Youll see it appears your neighbor has no legit rights to continue to use your property but in order to prevent any claim its best to make sure the use you did allow is ended in writting fence or no fence. If push comes to shove after having a survey done and date set to end access via your land if he still continues to do so he may choose to cease doing so if you use the links above , and even though youll have to pay , have a atty do for you a letter to educate him for you.

 

[AlmostALawyer]

I agree with FarmerJ. I would only add that you might want to check and see if there is a covenant or housing association rule preventing you from building a fence on your property. If not, then you should be able to do it.

I also would NOT let my neighbor use my property in any fashion. Years from now you do not want him to bring a claim that he has a prescriptive easement, or a claim for adverse possession against your property.

Pay attention to your neighbor, he seems like an idiot and a rear-end.