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Totally maddening "no trespassing" sign

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M@c W@rri0r

Junior Member
California

So me and my family move onto this road like, a month ago. It's a dirt lane that is accessible on both sides by a major road. There are six or seven lots (that have houses on them, I mean) and one of them, the second to last occupied lot from the far end of the lane, is rented to a family. This renting family has put up a no trespassing sign in front of their home, one their property. Well within their rights, correct? Of course. But they also put up a sign on a telephone pole on the private lane itself, and another one at the entrance of one end of the lane. Here's a diagram for the visually inclined. The lane is represented by the equal signs, the, umm, arrow things are houses (the one in bold is the rented one) and the asterisks are where they have put signs on the road.

*=^==^=*=^===^===

In order to commute in the mornings, I sometimes would have to use the other end of the lane, but they have called the police for violation of private property on neighbors who've tried to go through. The sheriff has us that we should use only the non-posted end of the lane, because we would have to go to court to resolve the situation. This renting family has gone to extremes to enforce their signs- parking their truck across the lane (so that even the neighbors who live past the sign can't get to their property), and the wife has even run in front of a car attempting to get through, claiming that the driver hit her- when the driver, whom I know and will vouch for, says he avoided her.
Do they actually have the right to put up signs on this road?
 


M@c W@rri0r

Junior Member
Well, I'm not entirely sure one this (but I know it's important)- but I think it is county owned. If not, then the property-owners as a group, perhaps? In any case, I know it's not county-maintained. One of the neighbors grades it with his tractor up to the no-trespassing sign.
Sorry I can't say for sure!
 

Happy Trails

Senior Member
M@c W@rri0r said:
Well, I'm not entirely sure one this (but I know it's important)- but I think it is county owned. If not, then the property-owners as a group, perhaps? In any case, I know it's not county-maintained. One of the neighbors grades it with his tractor up to the no-trespassing sign.
Sorry I can't say for sure!
What do your other neighbors know?

It could be private property, you may have an easement, it maybe an alley.... We can't really help you until you have more information. Have you checked for any wording in your 'Abstract of Title'? That may shed some light.
 

M@c W@rri0r

Junior Member
Yeah, I looked up about easements last night on this site. Thank you.

The road, on the sign, is marked private ("pvt"). The county, it appears, neither owns nor maintains it. It appears to be owned collectively by the property owners...?

Our property line ends thirty feet back from the center of the road. What does that sound like to you guys? That's pretty much all the information I can get my hands on right now.
 

Happy Trails

Senior Member
M@c W@rri0r said:
Yeah, I looked up about easements last night on this site. Thank you.

The road, on the sign, is marked private ("pvt"). The county, it appears, neither owns nor maintains it. It appears to be owned collectively by the property owners...?

Our property line ends thirty feet back from the center of the road. What does that sound like to you guys? That's pretty much all the information I can get my hands on right now.
Are you renting or did you buy the house?
 

M@c W@rri0r

Junior Member
My family owns. Sorry, I thought I mentioned that. Man, this all seems really confusing. I mean, no one has said what seems to me to be the obvious conclusion- that as they are renting, they have no right to put the signs up. That even if they did own their property, they wouldn't have the right to put the signs up, even if only because the people who also live in their little barricaded section don't agree. And this seems to me to imply that they might just have the right to do this! And that's crazy!
 

Happy Trails

Senior Member
M@c W@rri0r said:
My family owns. Sorry, I thought I mentioned that. Man, this all seems really confusing. I mean, no one has said what seems to me to be the obvious conclusion- that as they are renting, they have no right to put the signs up. That even if they did own their property, they wouldn't have the right to put the signs up, even if only because the people who also live in their little barricaded section don't agree. And this seems to me to imply that they might just have the right to do this! And that's crazy!
Do you have an "Abstract of Title" (this would have the history of your property, including liens, easements, encumbrances, etc.) (If it was brought up to date.) Otherwise an easement may be on file at the court house and may not be in your abstract. If there is an easement, they cannot block it.
 

M@c W@rri0r

Junior Member
Update:
The crazy neighbors, as it turns out, were not technically renting- they were squatting! The original tenant was owed a favor by the landlord, so the landlord let him live there for free. Eventually, the original tenant moved out without informing the landlord, and allowed HIS crazy friends to move in. They have evidently been living there, rent-free, for several years. They were exposed when their harassment prompted a couple of neighbors to write a letter to the landlord. So when the landlord found out the renters were not his original tenants, he kicked them out- and they're gone! Problem solved.
 

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