Neighbor's landscaping in our yard

[Tali]

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

The backstory: We moved here 1.5 years ago. We have a standard city lot and did not get a survey done. 5 months ago we decided to build a garage and the husband of the 'friendly' neighbors lost it. We planned to follow code and build in 1 foot fromt the property line, but didn't realize where that was because they had landscaped and fertilized and mowed about 6 feet of our 50' wide lot.

He threatened to sue us for adverse possession and spouted off threats regarding boundary hedges. He threated our builder, etc. Needless to say, it was a nightmare, but the garage was built 2' from the line (the builder recommended that so that the stucco people would have room to work w/o touching his property.) From the begining he knew that some bushes that we needed to remove were entirely on our property, but I don't think he knew just how much that his front landscaping encroached. I'm not really sure about that, they have lived here for 30+ years and I don't know when that was done. There is 1 very large bush/shrub that appears to have been planted on the line, but is now way over and there are smaller ones that are entirely in our yard. There is another, smaller, section that is edged and planted also. It absolutely looked like 6 feet of our yard belonged to them.

We had a survey done and he threated anyone who would listen and kept babbling about what 'his attorney' said and that we had been put 'on notice,' etc. The morning that the backhoe was scheduled to come he knocked on our back door at 8am and pointed out the little placard that he he put in our yard (about 4' in) stating that the hedge was not to be touched and he signed it. I handed it back to him and informed me that he had photos.

Ack, I'm rambling. The garage was built and he didn't do diddly. During the winter he would snowblow snow from his driveway directly into ours. We just moved it to the other side rather than deal with him. He also piled it high against our garage--again, we didn't push it.

He is a yard fanatic and just did the first cutting of the year and has scaled back to only mowing 3 feet of our yard. (I'd been wondering what he would do this spring.)

My question: What do we do now to ensure there will never be an adverse possession issue while avoiding setting him off? Do we just give them a letter stating that they have temporary notice to use that portion of the yard until further notice? A fence would be fairly out of place in this neighborhood (in the front yard.) Basically, if we did any kind of boundary marker--flowers, stones, etc. it would necessitate either them removing significant landscaping or we would be installing a very awkward looking boundary that stopped and started back up again. The setbacks done in the 1930's would NOT meet code today as their house is only 2-3' from the line.

Did I mention, he is nuts? His eyes change and he steps in close to intimidate when he thinks he can influence someone and then steps back and is all smiles if he thinks he has 'won.' But there was NO indication of this for the first year.

 

[DAD10]

The setbacks done in the 1930's would NOT meet code today as their house is only 2-3' from the line.

Its called legal-nonconforming

Did I mention, he is nuts? His eyes change and he steps in close to intimidate when he thinks he can influence someone and then steps back and is all smiles if he thinks he has 'won.' But there was NO indication of this for the first year.[/QUOTE]

He probably says the same about you based on your rant

 

[JETX]

What do we do now to ensure there will never be an adverse possession issue while avoiding setting him off?

You do what you should have done long ago..... hire a PROFESSIONAL survey to find out the FACTS.... then get with a local attorney who can draft a notice to the 'mad neighbor'.

 

[Kiawah]

Why don't you rip out all of those old encroached shrubs, and replace with a nice new set of shrubs and/or flower bed that you want. If you have grass, mow it (whether they have mowed it or not). It's your property, take care of it.

 

[Tali]

You do what you should have done long ago..... hire a PROFESSIONAL survey to find out the FACTS.... then get with a local attorney who can draft a notice to the 'mad neighbor'.

Thank you all for the replies.

I'll try again.

As I stated, we did hire a professional surveyor. The Mad Neighbor (MA) followed him around suggesting that he use the setback laws to determine the property line. The surveryor informed him that all he cared about were the stakes. The surveyor kindly offered to locate MA's other property lines. We paid an additional $50 (on top of the $350) to the surveyor to get a separate letter reiterating his findings. The builder let him know he may need to sign an affidavit if MA followed through on his threats.

I contacted our title insurance attorney and she said to go ahead and build, but to contact her immediately if he followed through.

DAD10, I am not suggesting that they tear down their house to meet the new, or even then existing guidelines. I merely stated the distance to indicate that the houses are sited on the lots in an extremely lop-sided manner and there is not a lot of room to landscape on the northern side of the lot. Thus, while their landscaping looks balanced from the street and is within the boundaries on the southern side, it requires part of our yard to do so. For us to stake claim to our yard will look funny given how they have landscaped.

I understand that my novella may appear to be a rant. I was trying to convey that MA is very touchy about this issue, hostile, threatening, and litigious. And that his actions after the garage was erected continued via snow dispersement. We are passive and do not wish to set him off, but also would like to preserve our measely .15 acres. It is my acknowledged lack of objectivity that brought me to this site.

Kiawah, I would LOVE to take care of that section of our property, but am also trying to preserve the peace--such as it is. His wife is mortified by his behavior, but she has to live with the guy, so she scurries in and out if she sees us. As I tried to convey, the current landscaping looks balanced because it uses part of our yard. If we were to rip out the bushes and replant while they were at work all hell would break loose and it would look odd.

The main section of shrubs are entirely on our property. We left the ones that could be saved in front of the garage to disrupt things as little as possible. The encroaching one anchors the northwest corner of their house and cutting it back off of our property would kill it--and look extremely odd.

What I am asking is, should we just let it go and be greatful MA has conceded an extra 2 feet of our yard back to us? Should we send a letter stating that they have temporary/until further notice permission to use our land? (this will most likely set MA off) Should we have them sign a statement to the same effect spelling out that we are in no way giving up that portion of our land? (this will absolutely set MA off) We may end up putting up some sort of fence eventually, but I don't want to have to rush into it. However, I am afraid if we 'let this slide' for now, it looks like we are acquiescing.

Does anyone have any experience/advice as to how to approach this in a manner that is least likely to antagonize someone like MA? (Longshot here . . .) Or, and I realize that this isn't a landscaping site, ideas as to how to harmonize the yards to establish our property line without looking like petty jerks?

Thanks.

 

[Zigner]

You're going to have to either acquiesce (possibly by giving permission) or be the jerk. There really is no other way around it.

 

[csi7]

Remove the landscaping that is on your property.

The neighbor is not going to stop his behavior either way.

If you want the area to look professional, have the landscaping done with property line division showing at ground level or with fencing.

Good luck!

 

[FarmerJ]

What jetx said about a atty I too believe is the best bet even if all you end up doing is having the atty re-state that your survey shows the property in question to be yours. I see it this way, if they had a AP claim they should have made it against the previous owner , your buying the home should have restarted the time clock. A Atty can advise you about that. Your atty could include in the letter either consent for them to continue to maintain the plantings they added or advise them they do not have consent to maintain or add anything else to your property and YES a fence is a option especially IF zoning allows it to be placed on the lot line or only just inches to your side of the line . But no matter , having a atty do a letter likely will help prevent any further possible attempt by them to claim land. ( it may actually get them to think they would have to start a court claim which will cost them dearly and encourage them to back down)

 

[CraigFL]

If it were my neighbor, I would kiss any relationship we might ever have goodbye. This means I would put up an 8 foot or 10 foot high fence(or whatever maximum height is allowed). One week before it was installed, I'd have a registered letter delivered to him(with a return receipt), showing him the fence details on a copy of the survey with a letter that he can remove any landscaping along that border by that date. If it isn't removed by the date the fence starts, it will suffer the fate of the fence installation and anything on your property will no longer be available to him. I would put the fence 0" to 6" inside the line and plan on painting/staining it from your side only if required.

 

[Tali]

Update

So, Sunday afternoon I was resigned to sending a certified letter until we figured out how to use the property. Early Sunday evening another neighbor told me the wife had been diagnosed with cancer 4 weeks ago. Thank god I hadn't said anything yet!!

So I waffled back and forth as to whether my taking over food and flowers would be welcome or not, but decided that I needed to do what I would for any neighbor. Yardwise, I had decided to go the 'merge the boundary as best as possible until further notice' route, given the circumstances and was going to broach that subject whenever it seemed reasonable at a later date.

Monday afternoon I tried to time it for when he wasn't there, but that didn't work. My daughter and I went over and he answered the door. It was as if nothing had ever happened with the garage. He seemed genuinely grateful to see us, chitchatted, called his MIL out to see us, appologized that his wife was resting, commented on our geraniums, was amazed that they bloomed all winter in the sunroom, etc. I couldn't believe it! So I asked what kind of grass seed they used so we could blend the border a bit better and he offered tips and volunteered info about the neighborhood's creeping charlie situation from 20 years ago. It was kind of surreal.

Soooo, I'm just going to assume they have better things to do than to worry about suing us and I'm not going to rush anything just to stake claim to it until we actually need to utilize it.

For the record, a fence can go on the actual borderline and the height restrictions vary by proximity to the front of the house. 10' is a nono!

Thanks so much for the advice. It is so helpful to have a sounding board like this!