The Bigger House Wins
Our next-door neighbors seemed very friendly at first. Weird, but friendly. The first time I met her she made it clear by mentioning 5-8 times that her house was a little bigger than ours, but still no problems. But then it started to get creepy.
She also told me she could see that we removed a wall and she could see it from her bathroom window. We just moved in in the spring after closing in February. Right away, we applied for a fence permit and the township needed us to clear something up. They sent a map of our lot with the surveyor stamp.
My neighbor told me that the previous owner of our house told them, for the last 17 years, that the lot line followed a few bushes on the property. Turns out that according to the township, my property extends about 20 feet over from what they originally thought.
Our property is on a curved street so the section that we are gaining is shaped like a slice of pie. The neighbor’s wife has made it clear she isn’t happy. She mentioned 10 times that it’s new information and for 17 years that’s the way it was.
She said, “You have to understand that after 17 years this is a shock to us and this is how it’s always been”. She also was telling me how my fence should look and that she wanted the fence more than 6-10 feet off the property line. The township said it can be one inch off.
I decided to have enough room for a mower; about two feet. Then it got simply ridiculous. Finally, she said, “That window over there is my teenage daughter’s and we don’t want her looking out and feeling like someone is on top of her”. Says the woman who looked into my house from her bathroom window.
I get you thought your property was bigger, but it’s not my fault you got your information from an unreliable source. I pay the property tax on that piece of land and I want to be able to use it.
My property is only .31 acres and my backyard is small but my side yard is big-ish. So then, the township told me to use a metal detector to find the property pin and I was out there. She came over and started yelling at me.
She said the property line isn’t contested and that what I was doing “was inappropriate and my daughter is right upstairs studying in that room”. She kept yelling but I walked away. We just had the surveyor out the other day. What he told me made me grin like a maniac.
It turns out my property extends another 10 feet beyond where I thought, so that’s 30 feet they didn’t expect. Well, the surveyor came up to me and said “what’s wrong with your neighbor? She was yelling at me saying I’m digging up her lawn and that it’s her property, not theirs”.
Apparently, her husband was on the phone with the township. Here is a text conversation we had. Him: Hi, I’m from next door. We saw that your surveyor was out today. Are you and your wife both available to talk with us for a few minutes sometime today or tomorrow?
Me: Hi. Yes the surveyor was out today. No offense, but at this time we are not comfortable having a conversation. Me: We went through the proper channels to ensure we are putting the fence on our property. We spent additional money to insure this was correct based off of your recommendation for it.
Our son and our dog having their space is our main priority. Not to do anything out of spite. We feel like there is some hostility, as evidenced by things that were said to myself and the surveyors today. Just looking to avoid confrontation. Hope you understand.
Him: There’s no hostility. We’re not seeking confrontation either. We would just like to have a neighborly discussion about your plans for the fence.
Any projects done along that property line have a significant impact on our daily lives due to the close proximity to our primary living and working space in our home, including our teenage daughter. We are not nor have we ever been opposed to you installing a fence.
Basically, they want to tell me where to put my fence. Eventually, I installed it three feet off the property line and I was thinking of planting greenery in that space. But they weren’t finished. They are now demanding I move my ring spotlight.
The husband texted me, stating that the light shines in his daughter’s bedroom (on the second floor) and into his kitchen. There is no way this is true. I’m not the only neighbor that has issues with them.
I no longer communicate with them because last time I did I was yelled at for being on my own lawn. They continue to bring up their daughter, even though I’ve never seen evidence that she even exists. They’ve also recently reached out to me saying my dog was outside all morning barking.
I looked back at my ring camera and not only was she not out all morning, but when she was barking it was at him slowly walking his dog in front of my fence then yelling at her multiple times. Oh, and his dog pooped on my lawn and he didn’t pick it up. Story credit: Reddit / (Homer69)