Getting neighbor to move junk off our property

[TigerD]

We were told this attorney was the best real estate lawyer in town. I don't know what other attorneys charge, so I have no comparison. Is he charging us a lot of money?

Sometimes second best is good enough.

DC

 

[CameronNewport]

tell them before you do it of course and be done with it, then send them the bill. then go after them in small claims, keep a good paper trail, with video and recordings. clearly mark your corners and have a surveyor swear out a survey.

This is the best advice in this thread.

Write your neighbor a letter and state that if she doesn't move her junk within 7 days, then you will be forced to hire somebody to move it for her at her own expense.

Then follow through with it and send her the bill. Why be a doormat for 3 years?

The cost of hiring somebody to move the junk will be less than your attorney's fees (which you won't be awarded) in a trespassing lawsuit, plus you can sue for the cost of moving the junk in small claims without an attorney.

 

[xylene]

This is the best advice in this thread.

Write your neighbor a letter and state that if she doesn't move her junk within 7 days, then you will be forced to hire somebody to move it for her at her own expense.

Then follow through with it and send her the bill. Why be a doormat for 3 years?

The cost of hiring somebody to move the junk will be less than your attorney's fees (which you won't be awarded) in a trespassing lawsuit, plus you can sue for the cost of moving the junk in small claims without an attorney.

How does this advice protect the poster from retaliatory suit for damages to the property of the neighbor with whom they have been locked in a 3 year litigious boundary dispute.

It doesn't. This is why they need to work with a their own lawyer and / or a new lawyer they can afford.

Advising self help remedies off the cuff is not going to help this poster who is locked in a hostile boundary dispute. PS - the survey does not resolve the issue.

 

[CameronNewport]

Advising self help remedies off the cuff is not going to help this poster who is locked in a hostile boundary dispute.

A hostile boundary dispute? You sure about that?

She has not disputed the new fence on the correct boundary.

We don't know if the neighbor agrees with the correct boundary, but they haven't said anything since we put up the new fence last August.

I did approach the neighbor Sunday and outright asked if they ever planned on moving the stuff, and they said yes but to bear with them

The OP should do exactly what John Se and I suggested.

 

[xylene]

A hostile boundary dispute? You sure about that?

I would call a three year dispute involving loss of use hostile.

You are the legal wiz, you should know that the hostile does mean gunshots or harsh language.

The words "disputed yet" and "stalling" come to mind.

The poster has already engaged the services of a lawyer, but is unhappy with the price. The wise plan is to get a second legal opinion.

One neighbors ramshackle shed is another's $25k storage facility.

There is no easy push it over the fence solution or defense and cavalierly dismissing the real prospect of a counter claim is naive.

 

[CameronNewport]

I would call a three year dispute involving loss of use hostile.

You are the legal wiz, you should know that the hostile does mean gunshots or harsh language.

It sounds more like a case of laziness than an argument over the boundary. There is a survey that says where the correct boundary lies. The OP has already begun building a fence along that boundary with apparently no argument. The neighbor has stated that she will move the junk but needs more time because of various excuses. According to the OP, the neighbor hasn't once contested the survey.

It would probably be prudent to get a second survey to be 100%, and maybe a second lawyer's opinion of who owns the property, but spending tens of thousands of dollars on a trespassing lawsuit and the enforcement of any eventual order to remove the junk is a waste of money IMO, unless there is truly a reasonable question as to whose property it is (and there doesn't seem to be one). Let the neighbor make the first move in court. Let her debate whether it's worth $30k of her money in the face of a couple surveys that say she's wrong.

And considering the neighbor won't even take enough interest in the land to argue over whether the OP was correct in building the fence in the first place (remember, it's already been partially installed), do you believe that the neighbor is going to want to spend $30k herself in a lawsuit after the fact? Possibly, but I doubt it.

 

[xylene]

The neighbor doesn't have to prove anything about the boundary to claim the poster 'maliciously' damaged their property. Get the idea.

Simply self moving the items imposes a potential for a counter-claim for damages, which is a key risk the poster wants to avoid.

Also the neighbor, by not moving their structure and materials are quite actively contesting the boundary even if they are talking a contrite 'give us time' line.

 

[CameronNewport]

The neighbor doesn't have to prove anything about the boundary to claim the poster 'maliciously' damaged their property. Get the idea.

Simply self moving the items imposes a potential for a counter-claim for damages, which is a key risk the poster wants to avoid.

Also the neighbor, by not moving their structure and materials are quite actively contesting the boundary even if they are talking a contrite 'give us time' line.

I owe you and the OP an apology. After reading your post, and looking back at the first post, I missed the fact that there was a structure involved (that's why I kept using the word "junk").

Considering the structure may not be easily moved without damage, and the cost of moving it may be quite high, it probably would be best to obtain a judicial order first.