This past Sunday morning while relaxing and enjoying my morning coffee i heard the sound of a chainsaw running, not completely unusual but i live in town and it peaked my interest. I got up and looked out in the direction of the noise to see my neighbors cutting down my shrubs that run along our common property line but are clearly on my property. This is about 40 feet of tall shrubs ( 8-10 feet tall) that i have always valued as a privacy screen from my other neighbors. After stopping to slow my heart rate i went out and confronted him with a VERY angry " WTF are you doing". He says " trimming the hedge, it was hanging over on my side and i am tired of looking at it". I abruptly asked him who gave him permission to do this? He said " I didn't think you were home and if I would have asked you would have probably told me no". At this point I was fuming and had to walk away before I beat the crap out of this idiot. I went inside to calm down and take a shower, I needed to regroup and decide what to do. I called the Police dept, and requested a officer to come down. When he got there he asked what was going on and I explained the situation to him. The guy was still out there with the polesaw still running and he asked if I wanted to go with him to talk to the guy and I agreed. The officer confronted him with a "whats going on here?" the guy says "trimming the hedge", He basically hacked the thing down to about 24" tall and it looks like crap. The officer asked him if he had permission to do this and he replied " I didn't like the way it looked so I trimmed it". The officer asked him why he thought he could destroy someone else's property and he said " whats the big deal?" the officer told him he would have no problem arresting him for destruction of property and the guy just laughed it off. I told the officer before we went back to talk to him that I wanted him at the very least to be trespassed from my property and we will go from there. that was what happened and we left it at that. This has been bothering me ever since and I can't just let it go, the guy is a arrogant azz and I don't like being messed with. The options I am considering are.... A: let it go and move on B: Contact my attorney and pursue legal restitution for the loss of my privacy and destruction of my property. C: Write a strongly worded letter to him with an offer of him installing a privacy fence equal to the length of the hedge at his expense , I would include that I would remove the rest of the hedge and grind out the roots to prepare the area to install the fence. It would have language in it to insure he would hold up his end of the deal or pay my legal fees to force him to complete his end of the agreement. I'm struggling with this whole thing and I don't think I can just let it go. I'm open to opinions on how you would handle it. Thanks!
How close is this neighbor? Is there room to plant another row of something on your side so you can't see what he does to the first row of shrubs?
I had to deal with a similar but worse situation over the past year. When I get time I'll post the story. As someone who has gone thru this type of thing here's a few suggestions. 1. If you are comfortable talking to him and are confident you can remain calm try that. If you can't then avoid contact. 2. Ensure everything on your property is to code. If a neighbor war starts you don't want him to have anything he can call anyone about. Once you are in the spotlight of the town inspector it's not fun. 3. Find your exact property line. Get out the survey. If you don't have one get one done. If this goes to small claims court you can sue for the cost.. 4. Clearly mark the property line every 20 feet or so. 5. Post no trespassing signs. 6. Install a camera and dvr. You can get one for a few hundred. At the least it's visible security and goes a long way in case they bring up fake accusations. You also might be surprised by what goes on when you aren't home. 7. Take pictures. Run a bright colored line down the property line. Take more pictures. Document everything that was cut and how much was cut. 8. Go get the police report, your pictures, your survey and all the papers to the police department. Explain your situation and they will probably either charge him with a misdemeanor crime or issue a ticket. Be prepared to go to municipal court. A lawyer isn't needed but it can certainly help if you want to pursue it. 9. Take all your documents and the outcome of the possible municipal court decision and file in small claims court. 10. If you take up legal measures do not have any contact with the neighbors. Don't talk or even look at them. Don't give them anything that can be used against you no matter how small you think it might be.
Agree completely and I told him that, I said " you have every right to trim anything that is hanging over the line on you side.
Our houses are about 20-25 feet apart, it would eat into my yard to plant something else and take a long time to grow up enough to be a privacy screen.
I'd definitely get a lawyer involved. If I didn't it would probably fester enough to cause me to do something regrettable.
Do you have any pics of the bushes? If you don't have deer around emerald green arborvitea make a great privacy fence. I put up some green giant thuja between me and the neighbors. They are fast growing and you can grow them into a huge hedge. This is what i have done so far.
jdude your and you have a right to be. Just a word of caution, good friend just went thru this.. In short 4 years and 40,000 dollars later with 3 separate lawsuits restraining orders etc etc over 150 square feet of land.. Make sure you This battle is worth the stress to you!! It is not right! Not saying it is! Is the battle and bad blood worth it?? If it is too you follow Babaganoosh advice.
Good fences make good neighbors, option C is my vote...probably gonna cost ya some lawyerin money though...
And if'n ya wanted to be a real pain, paint every other board on his side a color from the "mis-tint" shelf at the paint store
I'd have the tallest chainlink fence code allows in no time. Hoping he hates fences, too. If his wife sits out in the yard maybe you could get tired of looking at her the same way ?
