Property Line and Fence
I recently bought a house with a acre of property and one neighbor beside me with a fence inbetween and the rest of the surrounding land is owned by a tree farm. When in the process of buying the property the seller conducted a survey and found the back property line ran very close to…
I recently bought a house with a acre of property and one neighbor beside me with a fence inbetween and the rest of the surrounding land is owned by a tree farm.
When in the process of buying the property the seller conducted a survey and found the back property line ran very close to back of the house. They quickly bought an extra .25 acre from the tree farm to keep me interested in the property.
The problem is that the neighbors had been using a portion of the bought .25 acre as their backyard. They were aware of the property line, but thought the land would never be sold. The property I was buying was as big as 25 feet into thier “area”.
They were upset (they have shrubs planted, they are an elderly couple) but acknowledged that they knew it was not theirs, but should have had first shot at buying it.
I explained that even if I gave them the land I would be purchasing on their side, it would cost them more than it is worth to survey and add it to deed.
We reached a agreement and I said I would pay for their shrubs, $500 and just move the fence appropriate to the line, several inches on my side.
So I bought the property showed up and started the process of moving the fence. When going to speak to neighbors I paid the man and he seemed nice, we even offered him some banana trees we had come across through someone i know.
Come to find out his wife is furious and refuses the banana trees and would not speak to me, and acted hateful. While finishing the fence, she would come stare and make rude comments. The husband apologized later, but they both seem to have hard feelings.
I feel like I have went way above and beyond to do the right thing and try to move in as friends, yet they are mad at me, all I did was buy the property that they knew was not theirs.
Is their anything i could have done better? I have tried hard, but does not appear that they are going to like me.
Not as far as some of the bırther nutjobs are concerned 🙂
In any case, Hawaii ıs too far from Brooklyn for advıse from most of us to be relevant.
To Bob M. I just got off the phone with Lou Costello. He said that Mr. Bochagaloupe told him he had a source for getting Hawaiian bananas. Hawaii is part of the US, right?
RE the adverse possessıon questıon raısed above; ıf the property has banana trees on ıt I somehow doubt that US law applıes there 🙂
I would further suggest trying to reach out at a later date or trying from time to time. I don’t think it would hurt. Better to have good neighbors than bad. It will all depend, though, upon them. I have no idea what these people are like, but it reminds me of dealing with strays that initially lash out because they feel threatened and fear a new invader, but sometimes slowly become accustomed to you, then warm up to you and become friendly. Wait it out for now.
They thought wrong. They knowingly used something that wasn’t theirs. They agreed to a deal, compensating them, and now they are upset. Maybe when the emotional shock wears off they’ll calm down. If not, then in all likelihood something else probably would have brought out their true character. Unfortunately, it’s a tough way to start a relationship. I’m not a lawyer, but could they have claimed adverse possession of the property?
What Seward said. They got away with using land that wasn’t theirs for years so they’re feeling entitled. You went out of your way to be nice about it. They could have bought the extra land years ago. If they don’t like you, there’s nothing you can do about- just enjoy your new place and be happy in it.
Build a good fence. Good fences make good neighbors. And then forget about them.
Build a high fence. Sounds like they are not going to be happy unless they have what they had. Their only “power” here in this situation is using overt anger in an attempt to make you feel bad or to give them something.