Neighbor trespassing?

Hi all, we bought a townhouse that is the last on the block so the lot line runs along the back of other houses on the street that is perpendicular to us. At some point one of the businesses in those houses installed an AC condensing unit at ground level on the back of their building which puts it in our back yard. Possibly they did this with the permission of the previous owner although it’s hard to know. I mentioned to them that it was a problem but didn’t get a response and didn’t pursue it because we’re not currently using the yard. I also figured they’d eventually come back to us when they needed to service it. I just learned that they replaced the unit which would require them working in our yard which they didn’t get permission for – I’m guessing they jumped a fence or lowered the unit down from above and climbed out a window.

I’m looking for advice – I am going to ask them to move it to their roof or at least well above head height and if they don’t I assume it’s within my rights to remove it from my property. Does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations? I figured I’d talk to them first, write a letter, etc. – not immediately lawyer up or call the cops for trespassing.

Thanks,

David

arewedoneyet

in General Discussion 3 years and 9 months ago

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andriywww1990 | 3 years and 9 months ago

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if what urbandad is saying might come into play, you need to send a certified letter sooner than later.

hkapstein | 3 years and 9 months ago

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If you believe it’s on your property you need to address it sooner rather than. Later. Adverse possession rules could result in their ownership of that part od your property unless you formally give them permission to use it. This is generally lawyer stuff, but if I didn’t want to lawyer up I’d demand it be removed.

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 9 months ago

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so are we done yet, that was what i think my customer told me the rule was but since her lot was not wide enough, it was 20′ they said put it in the middle. that was over ten years ago and with all these little split units going in, i think it must be less, like 36″ (my neighbor just installed one, he may know).

if there is a firm rule on that, the OP should not have to spend any money on this situation. op called it trespassing and it sounds like that is what it is and that is why we pay taxes – for gov’t services like the DOB and the police. Op could simply turn off the power to that machine (there must be a switch on the machine) and block access to it with a pile of fire wood or milk crates or whatever and set up some more delays across the yard and when they catch someone coming in, tell them they are calling the cops and threaten to have them arrested. they will be pleading with you to let them in to move the machine and if they are not nice about it, i would really block access until they get a court order and when the court order arrives i would make sure it is to remove the machine, not turn it back on..

they broke the law. put the onus on them to straighten this mess out.

arewedoneyet | 3 years and 9 months ago

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I’ve been told that AC units are technically supposed to be something like 10 feet from property lines which is, of course, impossible in most NYC properties.

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 9 months ago

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so i am wondering this and someone on here should know this. set aside the fact that the unit is over the property line and on the ground. I think the DOB has set back rules for these condensing units (this is not a window or wall ac unit, op says condenser – what is the set back? 18″, 36″ – i think a customer of mine who reads on here told me hers had to go in the middle of the yard but that was something like a decade ago – now i see these pretty close but not on property lines). if the DOB has rules that require the owner to set those back from the property line and the owner of this building has gone over the line, it should be the DOB to come out and enforce this issue. but to be clear, the issue is not the trespass, it is the setback. I tried to look the set back up earlier but could not find it.

other than that, i would give them the benefit of a letter before hiring a lawyer. it may go that way, but it may not have to. no reason why op s hould have to hire a lawyer. though perhaps putnam has a point, if they person who placed this thing knows they are wrong and did it anyway, they are not going to be easy to talk to.

Putnamdenizen | 3 years and 9 months ago

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You need to lawyer up. They are encroaching on your property which, if unaddressed, will negatively impact your title and your use of the yard. Don’t waste time wandering through the legally unsound neighborly approach recommended by our often knowledgeable friend the Tinker. You’ve already tried to reach out to them and they ignored you. The business is profiting by using your property. This will take a long time to resolve absent self-help (which I am not recommending). A friend had to redesign an extension on her house because of an encroachment of an exhaust pipe from a business in a similar situation.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 3 years and 9 months ago

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If I’m reading the original post correctly the condensing unit is sitting in the OP’s back yard, rather than hanging over it.

resident2 | 3 years and 9 months ago

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No neighbor has the right to vent or drain anything onto your property, let alone have A/C’s hanging over your property.

resident2 | 3 years and 9 months ago

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Check your Survey. There was probably no easement or “agreement” to this encroachment or it would have come up in the title report when you bought the property & both your Attorney & the Banks Attorney would have flagged it as an issue.
Once you have checked your Survey & title report, stop being so neighborly. The fact that they have disregarded your already friendly communication & respected your boundary & obviously gone on to your property without your consent shows that they have no respect for you or your property rights.
This is a serious breach of your boundary & they need to get it off your property. It will effect your rights & title in the future if you let it go on too long.
Have your lawyer send them a letter.
City agencies do not get involved in this kind of issue, they will tell you to consult an Attorney. If you actively see someone jumping over your fence or repelling down a wall onto you property call the Police, but otherwise, they will not do anything.

shahnandersen

in General Discussion 3 years and 9 months ago

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Check the survey you had a survey done when you bought the property. If the survey does not show an easement for the A/c then it has no business being on your property. Politely ask them to remove it and go from there.

workisfun | 3 years and 9 months ago

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Don’t wait for them to have some kind of accident servicing that thing. Then, the installer sues the restaurant and, of course, they in turn sue you. Sure, it’s not your fault, but you’d have to hire a lawyer to prove that. Clean up this mess ASAP. Neighborly is a good first step.

arewedoneyet | 3 years and 9 months ago

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Thanks – I was actually considering just talking to them first; default to friendly and neighborly. Failing that I’d get lawyerly and include city agencies. Getting more info first makes some sense though – thank you.

I guess I need a good real estate attorney – mine is semi-retired.

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 9 months ago

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so i would try to not play hardball with them yet. i would first find out how wrong their transgression is (in a legal sense) and how much leverage you have (what city agency will order them to remove it on your behalf or will you have to pay a lawyer and how successful will that lawyer be) and once you know what your options are, i would write a nice letter telling them that having that thing there is not conducive to your use of your property and ask them if they have any solutions to the situation that will work for the both of you. wait and see if they respond. if they do not respond, i would send a certified letter telling them they must respond of you will take further action. if they do not respond to a second letter, i would then have an attorney send a letter. do not make anything up that you cannot legally enforce as a lot of underhanded people know the law better than we do and they may call your bluff (let an attorney tell you your options or look at the building code yourself).

there are others on this forum who will know the law with relation to the placement of that condensing unit and they may tell you it is the DOB who will enforce it. it might have to be 3′ from the property line, not sure. if you find out the DOB will order it removed, i would skip the letter from the lawyer and go to the DOB.

a couple of things from my experience:

i did work for a property management firm at a property that had been divided up in a bankruptcy with the neighboring land sold to a new developer. the group i worked for and the developer each had all sorts of things on each others property (sprinkler control wires, an office, an equipment shed). that term i use above, “hardball”, my boss said that to me. he said “we don’t want to play hardball unless they want to play hardball”. it was a line i never forgot.

my mom had someone encroach on here property with plantings and while they were nice (the plantings and the people), she was worried that someone would get hurt on her property. she offered them a solution which would have allowed them to keep the plantings there but they did not accept it (did not respond, sort of where this is going to go with you). she sent two letters herself and had the lawyer send the third and in the third she told them she was putting a fence up down the property line and they had 30 days to remove the plantings. it got done. and now today, they all get along. but my mom did not go in with guns blazing.

you have to live next to these people and you do not know how reasonable or unreasonable they are so try to work with them until you know more about them.