S
shaylahc
Guest
I live in Apex, NC.
I bought a house last October in the middle of a planned neighborhood development. We noticed when we were looking at the house that the home behind our lot was under construction. Since the neighborhood is newer we didn't think anything of it.
Since then we have learned that the person building the house is an individual. Somehow he was able to buy a plot of land from the builder and he has been working on the house himself for 3 years in his spare time. Apparently its almost finished on the inside, but the outside is still not finished (front porch roof is being propped up by 2 by fours and the deck has no railing and no stairs). The yard is a wreck. He has retaining walls started, piles of bricks where there are more retaining wall blocks, huge piles of dirt from when they excavated for the house, etc.
I called the Homeowners Association to complain but they were not helpful. They said that while the house was under construction they couldn't force him to do anything--finish his house faster, do something about the mess, etc. Ok, so that is fine. It is an eyesore but that is not my biggest problem.
The biggest problem is that on the side of his house is the end of my backyard property. There is a 10 foot drainage easement at the end of my property (its actually a 20 foot easement, 10 feet on each person's property). When the previous owner fenced in the property he did not fence in the easement. So we have approximately 10 feet by 120 feet piece of property behind our fence. The person who owns the house under construction has been using that property (without our consent or permission) to drive his construction equipment back there to work on his house. He has completely destroyed the area and currently has a bobcat shovel and a tree resting on our property. To make things worse the land is eroding away towards our fence, causing it to slowly be buried in mud. We were outside on Sunday and were getting ready to lay down some pine straw (to help with the erosion) and this person comes flying out of his house. He starts telling us not to lay down the straw since he is going to be working on grading the yard, etc, etc. The way he was talking is that he has big plans for our property. His house pretty much eats up his property (our property line is literally withing 12 feet of the side of his house) in the front, so the sides are small and how he grades his land (whenever he gets around to it) will greatly affect what happens to our land. He never once apologized for destroying our property, or offered to move his equipment. He said he and the previous owner had agreed to keep the area "natural" which I have since confirmed with the previous owner that no such conversation ever took place.
In a perfect world I would love to move the fence back to the property line. Unfortunately there is a drainage pipe that runs right behind the fence (and perhaps under the easement, although I'm not sure of the exact location) so I don't think its a viable option. I would love to get back there and start planting some trees and shrubs, but I'm not sure if the town might complain that it would interfere with drainage or the neighbor might throw a fit. I would also like this guy to move his bobcat shovel off my property. If I landscape this area he will no longer be able to drive his bobcat back there to work. Because this area is an easement can he legally force me to allow him to drive his contruction equipment back there? I have no doubt he would not pay for any damages. He has proven himself to be beligerent and inconsiderate. All I want is for my fence to stop being buried under mud and to not have my property slowly turn into his (which I'm sure he would love!). Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks.
I bought a house last October in the middle of a planned neighborhood development. We noticed when we were looking at the house that the home behind our lot was under construction. Since the neighborhood is newer we didn't think anything of it.
Since then we have learned that the person building the house is an individual. Somehow he was able to buy a plot of land from the builder and he has been working on the house himself for 3 years in his spare time. Apparently its almost finished on the inside, but the outside is still not finished (front porch roof is being propped up by 2 by fours and the deck has no railing and no stairs). The yard is a wreck. He has retaining walls started, piles of bricks where there are more retaining wall blocks, huge piles of dirt from when they excavated for the house, etc.
I called the Homeowners Association to complain but they were not helpful. They said that while the house was under construction they couldn't force him to do anything--finish his house faster, do something about the mess, etc. Ok, so that is fine. It is an eyesore but that is not my biggest problem.
The biggest problem is that on the side of his house is the end of my backyard property. There is a 10 foot drainage easement at the end of my property (its actually a 20 foot easement, 10 feet on each person's property). When the previous owner fenced in the property he did not fence in the easement. So we have approximately 10 feet by 120 feet piece of property behind our fence. The person who owns the house under construction has been using that property (without our consent or permission) to drive his construction equipment back there to work on his house. He has completely destroyed the area and currently has a bobcat shovel and a tree resting on our property. To make things worse the land is eroding away towards our fence, causing it to slowly be buried in mud. We were outside on Sunday and were getting ready to lay down some pine straw (to help with the erosion) and this person comes flying out of his house. He starts telling us not to lay down the straw since he is going to be working on grading the yard, etc, etc. The way he was talking is that he has big plans for our property. His house pretty much eats up his property (our property line is literally withing 12 feet of the side of his house) in the front, so the sides are small and how he grades his land (whenever he gets around to it) will greatly affect what happens to our land. He never once apologized for destroying our property, or offered to move his equipment. He said he and the previous owner had agreed to keep the area "natural" which I have since confirmed with the previous owner that no such conversation ever took place.
In a perfect world I would love to move the fence back to the property line. Unfortunately there is a drainage pipe that runs right behind the fence (and perhaps under the easement, although I'm not sure of the exact location) so I don't think its a viable option. I would love to get back there and start planting some trees and shrubs, but I'm not sure if the town might complain that it would interfere with drainage or the neighbor might throw a fit. I would also like this guy to move his bobcat shovel off my property. If I landscape this area he will no longer be able to drive his bobcat back there to work. Because this area is an easement can he legally force me to allow him to drive his contruction equipment back there? I have no doubt he would not pay for any damages. He has proven himself to be beligerent and inconsiderate. All I want is for my fence to stop being buried under mud and to not have my property slowly turn into his (which I'm sure he would love!). Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks.