atxcoolguy
Member
What is the name of your state? Texas
i'll try to make this as brief and simple as possible. we have lived at our house for 15 years and for the past 5 years we have had a dispute with a mulch and dirt yard located behind our house. before the mulch yard, the area behind the house was forest and everything was peaceful and quiet.
then came the dirt yard. they cut down every tree on the lot including a few trees located on our property. they ran bulldozers and machinery many times well past midnight. the noise during the day became unbearable and the dirt from the yard would blow all over our yard, cars, furniture, and house. finally the neighborhood association sued the dirt yard and we and several neighbors next to the dirt yard were awarded compensation for costs concurred from putting up extra window protection. as part of the deal, they had to put up a 8 foot fence and replant trees cut down from our property.
so this is the first problem. they built this fence on our property and worst of all it is a major eyesore and is falling apart from vines growing on their side ripping it apart.
the next part of the problem come from their relatives who own several pieces of land ajoining this dirt yard. before i go on, let me put forth that the parents of the dirt yard owner live behind us right next to the dirt yard. their land is "landlocked" and that property has the right to use a small driveway as an easement for ingress and regress only. the problem now is that vehicles from the dirt yard are cutting through her land, which she allows, because they're family and are using this easement as well. the easement agreement clearly states that the owner of the "property" meaning the parents may use this for ingress and regress. since they're all family, they think they can all use this easement. i have no problem with them using the easement for purposes of visiting the parents. however, when they drive to the parent's land, the vehicles are turning off into the dirt yard. this dirt yard has several trailers that have been put up and these people living in the trailers are using the easement even though they are not included on the easement agreement. the people living in these trailers, who are also family of the parents and dirt yard owners have access to a major road, but like to cut through our easement.
my neighbor and i each own half of the land that the easement falls on. we desperately want to shut down this driveway. the reason the parents have easement rights to begin with is because they were landlocked. now their children, one of whom owns the dirt yard, and another who owns land ajoining their property each have access to roads. in fact, they can cut through this dirtyard on a private road which leads to the highway. the other child also owns land ajoing hers and he has access to a road. so instead of doing the right thing and using their children's land as an easement they would rather use our land as an easement.
to make things worse, the mom is manic depressent and is extremely rude to us and our other neighbor who owns the other half of the land with the easement on it. she's upset with us because we bought this land before they could purchase it. some other person had previously owned this land and we had no interest in purchasing it until a night a few years ago. the children who live in the trailers on the dirt yard were partying one night and kept cutting though this land to get in and out of the dirt yard. they were driving recklessly and speeding through, so our neighbor stopped a car and asked them to slow down. well my neighbor is a nice old man about 75 years old and these punks started screaming in his face and called their manic mother over to scream in his face as well. this wasn't the end as her son came over and also began yelling in his face. the son is a really big tough guy about 35 years old and he was all up in his face the worst. i'm surprised my neighbor didn't have a hearty attack as he is a weak older man. they ended up calling the cops and said my neighbor was harrassing them. no charges were filed against my neighbor as he had done nothing wrong.
so for the past 2 years all kinds of cars are using this easement to get to multiple properties. my neighbor recently put up a no tresspassing sign in order to keep the people from the dirt yard from cutting through our property. he as well as i got a letter from her lawyer saying that the sign was a form of harrassment. the letter also states that we have always harrassed them, stopped mail and newspaper deliveries, and impeded guests. all of which is untrue and i consider it very slanderous.
so now what can i do? the mom claims that the family properties have access to this easement, although the original agreement states only that her property may use the easement. since she claims "properties", do we have the right to shut down this easement, since her "properties" have access to 3 roads. this is all about getting even as we have never had to deal with anybody as crazy as this family. our home value has lowered because of the dirt yard and although i can not prove it, i believe they killed 2 of my dogs in order to get even with us for sueing them. these people are in a class of their own and need to be stopped. we're afraid that if we don't put our foot down now, more trailers will be put on the dirt yard and use our property as an easement. sorry everything is not all neat and organized, but please if anybody knows anything or has useful advice about a situation like this, i'd love to hear it. we don't believe we should move as we have lived here many years before this dirt yard was here and before this crazy family moved in. we have many friends and neighbors who we've known and love and will not move away from them because a crazy family moves in.
please, any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
i'll try to make this as brief and simple as possible. we have lived at our house for 15 years and for the past 5 years we have had a dispute with a mulch and dirt yard located behind our house. before the mulch yard, the area behind the house was forest and everything was peaceful and quiet.
then came the dirt yard. they cut down every tree on the lot including a few trees located on our property. they ran bulldozers and machinery many times well past midnight. the noise during the day became unbearable and the dirt from the yard would blow all over our yard, cars, furniture, and house. finally the neighborhood association sued the dirt yard and we and several neighbors next to the dirt yard were awarded compensation for costs concurred from putting up extra window protection. as part of the deal, they had to put up a 8 foot fence and replant trees cut down from our property.
so this is the first problem. they built this fence on our property and worst of all it is a major eyesore and is falling apart from vines growing on their side ripping it apart.
the next part of the problem come from their relatives who own several pieces of land ajoining this dirt yard. before i go on, let me put forth that the parents of the dirt yard owner live behind us right next to the dirt yard. their land is "landlocked" and that property has the right to use a small driveway as an easement for ingress and regress only. the problem now is that vehicles from the dirt yard are cutting through her land, which she allows, because they're family and are using this easement as well. the easement agreement clearly states that the owner of the "property" meaning the parents may use this for ingress and regress. since they're all family, they think they can all use this easement. i have no problem with them using the easement for purposes of visiting the parents. however, when they drive to the parent's land, the vehicles are turning off into the dirt yard. this dirt yard has several trailers that have been put up and these people living in the trailers are using the easement even though they are not included on the easement agreement. the people living in these trailers, who are also family of the parents and dirt yard owners have access to a major road, but like to cut through our easement.
my neighbor and i each own half of the land that the easement falls on. we desperately want to shut down this driveway. the reason the parents have easement rights to begin with is because they were landlocked. now their children, one of whom owns the dirt yard, and another who owns land ajoining their property each have access to roads. in fact, they can cut through this dirtyard on a private road which leads to the highway. the other child also owns land ajoing hers and he has access to a road. so instead of doing the right thing and using their children's land as an easement they would rather use our land as an easement.
to make things worse, the mom is manic depressent and is extremely rude to us and our other neighbor who owns the other half of the land with the easement on it. she's upset with us because we bought this land before they could purchase it. some other person had previously owned this land and we had no interest in purchasing it until a night a few years ago. the children who live in the trailers on the dirt yard were partying one night and kept cutting though this land to get in and out of the dirt yard. they were driving recklessly and speeding through, so our neighbor stopped a car and asked them to slow down. well my neighbor is a nice old man about 75 years old and these punks started screaming in his face and called their manic mother over to scream in his face as well. this wasn't the end as her son came over and also began yelling in his face. the son is a really big tough guy about 35 years old and he was all up in his face the worst. i'm surprised my neighbor didn't have a hearty attack as he is a weak older man. they ended up calling the cops and said my neighbor was harrassing them. no charges were filed against my neighbor as he had done nothing wrong.
so for the past 2 years all kinds of cars are using this easement to get to multiple properties. my neighbor recently put up a no tresspassing sign in order to keep the people from the dirt yard from cutting through our property. he as well as i got a letter from her lawyer saying that the sign was a form of harrassment. the letter also states that we have always harrassed them, stopped mail and newspaper deliveries, and impeded guests. all of which is untrue and i consider it very slanderous.
so now what can i do? the mom claims that the family properties have access to this easement, although the original agreement states only that her property may use the easement. since she claims "properties", do we have the right to shut down this easement, since her "properties" have access to 3 roads. this is all about getting even as we have never had to deal with anybody as crazy as this family. our home value has lowered because of the dirt yard and although i can not prove it, i believe they killed 2 of my dogs in order to get even with us for sueing them. these people are in a class of their own and need to be stopped. we're afraid that if we don't put our foot down now, more trailers will be put on the dirt yard and use our property as an easement. sorry everything is not all neat and organized, but please if anybody knows anything or has useful advice about a situation like this, i'd love to hear it. we don't believe we should move as we have lived here many years before this dirt yard was here and before this crazy family moved in. we have many friends and neighbors who we've known and love and will not move away from them because a crazy family moves in.
please, any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
