D
distraught_in_PA
Guest
I'm writing on behalf of my parents. They own 30 acres of wooded land in Pennsylvania. One of the landowners of an adjoining piece of property is having her property timbered. She lives out of state (California) and is therefore having a person here in PA (my neighbor) handle all the details, including hiring the logging company. The owner of the logging company had asked my father about 10 or 12 months ago if he could put a road in on his property, and my father said no. Since that time, there have been numerous incidents. My parents had the forester come back and double-check the property line and put up more ribbons between the boundary markers. The ribbons were ripped down immediately by ? The owner of the logging company also marked "his own line" with paint, obviously on my parent's land. We went back and painted over it; he came back and repainted it. Next, someone came throught and put up different ribbons as markers on my parent's land, but the owner of the logging company says he did not do it...we know better. The first person who was hired to build the road quit after my father told him the line was being "messed with." So the owner himself came through with a bulldozer and put the road in. My father contacted him, and all he had to say was, "well, I had to have a place to get in and out, and that was the only place to do it." My father also informed him that the boundary has been clearly marked once again and not to come across the line. The company owner's remark was, "I'll go look at it and see if it suits me." He's not even a surveyor! We know he'll continue with this mess, because there are some valuable trees on my parent's property that he marked as "his." The actual landowner will not return phone calls to my parents, and she also has never disputed the property line. So my questions are: what next? what is the landowner responsible for? what is the logging company owner responsible for? My parents need to move quickly but don't know what to do. They're trying to do all the right things, and take all the right steps, before having to get an attorney. Damage has already been done. We've lost several good-sized oak trees that were torn up and thrown over onto our property. Oh, one last thing...the owner of the logging company has been sued a few other times for similar circumstances. He doesn't seem to mind being sued. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
