Neighbor's Gate Causes Trespassing

[NJResident789]

Hello all! My mother and I live in New Jersey, and she's been having problems with her backyard neighbor. Here's one in particular.

Her neighbor's backyard faces her backyard. Previously, neighbors would freely walk through my mother's backyard to get to his backyard to use his pool.

She complained to her neighbor. Later, he put up an iron fence between the properties, BUT he added a gate to allow people to access his pool from my mother's property. The gate opens up onto my mother's property. (It's possible that this is because there's some code about pools and how gates must open away from pools?)

She later sent him a letter explaining that by having a gate there, people were walking into her backyard to reach his pool. She asked that he tell his guests to use the front of his property to access his pool. He confronted her and told her that he was not responsible for anyone trespassing on her property.

Is he right? Or, does he have some type of responsibility since by installing a gate there, he is openly inviting people to trespass.

My analogy: you can't say that you're not responsible for giving minors alcohol when you leave a keg of beer and cups unattended at the edge of your property.

Then again, I'm not a lawyer!


What do you think?

 

[nextwife]

Methinks that spot directly in front of the gate through mom's yard is the PERFECT place for a bed of shrub roses!

 

[FarmerJ]

Not only roses but a couple very large or one massive rock for decorative purposes as well as maybe some black or red razzberry plants that produce very nice long canes but not the thornless variety. or plain black berry wich has thorns like rose bushes. btw black razz has a much nicer stronger flavor , not as sweet as reds but very distinctive, quite nice , I grow all three here at home.

 

[154NH773]

Methinks that spot directly in front of the gate through mom's yard is the PERFECT place for a bed of shrub roses!

Good one, but putting a small length of fence on your property in front of the gate will block access to it. You do not have to allow access from their pool for safety or legal reasons.
A small no trespassing sign where people usually enter your property will give legal notice to those who are using your yard. DO NOT allow this to continue, or you may, at some point, find that you no longer have the right to stop people from walking through your property.

 

[nextwife]

Good one, but putting a small length of fence on your property in front of the gate will block access to it. You do not have to allow access from their pool for safety or legal reasons.
A small no trespassing sign where people usually enter your property will give legal notice to those who are using your yard. DO NOT allow this to continue, or you may, at some point, find that you no longer have the right to stop people from walking through your property.

But that won't smell nice, nor will it attract butterflies! Nor will it broduce rose hips, which help feed the birdies (and create winter visual interest) in the winter.

 

[drewguy]

Although the neighbor is not helping, I think OP's mom needs to Mom Up and tell the trespassers to go around to the front. If necessary, put up no trespassing signs, including perhaps one facing the pool gate from her property. Or put leaflets on/near the gate explaining that they need to go around. While the neighbor has some control over his guests, it's not complete control and the property owner has some responsibility for preventing trespassing on her own property.

 

[csi7]

No trespassing signs visible to street or area walking into private property. We put them on our fence, put locks on all the gates, and removed overhanging branches along the property line to prevent people from climbing the trees to get into the pool area.
You need to put something in front of the gate on your side of the property to prevent unauthorized entry from your property.

 

[NJResident789]

Thanks for all your great ideas! I guess it's not really cut and dry as far as the neighbor's "responsibility" in a legal sense, but he hasn't been very considerate.

She's now looking at lining the back end of her property with a solid fence, but it may be cost-prohibitive depending on the quotes she gets. Her main concern about putting just a small fence section or large object or perhaps even a punji pit is that he can easily move the location of the gate to another part of her backyard.

My idea was to take a huge and obnoxiously bright orange double-sided sign stating "NO TRESPASSING - PRIVATE PROPERTY" and attach it to a pole and hammer it into the ground blocking the gate!

 

[drewguy]

My idea was to take a huge and obnoxiously bright orange double-sided sign stating "NO TRESPASSING - PRIVATE PROPERTY" and attach it to a pole and hammer it into the ground blocking the gate!

One-sided, facing the gate, should do. But I would start with signs at the entry points to her yard. Use this strategy if the problem continues.

 

[Antigone*]

Thanks for all your great ideas! I guess it's not really cut and dry as far as the neighbor's "responsibility" in a legal sense, but he hasn't been very considerate.

She's now looking at lining the back end of her property with a solid fence, but it may be cost-prohibitive depending on the quotes she gets. Her main concern about putting just a small fence section or large object or perhaps even a punji pit is that he can easily move the location of the gate to another part of her backyard.

My idea was to take a huge and obnoxiously bright orange double-sided sign stating "NO TRESPASSING - PRIVATE PROPERTY" and attach it to a pole and hammer it into the ground blocking the gate!

...now you're talking

 

[TigerD]

One-sided, facing the gate, should do. But I would start with signs at the entry points to her yard. Use this strategy if the problem continues.

Add an archery target in front of it. With one or two arrows stuck in the fence.

DC