Encroachments and easements
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misshathaway
Full time employment: Posting here.
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Easement story to illustrate how things can go south if somebody else moves in after the agreement.
Back in the 60's when my parents moved in to the house I now live in, they planted a line of peonies on what everybody thought was the border between our house and the neighbor. Parents and neighbor were friends.
Everything was peachy for a good 20 or 30 years. Then the neighbor died and a lawyer moved in to the house. The property lines were surveyed and the shrubs were found to be partially on his property. So without even giving my parents a heads-up he just removed all of the shrubs.
Then my father became enraged and sued the lawyer on the grounds of constructive easement. That took awhile and I'm not sure who won. But they both lost b/c for the whole time the lawyer family was there, a good 20 years, the lawyer family and my parents did not speak.
Fast forward to the last year the lawyer family was there. My parents had passed and I now owned the house. I started putting up a fence within my property line, which the town or surveyor had marked with cement markers. After the fence was 3/4 up, the lawyer threatened to sue me because I didn't leave enough space between the line and the fence. In our town this is not law, just a courtesy. He threatened to sue me and I caved and payed to have the fence moved. They waited 20 years for that opportunity! Miserable people. Then they moved a month later.
I know you are the grantee, but later on people may move in who want to reinterpret the easement. I am jaded, but it seems like a lot for your neighbors to ask of you.
Back in the 60's when my parents moved in to the house I now live in, they planted a line of peonies on what everybody thought was the border between our house and the neighbor. Parents and neighbor were friends.
Everything was peachy for a good 20 or 30 years. Then the neighbor died and a lawyer moved in to the house. The property lines were surveyed and the shrubs were found to be partially on his property. So without even giving my parents a heads-up he just removed all of the shrubs.
Then my father became enraged and sued the lawyer on the grounds of constructive easement. That took awhile and I'm not sure who won. But they both lost b/c for the whole time the lawyer family was there, a good 20 years, the lawyer family and my parents did not speak.
Fast forward to the last year the lawyer family was there. My parents had passed and I now owned the house. I started putting up a fence within my property line, which the town or surveyor had marked with cement markers. After the fence was 3/4 up, the lawyer threatened to sue me because I didn't leave enough space between the line and the fence. In our town this is not law, just a courtesy. He threatened to sue me and I caved and payed to have the fence moved. They waited 20 years for that opportunity! Miserable people. Then they moved a month later.
I know you are the grantee, but later on people may move in who want to reinterpret the easement. I am jaded, but it seems like a lot for your neighbors to ask of you.
pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I can see that lawyers could make lousy neighbors. This woman is worse though in that she thinks she know what her legal rights are but is really clueless.
Funny thing... I despise her so DW said she would take care of it and I said "fine", I don't want to deal with her anyway... now after their discussion yesterday DW is more mad at her than I was.
But back to the original question...Would we have been within our rights to insist that she plant them far enough onto her property that she did not have to trespass onto our property in order to trim them? Does anybody know?
Funny thing... I despise her so DW said she would take care of it and I said "fine", I don't want to deal with her anyway... now after their discussion yesterday DW is more mad at her than I was.
But back to the original question...Would we have been within our rights to insist that she plant them far enough onto her property that she did not have to trespass onto our property in order to trim them? Does anybody know?
Your local zoning or building permit office should be able to answer that.
I know that at our last house, when I wanted to put in a storage shed in a corner of my lot, the walls had to be at least ten feet from the property line. I doubt if there would be such a rule for a tree, but you never know.
I know that at our last house, when I wanted to put in a storage shed in a corner of my lot, the walls had to be at least ten feet from the property line. I doubt if there would be such a rule for a tree, but you never know.
OP
OP
Tree-dweller
Recycles dryer sheets
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P, could you insist on plantings being far enough away from the line to maintain them? Yeah, I guess, but maybe then she'd be describing you to her friends (if any) as the "neighbor from hell". Sounds like you're dealing with a nasty neighbor situation I don't envy. What's done is done. I believe you're within your rights to trim whatever on your side, but I also understand not wanting to antagonize the crazy lady next door. IIRC, this place is where you retired to, so therefore conflict-free living is what you were anticipating. Maybe after the first time you trim your side her bluster will fade. I wish you well.
Music Lover
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I've always considered plantings on the other side of the property line to be a win/win...you get the benefit of plants instead of a fence, plus they are on the other side of the property line.
Unless they are encroaching to an unreasonable level, it would be a non-issue for me. In fact, in some cases it adds value.
Unless they are encroaching to an unreasonable level, it would be a non-issue for me. In fact, in some cases it adds value.
Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I'm positive locality matters so really nobody knows for you. However, my opinion is no.
Because you plant a tree, and the branches grow out, some pretty far and the older the tree, the farther the branches grow. I've never heard of setback rules for trees or bushes to allow for growth.
Since lots of places say your neighbor's tree that falls in a wind on your house is not his problem, this suggests to me, that nobody cares how far branches grow, since you can cut off any that cross the line.
youbet
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
If the lot is too narrow to sell a small slice, it's too narrow to give an easement doing essentially the same thing.
friar1610
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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There was an easement across some property I owned at one time. The guy pushed the limits of what was permitted by the easement. Although what he was doing didn't really bother me, I didn't want him to be able to argue in the future that my lack of objection constituted an expansion of the easement's conditions. So I wrote him a letter granting him revocable permission to do those things but stating that the permissions could be revoked at any time at my total discretion. Got him to sign an acknowledgment. Years later when I was selling the property I sent him a letter revoking the permissions and told him he would have to renegotiate them with the new owner.
