Articles on Next Door Neighbor Issues
Can we Place a Gate on a Ingress/Egress Easement?
We bought a house/land 6 years ago and signed an ingress/egress easement with the previous owners to allow them the use of our driveway to access their property that adjoins ours. We are having major problems with the renters (& parents of the daycare children) speeding up and down our driveway and forcing us to get out of their way when we are on it. In an effort to slow down the traffic we have put up a nonlocking gate at the end of the driveway where it joins their property. The property owners are now saying we have no legal right to install the gate.
The parish of Iberia were I live was going to build a road that would have gone between our lots and the easement was 60 foot but they decide to do away with that easement and went with the 30 foot drainage easement on my side of the boundry line. I want my nieghbor to remove a septic drain line that runs onto my side into the ditch. Do I have the right to make her remove it.
My neighbor has asked me to grant her an unrecorded easement that would provide emergency egress from her back yard, through my back yard, to the street. It seems that I would be giving up substantial property rights were I to grant the easement, and that the unrecorded quality of the easement seems sneaky. What should I watch out for?
recently i started to bull doze a road through this property at one point i encountered a wet spewage area that keep my road wet since i could not have this wet place in my drive i hired a backhoe to come and dig down and insert a pipe under the ground to try a channel the water away to the road ditch. when they dug down they encountered a 1 inch water pipe that was broke— the pipe was cut and capped–i then contacted the water district and surrounding homes to see if this line went to any of them—-no one claimed this water line— 2–months later a plumbing man contacted me—to ask a question about the water line—–seems that a house that had been for sale for a year bordering my property needed its water turned on—when they did — they had no water– i contacted the owner and he agreed to trench in another line if i would let him. i said ok—now 3 weeks later i get a summons that i am being sued in small claims court for not fixing his water line- what can i do?
We and our adjacent neighbors are in a dispute over a 4 foot high concrete retaining wall that straddles both of our property lines. We’ve had large clay terra-cotta pots sitting on top of retaining wall with lattice in the pots to obscure the neighbors privacy fence, which is few feet back from the retaining wall. Recently (last week), they decided to start objecting to the clay pots (which are on their property, according to their survey). Would mediation/arbitration be a better, less expensive way to go?
The easement borders my entire property line, I have a private driveway off the easement to my house. The neighbor who lives directly behind me says that when I pull off the paved part of the easement over the grass part of the easement (approx. 10 ft) to get to my front yard, I am tresspassing over his property. He has called the police 4 times in the past 6 months accusing me of trespassing when I park my car in my yard. Do I have the right to access my property from the easement? Does he have the right to call the state police to my house everytime I park in my yard?
Have access to irrigation water via a pipeline across neighbors property. Helped to pay for pipeline that supplies water to their parcel, and to our pipeline. New owner says since pipeline is not specified or noted in title search, there is no legal basis and his lawyer has notified us that unless we can show legal basis they are going to remove the pipeline. I believe our basis is implied easement. Am I correct, an what is the best way to establish this?
Because we’ve lived in the house (for 12 years) and maintained the retaining wall before and after it was rebuilt, and paid entirely for the reconstruction of the wall, does this give us a right to a prescriptive easement (i.e. right to own the wall completely) overriding the neighbor’s survey, which they claim gives them exclusive ownership rights? Would mediation/arbitration be a better, less expensive way to go?
My yard is fenced with entrance gates at the front and back of the property. I have found during recent weeks that a neighbor has been opening the front gate where the sidewalk is and entering my yard to allow her dog to use lawn and sometimes that side of the house as its personal toilet. Since my yard is gated and the neighbor is entering through a latched gate, can it be considered trespassing?
My deed states that an adjacent landowner has a strip beside my property that is “as wide as a road”….their deed says a 60 foot wide strip. In 1924 the two deeds said the same thing, but the next time the land changed hands, the 60 ft. was specified. Since it was not recorded on both deeds, can this be legal?
I have a private lane in the bottom land of my property, (grass/ gravel) and it is listed as “Private” in the local county courthouse (Garrard Co., KY.) It is also “Private” with the State Transportation Cabinet. I have lived here for 20 years and recently placed a gate on the lane, because a 4-wheeler almost hit one of my kids. A farmer, who has no easement or right of way, and is NOT landlocked, decided he didn’t want the gate there because he wants to get to his back hillside that way, (even though in 20 years I have never actually seen him drive down my lane to get to his hill.) They came and cut my gate down with a blowtorch. Do you think this could be a case for the ACLU?
I am having an issue with my next door neighbor that has been ongoing for two years. I have tried to talk to the management company, but they have not been helpful.
I purchased a narrow lot two houses from my house in 2005. My neighbor whose house next to my narrow lot bought his house in 1998. He constructed sliding iron front gates on track in front of his house sometime after which I am not sure. But it is very likely that was more than 5 years ago. About 8-10 feet of the track is on my property(I have a survey done). Now my question is would it still work if I give notice of permission for him to continue to use it to park his cars in order to prevent a potential claim of prescriptive easement?
I live in a Association Property with communal parking space in front of my backyard gate. We keep our trashcans in the back yard and bring them through this gate and the parking space to the communal street for trash day. Recently, a neighbor parked in the spot on trash day and did not leave much room between my house and his car. When my minor aged son took the trash out, after dark, he scratched our neighbor’s car. Who is liable for the damage to our neighbor’s car, us or the home owner association?
I Live on a Busy Street and my Neighbor with Easement Access Leaves my Gate Unlocked and Open, What can I do?
For past few months, My neighbors (12 people) are now constantly using their basement door and my driveway as their main door, even their guest use it as a entrance door even though they have their front door and it is becoming extremely difficult to use my driveway where I park my cars(because of their constant presence, sitting in the driveway, children playing in the driveway etc), when I ask them to stop sitting or playing, they apologize, but keep repeating, them blocking my driveway with their cars is also becoming a problem. How to solve this problem, Is their a legal way? Can I stop them from using my driveway?
I live in the state of NY and I have a right of way on a piece of property from 1970. This was used for a turn around and a place for the kids to play. It is 50-100ft, we are at the end of a dead end street. The town just abandoned this piece for a neighbor to have a driveway to get to there new house. Can this be legally done? My right of way was also included with the deed given to the town when they took over the road in 1992.
There are 2 condo’s in the building, only. I own the upstairs condo. I need to construct an egress stair from my upstairs unit to provide it with a second means of egress as required by the State Building Code. The downstairs unit owners said they will not allow the rights to the use of the rear yard for the proposed egress stair, Can the owners override the State Building Code.
Is a verbal easement legal and binding? We are planning on building a home with our frontage being on a private road that has five homes on it. We have a written easement with our neighbor right across from us. But we have had a verbal easement with our neighbor that sits at the start of the private road for about three years now. Dose a verbal easement eventually become legal or our we going to be having problems? Do we even need a written easement from him with us all ready having a easement to our frontage?
My question is that my wife’s uncle , who resides in Texas, gave only verbal permission to some residents who were landlocked, next to his property, to use his land to get to theirs. What if anything can we do to get rid of them short of selling them property or an easement?
WE recently bought a 2nd home on the river. The property has a boat ramp on it. The latest Platte chart, only shows the outline of our property, no indication of a boat ramp. AND there are no easements recorded to date. BUT, everyone allows everyone to share… We’ve asked that they sign a waiver of liability in exchange for permission of using the ramp, since this is our 2nd home and we cannot maintain the ramp non-stop. We’ve been indirectly threatened that an easement by prescription will be placed on our ramp… What are our rights?
My husband and I purchased a piece of land 17 years ago which consisted of a working commercial fish hatchery, buildings and 3 homes. There is a piece of property between us and the county road on which we have “a non-exclusive easement for ingress and egress over and under a piece of land 20 feet in width”. We now have a new owner of the property on which we have the easement who is claiming that we don’t have the right to have this business as the easement is for a single family residence access only. Can he stop us from having this business which has been in existence since 2004?
I own an undeveloped 5 ac parcel in California. Upon having it surveyed, I learned that my neighbor’s driveway falls as much as 20′ outside of the easement. The easement is 60′ (30′ of which is on my property) for a one lane gravel road. Can I insist the road be moved to regain my property? Is it my responsibility to rebuild it, or the responsibility of the neighbor?
I just bought a house and decided to install a privacy fence next to my neighbors house. After digging the post, we discovered PVC piping on my property. Apparently the neighbor says he did not know about the piping which happens to be his sewer and is in the process of trying to get an easement. Can I make him move the sewer line? Can I cut it off my property and cap it off? What are my options?
The neighbors across the street who are personally known to both myself and my husband and who were, at one time, friends have put me in a position, that I am considering a slander/malice lawsuit. A potential buyer was doing a walk about around the property when they were approached by the said neighbors and told “not to buy this house, the roof leaks and the walls leak”. I have suggested to my husband that if my realtor could get a signed statement of exactly what was said, the date and time and a description of the parties stating these malicious words, I may have a case. That is my question - do I have any rights to protect my reputation and as well the potential loss of the sale of this house?
I live in a home with a 20 ft easement driveway from the main road to a semi public lake. Home owners have been granted ingress & egress to the lake. There are 3 houses and 1 duplex on the easement driveway. About 20 years ago the owner of our home built and maintained a dock that sits just off the natural water line of the lake and it meets all state codes and is legally there. We bought the home 7 years ago and we have maintained the dock and keep our boat anchor during the summer. Can the owners of the duplex give their tenants the right to use the easement to the shoreline? Can the tenants of the duplex give anyone (i.e., friends, neighbors, relatives, etc.,) the right to use the easement to the shoreline? Do we have the right to prohibit the tenants from the dock even though we have no paperwork showing ownership of the dock?
My neighbor has planted a hedge that is growing across my property. I asked him to trim it back so it would still look nice, but be on his property. He not only has let it grown further (he claims he’s using the easement, which half happens to be over MY boundary line). He called the police on me, and they said I could be arrested if I touched his plants Why can he cut my bushes on MY property, yet he can continue to encroach on mine? Does he have the right to let his plants grow over the easement that is on my property?
We own a property on a private road with 14 homes. We all have septic and wells. We have an irreparable septic problem. We have been denied a permit for a new on-lot septic option. Our neighbors have reported us to county and local government. Thus causing us to enter into the legal system to fight it. We have a developer who is ready to put in a private line to a sewer main. All that we need is for the neighbors to sign giving us an easement to put it in along the private road. They are giving us a hard time about it and will not sign. Is there anyway to force the easement through so that we can fix our problem?
At the time we purchased the home we picked the lot, style, and elevation of the house specifically so we could enjoy the view. Our lot sits atop a hill, and overlooks the pond, and hills that are in the community. The people that live directly across the street from us are planning to build a garage which will effectively block the view we enjoy. The HOA board (which I am a member, as well as the homeowner planning the garage) says they cannot deny the request because there are other (2) detached garages in the community. However, neither of these garages obstructs the view of others. Is there anything I as a homeowner can do to prevent the garage from being built.
There is an access easement on my property so that my neighbor can access his yard (they use my driveway). I am wanting to build a fence on my property line which would cross a small portion at the end of the easement. I would not be hindering his access to his backyard, but he is against my building the fence. Would I legally be able to build the fence as long as I am not keeping him from getting into his backyard (egress and ingress)?
We have allowed our neighbors to use the back portion of our yard for almost five years in exchange for the landscaping they did for us. Their house is directly behind ours, and they did not have room for their son and daughter to play. They have paid the water bill, but no insurance, property taxes, mortgage, etc. Do we need to have a formal easement agreement? Can they take over our property and assume ownership after a prescribed length of time?
The original property owner gave an easement and “right-of-way for the purpose of ingress & egress and to run with said land and to be transferable therewith; reserving unto the grantor the right to use said road & grant others a like easement and right-of-way.” I am putting an underground sprinkler system in the front yard but the neighbor insists that it will be in the easement area. The sprinkler heads will be flush with the ground and will not impede traffic flow. Is this allowed? There is very little likelihood that the road will ever be paved or taken over by the state. What are my rights?
Three homes drive over our properties this easement . On the deed its state non exclusive easement for ingress and egress. I been having a bad time with a neighbor that drives over my land and the neighbors land, his dogs attacked me on my property and I find him. Now he wont stop driving past my house fast and he will come to a complete stop and peel out right in front of my house on this easement road. Is there any law that will help me on private easement roads with endangerment or damages. The dog attack is on record .the police wont touch private roads in Washington state. They told me that he has to go out onto the public road. Is this right? I have speed limit signs and a speed pump on a gravel road which we all agreed on even him, so I want to know what I can do by law to stop him, is this harassment?
I have recently purchased 20 acres of land in Indiana that was considered landlocked and was given a proper easement to said land for ingress and egress and utilities. The problem we have run into after residing here for 1 year is there is no signage or notification of where our easement begins off of a private drive. Am I allowed to put signage (my family name, private drive, no trespassing, etc…) at the beginning of our easement to recognize what the easements intent is and to deter unwanted traffic? The owner of the land has forbade us to place any signage on their property (our easement) at this time.
My house (primary residence) is on a lot without well defined borders to my neighbors. The grassy yard flows right into my neighbor property and there are some trees that act as a division but according to the plot plan my property runs well past them. Her lawn service cleans part of my lot (the part after the trees) and I worried she might think her yard is bigger than it is. How do I make sure after time she does not claim rights to the part of the yard she cleans?
I recently purchased property that the driveway goes through my land, and continues to my new neighbors property. The “neighbor” is already giving me a hard time about keeping up with the driveway such as plowing snow up to the end of my property, not just where my family needs to park. She also stated that the “right of way” was in their deed. My deed has no information pertaining to giving them “right of way” through my property. If I have to give them access, shouldn’t it be stated in my deed also?
30+ years ago, our grandfather bought 320+ acres of pasture ground. Soon after, he deeded 160 acres each to two of his children, one (tract 1) being our dad. 5 years ago, the other (tract 2) acreage was sold to our brother. Sad to say, relations are not good at all between the two brothers that each own a tract. The brother of tract #2 threatened to bulldoze over all the terraces on his side of the fence and dam up the water so that it could not drain down through on his side. Just last week, in anger over another issue, he followed through on his threat and bulldozed the terraces and diked up the dirt 3-4′ on his side of the fence so it would retain all the water on our side. We do not want to take a brother to court, but are at a loss as to what to do. Do we bend and just pay the expense and go on, till he gets all hot about another issue?
I have a problem, the neighbors do a german shepard keeps coming into my yard, about 8 times now within 2 weeks. He has weakened my fence so much it is beyond repair, the neighbor who owns the dog says he is not going to fix the fence because it is rotting and the wind blew a section down, needless to say open access to the do. Well today I came home at lunchtime and the dog came running up to my gate in my yard and started barking and looking mean, I wasn’t going to take a chance so I went to inform the neighbor again to which he did not answer the door or the phone so I called animal control, they took the dog away and left a note on his door. Well that only made matters worse, he decided to yell at me to say I was going to reimburse him the money it is going to cost to get his dog back since he was going to be neutured and he planned on breeding him also he wasn’t going to fix the fence he wants to go in halves with me to build a new one. There was nothing wrong with my fence before his dog started coming into my yard should I be involved in fixing the fence or should he have to fix it since it was his dog that cause all the damage?
I am wanting to know if we had allowed an easement across our property for another property owner to have access to their property behind us and now they are selling their property and the buyer is an adjoining property owner that will now have access to the property from his own property will be still have to allow access or use of the easement that is running through our property?
My neighbor drilled a well by accident on my property. He now wants to enter the property to decommission the well. Is the well now mine and he can he trespass with equipment to do the work?
I live in a Condominium and I am having trouble with renters not abiding by the associations rules. The renters are running in the hallways, which causes loud noises and vibrates our walls that face the hallway. The association is saying that since we are it only ones that are complaining, that is doesn’t happen many times a day and that the only happens in the daytime, that they will no longer try to control the renters behavior. This has been going on for over 2 years. What recourse do we have to reclaim our peaceful living environment?
We have given a 60 foot road easement for the purpose of ingress and egress to an adjacent property which is landlocked. The easement is situated on a steep sand hill which washes out easily. Previous owners have maintained the road and did not destroy the 60 foot easement. The current owner had not maintained the road and now are driving from side to side of the 60 feet to avoid the ruts that they have created. We have placed barriers on the side, leaving the previously maintained road clear. We have been told by one source that we could place gates at each side of the easement as long as we do not lock them without giving the adjacent property owner a key. Do we have the right to do this or do we have to allow these owners to destroy our land.
I have lived in my house for 15 years the HOA requires that you have at least 4 trees on each lot, about 5 years ago a man bought the lot next door ,then he started putting in trees along property line trees that have lots of big leaves. I try to keep my yard looking nice but now I have to get up these leaves 3- 4 times a year. Is there anyway that I can make him pay me for my time and using my equipment?
I have a number of questions concerning a private road easement which goes through our property along the floor of a steep valley. A mid portion stretch of the road goes through our property. I would like to access the property at the bottom of the hill for recreational activities and for maintenance (i.e. removing debris that periodically gets washed down, or dead trees that may have fallen). I have verbally asked the neighbors if it was OK for me to use of the road and they have declined.
He came onto her property the other day and weed wacked one of her gardens and then said “I hope you didn’t mind.” Several occasions like this have taken place, and every time, she makes sure that he understands their property boundary and states that she does not want him to cross (he mows every week over her vines ON HER PROPERTY and is constantly leaving tools on her property on top of her plants).
I only have liability so my insurance refused to pay for it or to cover it under my home policy. The tree leans into my property and I feel that the neighbor is aware of the danger because his neighbor’s tree fell on his garage few years back.
We share a reciprocal driveway easement with our neighbors, they park on our property and we drive across theirs. The easement documentation provides that we share in the costs of paving the easement. Some of our trees hanging over the area where they park have old, thick branches that could fall and damage their cars. Who is responsible for trimming the trees and keeping them safe?
We have painted our remodeled home on three sides and our neighbor is denying us access to use the area beyond the 12 inches (which is on his property) to paint the wall.
My neighbor has recently erected a barrier preventing us from driving across that portion of “her” driveway. It’s almost impossible to drive in 1 of 2 cars into the 2 car garage with this barrier.
We have the deed and have had our property surveyed which clearly show our property line, however the property line is adjacent to an easement for a driveway. Our neighbor decided to pave the driveway which is on our property. Our deed has nothing in it about an easement being on our property.
We have a neighbor who is hell bent on reporting any tiny violation of HOA covenants to the HOA, and takes pictures to email them. The pictures they have taken include the basement bedroom window of our roommate, who is not happy about pics being taken. Somehow I feel like this is an invasion of privacy, but don’t know what to do.
After this new owner had his land surveyed he realized that I, and my neighbor, drove across a ~ 250 sq. ft piece of land in the nethermost corner of his 93 acre holding. This small piece of his adjoining property has been used continuously as a driveway entrance to our properties since their development 40 years ago.
My neighbor has 2 large dead oak trees leaning toward my property, with the possibility that at any time they could fall causing damage to my home and/or cars.
My neighbor has planted a tree next to my pool wall. The tree will have a minimum width of 25 feet. It will shed leaves and nuts into my pool, and will also shut off my sunlight. What can I do?
I am trying to sell some property, and the neighbors keep claiming that they own the property (they don’t), and scaring off prospective buyers. What can I do?
Someone has built a house down the block from us and has decided to put a dock 20 feet from us, and instead of making his own access to his dock he has decided to use ours. What can we do?
My next door neighbor keeps calling the police, what can be done?
Can a next door neighbor be held responsible for property damage caused by their sprinkler?
Can a homeowner be held responsible to her neighbor for damage done to the neighbor’s yard by the homeowner’s daughter’s dog? The answer is, most likely.
