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My family farm got a new neighbor, who noticed that he technically owns a sliver of land with the first 100 feet of our gravel driveway, nevermind that we've be
by markstos 5y ago
My family farm got a new neighbor, who noticed that he technically owns a sliver of land with the first 100 feet of our gravel driveway, nevermind that we've been using it for the past 50 years since our property was purchased. I don't think anyone had noticed before, as this goes way back before GIS systems and satellite photos of property boundaries. For decades there's been a fence in the logical place between the driveway and the neighboring property.
The legal system would probably side with us, but it's a pain.
- ifdefdebug 5y agoMaybe related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27038094 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27038094
- thaeli 5y agoThe easiest thing for everyone involved is for their neighbor to grant an easement for the existing driveway. That way they can keep using it, but it's with explicit permission, so the neighbor doesn't have to worry about an adverse possession claim. If they're not amenable to that, the specifics digfer by state, but usually it's a "boundary line agreement" or similar where you'd basically be buying that small sliver of land and amending the property line accordingly. Here's hoping their neighbors are reasonable!
- markstos 5y agoThanks for the input! So far the neighbor hasn't been reasonable at all, so I don't expect we'll get to do this the easy way.
- 1123581321 5y agoIf they're being unreasonable, you probably can just insist on keeping it. Take a look on the expirations by state here: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/state-state-rules-adverse-possession.html https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/state-state-rules-ad... Good luck!
- goodcanadian 5y agoTo be fair (assuming it's a common law country), the GP probably already owns it through adverse possession if they have been using it openly for 50 years or more.
- ssully 5y agoHave they been giving your family trouble about it? I can't imagine causing issues with your neighbor is worth such a small piece of land.
- Clewza313 5y agoA remarkably high % of the posts on https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/ https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/ are about land issues, and as usual, the smaller stakes, the bigger the conflict. This is probably my favorite story to date of how a squabble over where to temporarily store some cut lumber escalated: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/comments/djci7p/how_i_got_a_not_really_an_hoa_disbanded/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/comments/djci7p/how_i_go... Be sure to read all 4 parts!