update on Knuckledragger neighbor

[radfringe]

and the saga goes on...

for those not familiar with our battle: in a nutshell there's a property line dispute going on between us, neighbors in the back and knuckledragger next door - involves a driveway and right-of-way. Neighbors in the back and knuckledragger use the same right-of-way to access their homes. We don't use that driveway, but it abuts our property, and according to OUR deed, half that driveway is technically ours. Right-of-way permission was given when knuckledragger's house was originally built (this is before knuckledragger purchased the house and moved in) and the right of way extends up into property in back of knuckledragger's.

ennywho - knuckledragger had a survey done which showed his property line extends onto what we thought was our property. He then tried to put up a fence on our side, but it was stopped because it would impede the right-of-way. He did put up a fence on the otherside which did impede right-of-way for the neighbors in the backlot. These neighbors then had a survey done which showed that the right-of-way extends a bit wider and that it's actually OUR property.

soooooo- yesterday we're shoveling out our driveway, and clearing the mailboxes at the end of the driveway. I use to clear out all the mailboxes (there are 4 of them), but I don't anymore. I just cleared out the neighbor across the street, ours and the backlot neighbor. Knuckledragger flings open a window and yells "YOU F***ING DYKE! DON'T YOU THROW SNOW IN MY DRIVEWAY!" I wasn't throwing snow in his driveway, snow from the street/mailboxes was thrown on the pile on our side.

Next thing we know the Chief of Police shows up (small town we only have 2 1/2 cops). He looks at the pile of snow and snorts - knuckledragger comes running out yelling/screaming. The Chief told him to shut up. Knuckledragger then screams "You can see that pile was shoveled. I have a snowblower"

Chief: If you have a snowblower, then why haven't you cleared out your mailbox?

Knuckledragger got a bit more abusive - Chief threatened to cite him and after a few more minutes of screaming, Knuckledragger goes back into his house. The Chief leaves. The snow in front of knuckledragger's mailbox remained until the town plow came by and shoved it into his driveway.

later that day - the backlot neighbor is shoveling out his end of the driveway. (backlot neighbor was using a regular shovel made out of plastic - not a plow or snowblower) Knuckledragger comes out again screaming that the backlot neighbor is damaging his fence and he's calling the cops. Yeah, the Chief showed up again, looked at the snow, and at the "damage". The Chief asked knuckledragger if he had a magnifying glass handy because the Chief couldn't see any damage with the naked eye.

After the Chief left - knuckledragger was out there with his camera taking pictures of the supposed damage.

The backlot neighbor called us later and we compared notes about the now infamous "SNOW EVENT". backlot neighbor also told us that the local cops are very much aware of knuckledragger's behavior and that they have his number.

Come spring we will be having a survey done of our property. My partner dug out a copy of our deed last night, and as near as we can figure out - we do own half that right-of-way.

[NMMNG]

1. Is there any way you can spike his water supply with Valium?

It sounds like he could use a good supply of it. :scared:


:hug: for you--you certainly sound like you deserve it.

[LynneSin]

10. Valium? Hell try some horse tranquilizers

:eyes:

[BikeWriter]

2. I'd be wanting a good fence! The neighbor sounds like an asshole.

[tjwmason]

3. What a charming fellow.

:hug: to you and your partner, it must be emotionally draining at time - and good luck in getting the survey done.

I'm sure that you have no desire to mess him around, but he's obviously just out to make some trouble, and so deserves any trouble which he gets back.

[xchrom]

4. man oh man.

life really does throw some interesting curve balls sometimes.

you have more patience than me.

[henslee]

5. Ahhh. the garden variety asshole. I woud roll time lapse sureveillance

video from inside your your house. I doubt this ass clown is done.

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. Oh...wow...

:hug: This guy has apparently nothing better to do with his life, eh? This happens along the waterfront here. Neighbors are always surveying and resurveying each other. One guy completely landlocked his neighbor. People can be asses.

[ET Awful]

7. I say that once you have the survey done, you explain to Knuckledragger

that since the agreement to allow the use of your property as a point of ingress and egress was not made by you, and thus you are not bound by it.

Then offer to sell him that property for $5,000 per square foot, lease it to him for $1,000 per square foot per year, or, in the alternative deny further access.

:P

[texas1928]

8. I am sorry you are having a problem

But isn't small town living great.

I will never forget the day I saw two old men get in a fist fight over whether the leaves dropping into one persons yard are the others ones property.

[Strong Atheist]

9. I would be very worried that someone that

unstable and bigoted would get violent ...

[Blue Diadem]

11. Your knuckledragger sounds like our knuckledragger

It's frustrating and funny at the same time. We don't own any of the right-of-way here, it's village property, partially paved for access but this particular neighbor thinks he owns that and part of our property. For many years, we had difficulty getting in and out of our driveway because of this idiot blocking the right of way with parked vehicles..even though he has his own driveway and garage. He told us if we wanted to come and go, all we had to do was come over and ask them to move their cars! He even chained his dog in the right of way.

It is the same here, the police and the town council know about him. I'll never forget his tirade over the town coming after him when he refused to pay village taxes.

[Doctor_J]

12. Too bad this didn't happen 10 years ago

You could've submitted this to the guy who wrote Home Improvement and collected a royalty.

Best of luck

[richmwill]

13. He was taking pictures? You may be getting sued...

Seriously, this happened to my parents about 15 years ago. They were sued by a next-door neighbor because he claimed that falling leaves from an over-hanging tree in my parent's backyard were "damaging" his concrete driveway. Big surprise, the Judge laughed and threw the case out when it came up in court.

[philosophie_en_rose]

14. Lawyer Time!

I'm not a lawyer, but if you've squatted on his land for a certain amount of time - it might be yours through adverse possession.

May want to ask about that, so that knuckledragger is clear about your rights.

[Crazy Dave]

15. I remember when neighbors used to look out for eachother

I have a neighbors shed 1/2 a foot on my land but I've got better things to worry about. I'm a surveyor myself and I only had a minute to scan through your message. Later today or this evening maybe I can get a few more specifics and offer you some helpful advice.

[CottonBear]

16. I think you're using the wrong terms here.

(I contract with surveyors to prepare plats for site planning and engineering purposes and I'm familiar with the terminology.)

A right-of-way is a publically owned strip of land typically containing a public roadway. Also, RW can be owned by a utility. For example, in my state, Georgia Power owns transmission line right-of-ways.

What you probably have (even if you're calling it a RW) is an ingress/egress easement across one or more properties for purposes of accessing a landlocked lot that has NO frontage on a public RW. It is very unlikely that two different surveyors could be in dispute by such a (relatively) large distance unless there is an adverse possession issue.

Go to the deed room and research all three plats (drawing) and deeds (written). Use references in thhe most recent deeds to find the older deeds and plats and make copies of all of these. Compare the dates and the name of the surveyors. Were the lots originally subdivided at the same time from a larger parent tract and the easement established then? Or, was the rear lot cut off from your lot or the knuckledragger's lot at a later date? If at all possible, contact the original surveyor. Hopefully, he's still alive and in business. Otherwise, contact the most recent surveyor. Hopefully, the same surveyor platted all three lots.

Adverse possession usually involves vacant lots or overgrown portions of lots where a neighbor has encroached with a building, wall or driveway and the owner of the subject property never noticed or complained for a number of years (typically 25-50 years.)

You will also want to contact your local planning department RE: fence regulations as far as concerns height, material and minimum distance from the edge of pavement and from the RW of the public street (so as not to impair sight distance triangles.) The planning department may have a subdivision plat on file for your neighborhood.

Good luck.

edit: I did not notice that Dave in post #15 is a surveyor. I'm sure that he can offer better advice than I can. Provide him with specifics.

[radfringe]

17. my partner bumped into the lady that does building permits

at the local store this morning...

the lady is one of the "elders" of the town, family has been here for eons, and she holds various posts within the town.

well, she heard about the "snow event" - small town, word gets around fast. She told my partner she has been handling building permits for the town for over 40 years and she remembers when knuckledragger's house was built.

She also knew the guy and his family that first built knuckledragger's house and apparantly there was a bit of a snit that went on to square away the easement for the driveway. There was some confusion as to who had access and who didn't, and how far up the property the access went. She remembers she had to write up a couple of documents (once the access was settled) that were attached to the building permits so the contractor knew where he could run his equipment and where he couldn't.

She told my partner she'll dig it up in her records and give us a copy and that as best she could remember it also included a plot map of our property, knuckledragger's, and the abutting property too.

[Crazy Dave]

18. Hello again radfringe

Reading through this again it seems like the property dispute is the least of your worries. That guy seems totally certifiable to me. Back to the first issue for now though. If you'd like me to look at your deed, you could scan a copy of it and send it to me by email and if you have a copy of your original survey, a scanned copy of that would help even more. As others have mentioned already and as I'm assuming, there must be an ingress, egress easement that hopefully has been recorded or an abandoned alley which typically, one half goes to each property owner on each side of it but that would land-lock the people behind you so I'm thinking access easement.
Anyhow, please IM me and I'll be more than happy to assist if you need me to. In the meantime I can't help but feel your concern over this problem. If not the property dispute it would be something else I'm sure. I'd keep a diary and keep a camera handy myself and if you have kids or pets I would advise caution with them too.

Good luck if I don't hear from you. :)

[radfringe]

19. thanks

may take you up on that

my partner works for a law firm - one of the lawyers already told her he'd be more than happy to help us out

and we have been keeping a journal regarding all of the encounters

yeah, knuckledragger is a piece of work. if stupidity were a crime, he would get a life sentence...

camera is always charged up and ready to go, and I've set the date/time function on it.

this summer we put up No Tresspassing signs, and also Safety Zone signs regarding firearms (knuckle dragger likes to stand in his yard and shoot off his gun into the woods behind his house)

The Chief of Police told our neighbors in the backlot that one more "incident" where knuckledragger mouths off at him (the chief or any of his officers) that knuckledragger will be cited.

[radfringe]

20. new development

we got a call from the neighbor in the backlot last night.

Another neighbor down the street owns a plot of land behind knuckledragger and also has access rights to it through the driveway wants to go after knuckledragger.

this neighbor had previously told knuckledragger to stay off his land, that it wasn't open for hunting or anything else. neighbor had posted NO TRESSPASSING signs, but knuckldragger ripped them off the trees.

since then this neighbor has been hassled (by knuckledragger) when he come over to inspect his own property. The latest incident occurred a couple of weeks ago - the neighbor went up on his plot of land and found a pile of beercans, shell casings and other trash. He did "bag" the stuff in case it could be used to lift finger prints. He also put up new NO TRESSPASSING signs.

so the "proposal" on the table is for the three of us to get together and hire a lawyer together, splitting the legal costs. the bad news - my partner and I don't have the money. As it is, we're going to have to get a loan to pay for the property survey.

we're are going to try to get together with everyone this weekend and discuss it further.