O/T Border Dispute

Need some advice.

I've got a neighbor who has taken it upon himself to hire a bulldozer and move a 60-year-old road that lies between us. He moved in here 4 years ago.

The roadway lies on his portion of the easement, the utility underground lines all lie on my side. He wants to move the whole she-bang 20 feet over towards my side.

Can he just do this without my consent? Isn't there some kind of a grandfather protection involved here?

Thanks,

Allan

Others have given you some good tips, but this should be a Utility easement which he has no legal claim to do anything about. It was in the land title when he bought the place. Further, your county will have permit requirements for a building, certainly for one this size (it may be completely illegal) and there will be property set backs which are required..;ie, how close to a property line a building can be.

If some dozer operator destroys utility services without having had all utilities located by the proper people, he will be financially liable for any losses of anyone using those services AND will have to pay whatever the utility's charge him to repair. Make that phone call!!

Oh yea, been there.

--->Paul

Decide if the fight is worth having an enemy for a neighbor, then either let him get away with it or call the police as soon as the dozer shows up. The cops won't do anything because this is a civil dispute, not a criminal act, but they might scare him a little if they show up (they probably won't).

Contrary to other's advice, you won't get much help from a lawyer unless you are willing to pay a lot of cash (thousands). At most you might get a sternly worded letter demanding that he stop what he's doing. But that really means nothing at all, a lawyer is just a private citizen like the rest of us; only a judge can issue an order and that's where the $$$ comes in.

I think it is better to be proactive and cut him off before he starts moving the road. Once he gets started, then he has a financial investment (like he has with his building now), the "hard feelings" will tbe that much harder! (Where I live out in the sticks, you cannot build a structure, drive a well, etc., within 25 feet of the property line or easement.)

This is not a time to pinch pennies!

Get on it now, as it sounds like the person is doing. Old feller most likely will have to abandon his foundation or work something else out, but the time is now, not later.

--->Paul

No, I don't hold any ill feelings towards the guy and wish him nothing but the best of all things.

However, he just tries to push his weight around a little and has tried it with all his other ajoining neighbors with not a whole lot of success. This is the first time he has tried it with me. Like I say, we mostly try to ignore some of the silly things he does.

If I have any kind of a legal leg to stand on at all, I'm gonna pull him up short. I don't ever push others but they are not going to push me either.

I just wish the guy would have made the effort to ask; but that's not how he does things.

Allan

This fellow is an eighty some year old man who has been on disability most of his adult life. He was wounded in WWII and has a steel plate in his head.

He is always trying to stir up trouble with his neighbors, but most of the time we all just ignore him.

The road in question now lays on his portion of the easment between us (25' on each side of the line). The road has been established for 60 to 100 years, is not a state or county road and is well maintained by all of us that use it (approximately 20 families).

The gentleman has decided he is going to put a 30X36 garage smack in his front yard. Fine, the footings are down & they will be pouring the cement walls on Monday.

The one wall will be about 18" from the gravel roadway proper, and when the roof trusses are put up, it will no doubt hang out over the established road.

He has tried a lot of different contractors to come in and move the road for him and no one will touch the issue.

So, he has hired a young "friend" who owns a bulldozer to come in and just start ripping and tearing. No, the kid knows nothing about building roads. Just has a bulldozer and wants to "doze something".

The neighbor has not consulted anyone else regarding this, other than to tell me the other day that the road will be moved or he will get a court order.

I just don't think that he can legally do this without my approval or at the very least going thru a court approved way of doing it properly.

I don't want to get into a pushing match either; but my business depends solely on those buried phone lines and if they are cut, then I'm am gonna be on the warpath, as we deal with some very sizable contracts and they are time sensitive.

I have an appointment Monday moring with my lawyer.

Thanks,

Allan

Sometimes people are just too goofy, & then you need a good lawyer. We do not understand your issues, and we do not know your state laws.

Assume this is an easement for a private road from your description, but don't understand much else. Your road, his road, 3rd party road????? No one can move an easement from their property to your property on their own without your permission, but that doesn't stop 2% of the jerks from trying.

Walk softly & carry a big stick - try to understand & resolve it, but hiring a good lawyer is the only way to make your point stick if push has to come to shove.

Once it's moved, you are stuck with it. Like possesion is 90% of the law.....

--->Paul

We measured it out yesterday, and to my mind he is as leagal as he can get.

The road in question is bending around his property and then is heading down the hill on his other boundry. It is on a steep incline, plus it lies on a laterial slope.

His building is 25' from the easement as per code and then the easement line is then another 25' from the property line. So actually, the building is setting a firm 50' from the actual property line. It is exactally to code as it should be.

Since this is a hilly region, over the years the road has gradually "fallen" down onto his property from normal use. But, this happened long, long before he bought it.

To be sure, the problem comes in where he wants to lay the approach to his new garage. The darned road is running right across this approach area.

So you can see that I can completely understand where he is coming from.

I think that now I have him understanding that the proper authorities have to handle this in their own way and he should not just start bulldozing; this is what I was worried about.

As far as the dirt goes, it is no skin off my nose as really, I am the one who has "gained" real estate since I am uphll from him.

I just want him to do it in a proper and leagal fashion is all.

I just don't want him to start tearing out water, gas, electricity and these phone lines. I make my living via the phone lines and they just cannot be "down" for any extended time since they are time sensitive medical documents.

Thanks for the write and for trying to help; I appreciate it,

Allan