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.
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.