spiriteaglefly
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? CA
I bought this property with a home on it 10 yrs ago. My former neighbor on the adjacent uphill side had enourmous amounts of junk spilling over onto my property (including a semi-buried car). He'd also built a shed entirely on my property and was using it for who knows how long. I did not think the shed was on my property at all. I had better things to do than have a survey and have him clear the junk. I was not even sure that I could reclaim any of the property since he'd been there since time immemorial. I figured he would pass away soon and I could reclaim it then. He passed away a few months ago. A new neighbor moved in. He had the property surveyed--thus finding that I had inherited the shed in its entirety. One wall of the shed is coincident with our common property line. The new neighbor asked if he could use part of my property to access his home during construction. I told him yes. So, although all the junk from the former neighbor is long gone (except for the shed--which is a real sight to behold), there is now construction debris over in that area--which is expected since I told him he could use that area. What I did not expect is that he put a padlock on my shed and started using it while I was gone on vacation last month. I have not yet talked with him about that. We had both talked about the shed earlier--he knows I'd like to tear it down eventually. He told me he'd prefer I keep it there as a visual barrier to help with being discrete about construction. He told me he would pay to have it torn down and hauled away. That sounds like a good deal, but what do I need to do to ensure that adverse possession does not occur? Some kind of agreement should be in writing--correct? What needs to be addressed in that agreement? Based on the historical use of the former neighbor, there is no way the new neighbor could claim that property as his own at this point, correct?
I bought this property with a home on it 10 yrs ago. My former neighbor on the adjacent uphill side had enourmous amounts of junk spilling over onto my property (including a semi-buried car). He'd also built a shed entirely on my property and was using it for who knows how long. I did not think the shed was on my property at all. I had better things to do than have a survey and have him clear the junk. I was not even sure that I could reclaim any of the property since he'd been there since time immemorial. I figured he would pass away soon and I could reclaim it then. He passed away a few months ago. A new neighbor moved in. He had the property surveyed--thus finding that I had inherited the shed in its entirety. One wall of the shed is coincident with our common property line. The new neighbor asked if he could use part of my property to access his home during construction. I told him yes. So, although all the junk from the former neighbor is long gone (except for the shed--which is a real sight to behold), there is now construction debris over in that area--which is expected since I told him he could use that area. What I did not expect is that he put a padlock on my shed and started using it while I was gone on vacation last month. I have not yet talked with him about that. We had both talked about the shed earlier--he knows I'd like to tear it down eventually. He told me he'd prefer I keep it there as a visual barrier to help with being discrete about construction. He told me he would pay to have it torn down and hauled away. That sounds like a good deal, but what do I need to do to ensure that adverse possession does not occur? Some kind of agreement should be in writing--correct? What needs to be addressed in that agreement? Based on the historical use of the former neighbor, there is no way the new neighbor could claim that property as his own at this point, correct?
Last edited: