Removing the vehicles/scrap yard of my property

[Sarah L]

What is the name of your state? New Mexico

Hi, We have shitty neighbors who have a scrap yard on our property. We've not bothered with it until now (5 yrs in). We'd like to him to remove everything off our property by sending a certified letter to demand he does it in 30 days or be fined $ per month after that if he doesn't, to be taken to small claims court after 3 months.

Sound doable? Any suggestions or the legal speak to put in the initial letter? And no, he won't talk to us, do anything unless forced to.
Thanks,
s

 

[Zigner]

Are these the same neighbors that you don't want to escalate things with?

 

[Sarah L]

on behalf of a friend

 

[Zigner]

on behalf of a friend

Please have your friend log on to ask his or her own questions. Thank you.

 

[Sarah L]

Please have your friend log on to ask his or her own questions. Thank you.

Thank you for your legal advice so far. It's really helped clarify.

 

[quincy]

Suggest to your friends that they report the junk-producing neighbors to code enforcement.

Please watch your language on this forum. Thanks.

 

[Just Blue]

Thank you for your legal advice so far. It's really helped clarify.

It's more effective to deal with the actual legal party. No need to be snarky to the volunteers of this site.

 

[Sarah L]

Excuse me? Non legal advice that is snarky towards me is fine but the band wagon reacts when I say thanks for helping? I thought this site was for legal advice not commentary? The above comment didn't help the question. It assumed that everyone is online and/or able to post on here.
The phrase "watch your language" is laughable since I was polite in my response, the language was something Grandmas would say to a preacher.

 

[Just Blue]

Excuse me? Non legal advice that is snarky towards me is fine but the band wagon reacts when I say thanks for helping? I thought this site was for legal advice not commentary? The above comment didn't help the question. It assumed that everyone is online and/or able to post on here.
The phrase "watch your language" is laughable since I was polite in my response, the language was something Grandmas would say to a preacher.

Zig asked you, very politely, to have the legal party join...most of us here prefer to deal with the actual legal party.

If you read the TOS you will see that vulgar language, such as you post in the OP, violates the site terms.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Excuse me? Non legal advice that is snarky towards me is fine but the band wagon reacts when I say thanks for helping? I thought this site was for legal advice not commentary? The above comment didn't help the question. It assumed that everyone is online and/or able to post on here.
The phrase "watch your language" is laughable since I was polite in my response, the language was something Grandmas would say to a preacher.

Really? This is what you deem polite?!

We have shitty neighbors

As to your legal question: no. I do not think that what you or your friend are proposing is a rational legal solution for the dumping problem. Your neighbor is not going to get an award in small claims for "rental/storage" fees, because there is no contract between your friend and their neighbor.

What you friend can do is send a demand letter to their neighbor observing that there are items on your friend's property that belong to the neighbor, that the neighbor has 30 days to remove their property, and that any property not removed of by then will be considered abandoned, subject to removal by your friend. And that your friend will seek reimbursement for (reasonable) removal costs in court, should it come to that.

If your friend can dispose of the property for "free" (curbside trash pick up or freecycle), there are no removal costs. But if "scrap" includes items that require paying someone to remove it (towing junk cars, for example), that would be a reasonable removal cost.