What is the name of your state? Arkansas
We bought some land 20 years ago next to my sister and her family. 19 years ago, we built a barn. 8 years ago, we built a storage building and deck/gazebo and installed a 33' above ground swimming pool.
When we bought the property, my sister and her husband showed us where the property line between us was, roughly marked by the fence of their pasture (fence has been gone now for several years). All was well for years until they decided to put up a fence between us. They placed 3 very large cedar posts in our front yard to mark the corner of the fence. We disputed the placement of these posts (and the look of the proposed fence). We decided to have the land surveyed. They also had their land surveyed at the same time by the same company. We had this done about 2-3 years ago. Unfortunately, the property line was much further onto our property than either of us thought. They did not put in the fence, but left the ugly posts in our (their) front yard (to antagonize I am sure).
They told us we did not have to move anything. The surveyor told us they could not make us move the barn. We want to be fair and are willing to move the storage building and the pool, but did not want to do it until we were ready or were forced to - which ever came first. We have been spending our time and money remodeling the house and are not ready to move the storage building and pool yet. The barn is another matter. We do not want to go to the expense of rebuilding the barn.
Now they want to put up a fence and have mules and cows on their property. We told them they could fence in the whole property behind the barn -- ours as well as theirs to graze their animals, but really didn't want a fence between the two properties. They decided to fence in only their property, and have put several large cedar posts (What is it with them and large cedar tree trunks?) up to mark the corner of where they want to start the fence, which is about 10 feet behind our deck and pool and about 20 feet in front of our barn.
Obviously we cannot prevent their putting up a fence, but we have a couple of concerns (apart from the smell of the animals so close to our deck and pool). Our barn is over the property line where they want to install the fence. Do they have to leave a certain amount of space between the fence and our barn so that we can still have access to the barn? We want to maintain (brushhog and weed eat) the area around the barn so that we don't have infestation problems, and there is a storage area with a door on the fence side of the barn that we use. Also, since this is not a joint venture, do they have to put the fence posts entirely on their property?
We want to sell in the future and do not want the buyers to inherit this problem. What are our options? Because of the way our properties angle, the best solution was to trade footage at the front to us that we needed for footage at the back that they (at the time) needed, which we suggested. They were adamantly against losing "highway frontage". We live on a county road.
What are our options? Dealing with family is sticky -- not easier.
We bought some land 20 years ago next to my sister and her family. 19 years ago, we built a barn. 8 years ago, we built a storage building and deck/gazebo and installed a 33' above ground swimming pool.
When we bought the property, my sister and her husband showed us where the property line between us was, roughly marked by the fence of their pasture (fence has been gone now for several years). All was well for years until they decided to put up a fence between us. They placed 3 very large cedar posts in our front yard to mark the corner of the fence. We disputed the placement of these posts (and the look of the proposed fence). We decided to have the land surveyed. They also had their land surveyed at the same time by the same company. We had this done about 2-3 years ago. Unfortunately, the property line was much further onto our property than either of us thought. They did not put in the fence, but left the ugly posts in our (their) front yard (to antagonize I am sure).
They told us we did not have to move anything. The surveyor told us they could not make us move the barn. We want to be fair and are willing to move the storage building and the pool, but did not want to do it until we were ready or were forced to - which ever came first. We have been spending our time and money remodeling the house and are not ready to move the storage building and pool yet. The barn is another matter. We do not want to go to the expense of rebuilding the barn.
Now they want to put up a fence and have mules and cows on their property. We told them they could fence in the whole property behind the barn -- ours as well as theirs to graze their animals, but really didn't want a fence between the two properties. They decided to fence in only their property, and have put several large cedar posts (What is it with them and large cedar tree trunks?) up to mark the corner of where they want to start the fence, which is about 10 feet behind our deck and pool and about 20 feet in front of our barn.
Obviously we cannot prevent their putting up a fence, but we have a couple of concerns (apart from the smell of the animals so close to our deck and pool). Our barn is over the property line where they want to install the fence. Do they have to leave a certain amount of space between the fence and our barn so that we can still have access to the barn? We want to maintain (brushhog and weed eat) the area around the barn so that we don't have infestation problems, and there is a storage area with a door on the fence side of the barn that we use. Also, since this is not a joint venture, do they have to put the fence posts entirely on their property?
We want to sell in the future and do not want the buyers to inherit this problem. What are our options? Because of the way our properties angle, the best solution was to trade footage at the front to us that we needed for footage at the back that they (at the time) needed, which we suggested. They were adamantly against losing "highway frontage". We live on a county road.
What are our options? Dealing with family is sticky -- not easier.
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