Farm Property line surveyed, neighbors, fences, and damn trees oh my!

[BigFootsCousin]

Hey ya'll-

I've been on my small BOL now for 14 months, of those months, 8 of them have been a living hell.....because 2/3rds of my home had been destroyed by a ice frozen copper pipe that had burst in the attic in the 1st week of December.

These past 2 weeks, I've finally gotten most of the carnage repaired....mostly.

So, as I'm now somewhat 'free' to explore this property, I simply couldn't find any corner markers....at all. So I just hired a surveyor this week, and they spent a few days here while I was at work.

I just came back inside from walking around this place, and I'm still pouring sweat as I type this. Here's what I found. My neighbor to my left, has apparently put his fence 'about' ten feet over onto my property. I haven't met him yet, nor any of the other land owners around here.....because I've been either too sick, or too damn busy trying to repair this place.

I've heard this man many, many times firing his firearms on his small rifle range that is right next to my chicken yard, and I don't mind this one bit. I kinda am glad of it actually, the more gun owners the better.

Here's my question for the Hive: What is the *Best* diplomatic way to address this, and how would you go about it, assuming that you still wanted to maintain/encourage a good neighbor relationship?

I'm asking this because.....I've NEVER had this type of problem before.

Thanks all!

BFC

 

[geoffs]

My neighbor to my left, has apparently put his fence 'about' ten feet over onto my property.

Don't you mean your fence is 10 feet to far in from your property line. The only problem I could see, I'm not a lawyer, is that if it's been there a long time he could try to claim the property as his. I almost had this happen to me and when I sold my house I was told my neighbor either had to move his over 100 feet of fence about one foot closer to his property or get a waiver from him that he wouldn't claim the property he stole!

 

[BigFootsCousin]

Don't you mean your fence is 10 feet to far in from your property line. The only problem I could see, I'm not a lawyer, is that if it's been there a long time he could try to claim the property as his. I almost had this happen to me and when I sold my house I was told my neighbor either had to move his over 100 feet of fence about one foot closer to his property or get a waiver from him that he wouldn't claim the property he stole!

There's a few hundred feet of older/newer mis-matched fence down by the road. It's the only fence around/near my property. My surveyor put MY marked corner post over on the neighbors side of the fence.....it actually looks over ten feet into 'his' property. Then, the property line markers run another 5-7 hundred feet on his side of the fence.....so actually, he's placed, or someone did, a fence over onto my property, claiming a LOT of my land.

This whole new mess, doesn't look like it's going to be fun. I'd rather not play with any lawyers at this point. I'd rather save my money for fencing.....or, more ammo. In other words, I've already spent heap big bucks on this place....time to enjoy it, not fight neighbors or any more repairs. My buddy says I should just walk on over and introduce myself, and offer to "help him move the fence over".

One thing that I've learned in my old age.....nothings EVER easy.

BFC

 

[kyrsyan]

I would say approach politely. Show them what the surveyor found. Offer to let them get their own survey done. And offer to help move the fence to the correct property line when everything is confirmed. As long as they are reasonable folks they shouldn't really have an issue with that. Although, depending on how long the fence has been there, they will most likely want to make sure of the property lines. One of the reasons I've been holding off on replacing the old fence here is because we can't find any of the property markers. I need to get a survey done before we do anything.

 

[Publius]

Today they can put survey lines down with a high degree of accuracy and likely using whats found in county records it hard to argue the fact. Some states require they put a cement monument on each corner or anywhere it changes direction. The cement monument is nothing more than cement molded into a 4"X4" inch thats about two foot long.

 

[4bears]

I had a new neighbor move in next door. He started mowing several feet of my property and then tore down the fence I had on the property line. He and I both had surveyors come out. Mine did a little more to completely mark the property line. Bottom line, the marker at the point of beginning for the long legal description of his property was missing so they used the nearest marker to it and he wound up with just over a foot of my property. I'm leaving it at that because I'm not going to pay to reestablish the missing marker. I figure it was cheap enough for finding out just what type of person they were.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Hmmmm I have a huge hackberry tree growing atop one of my property markers, might get a new survey done next year as it's been 20+ years now.

K-

 

[packyderms_wife]

I would say approach politely. Show them what the surveyor found. Offer to let them get their own survey done. And offer to help move the fence to the correct property line when everything is confirmed. As long as they are reasonable folks they shouldn't really have an issue with that. Although, depending on how long the fence has been there, they will most likely want to make sure of the property lines. One of the reasons I've been holding off on replacing the old fence here is because we can't find any of the property markers. I need to get a survey done before we do anything.

Today they can put survey lines down with a high degree of accuracy and likely using whats found in county records it hard to argue the fact. Some states require they put a cement monument on each corner or anywhere it changes direction. The cement monument is nothing more than cement molded into a 4"X4" inch thats about two foot long.

This^^^

4bears I'm not sure why you'd have to pay for the missing marker, that's a problem for the county, not you!

K-

 

[Publius]

This^^^

4bears I'm not sure why you'd have to pay for the missing marker, that's a problem for the county, not you!

K-

Sometimes its nothing more than a stick pounded into the ground and many use reenforcement bar, so you can try using a metal detector to find the pin. With the cement 4X4 buried as a marker if it gets pulled up most people don't fill in the hole and the surveyor usually finds it and can set a new one in place and yes you pay for the marker.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Sometimes its nothing more than a stick pounded into the ground and many use reenforcement bar, so you can try using a metal detector to find the pin. With the cement 4X4 buried as a marker if it gets pulled up most people don't fill in the hole and the surveyor usually finds it and can set a new one in place and yes you pay for the marker.

geesh how much can a marker cost that 4bears was willing to concede part of her property to the new neighbor???

 

[BigFootsCousin]

geesh how much can a marker cost that 4bears was willing to concede part of her property to the new neighbor???

My small survey cost thousands of dollars.....

 

[Publius]

If you go to the trouble have markers that look similar to a U.S. Geological Survey Marker people will leave it alone thinking they will pay a $250 fine or prison. Most Surveyors know a survey station or bench mark when they see one. Today a smart Surveyor before they start a survey will go find the nearest geological marker or bench mark and place their GPS right on top of it and lock the location into their GPS.

 

[lisa]

This happened to my parents years ago, Dad and the neighbor guy were able to talk it out and get the fence line moved amicably. Depends on what kind of neighbor you have. I'd approach him politely and see how he responds, give him a few days to consider the news, it may be a bit of a surprise to him too.

 

[kua]

So how's this going Cousin. Hope all works out better than we first feared when you posted.

 

[4bears]

My small survey cost thousands of dollars.....

This. The property line in question has been surveyed *five* times that I know about. My understanding is that it's my problem and not the county's problem. In order to resolve the property line with some finality takes a judge and county engineer. I've already put more than enough money into surveys and the amount of land is not worth the extra expense.

 

[naturallysweet]

Can you send him a copy of he survey and politely ask to help him rebuild the fence in the correct spot.

 

[Hfcomms]

I would say approach politely. Show them what the surveyor found. Offer to let them get their own survey done. And offer to help move the fence to the correct property line when everything is confirmed.

The neighbor is probably totally unaware of this himself. If keeping good relations or encouraging good relations is important I wouldn't even ask that the fence be moved. I would just show your neighbor the survey so they are aware and let him know that if he should ever sell his property that he will have to fix the fence line to make it right. But for the time being I'd invite him over for a beer or for some shooting. Your new neighbor would probably be so impressed that your not making an issue of this that he might then be very friendly towards you. It would be expensive to move a fence and even if your neighbor agreed to do it he might harbor some resentment towards you for an unexpected expense. It would be different in my book for a neighbor to say put up a new fence and to encroach on your property on purpose. In that case a totally different reaction might be called for.

 

[summerthyme]

The neighbor is probably totally unaware of this himself. If keeping good relations or encouraging good relations is important I wouldn't even ask that the fence be moved. I would just show your neighbor the survey so they are aware and let him know that if he should ever sell his property that he will have to fix the fence line to make it right. But for the time being I'd invite him over for a beer or for some shooting. Your new neighbor would probably be so impressed that your not making an issue of this that he might then be very friendly towards you. It would be expensive to move a fence and even if your neighbor agreed to do it he might harbor some resentment towards you for an unexpected expense. It would be different in my book for a neighbor to say put up a new fence and to encroach on your property on purpose. In that case a totally different reaction might be called for.

The problem is adverse possession... if I did this, I'd want to get it in writing that he acknowledges that the fence is NOT on his property, and does not designate the property line. Ten feet isn't like a 12" mistake, you know?

Summerthyme