‘Kay, it’s time to spill.
Some folks know about my recent drama involving my neighbors to the west. I can’t say the drama is over, but I’m at a point where I can at least explain it because — FOR NOW — I’m not going to sic lawyers after them.
Flash back to June 1st: I came home from work to see a VW parked on the concrete pad behind my house. I left a note on the VW saying (paraphrasing here) “nope, private property, park somewhere else.” Brenda and I went out to CPK to eat. When we returned, the VW was still there. I parked Brenda’s car next to it just to show our ownership of the pad. She didn’t mind. Later that night we saw the VW pull out and leave, or so we thought. Brenda went back to the pad to see how her car was doing Just In Case™ and was confronted by a guy who claimed to be our neighbor to the west.
The VW was his wife’s car. He was pissed that I left a note, and perhaps that loosened his lips a bit because he proceeded to tell Brenda that he was going to rip down our fences and appropriate our concrete pad for his own use, specifically to be a driveway for him and his tenants. According to this guy, the pad is actually part of our alley, not our property, and what’s left at the back of our property is available for his use because of some kind of “right of access” that he claims exists only on our property. Lots of other words were exchanged, but that’s all that really matters right now.
We spent an hour or so digging through all of our mortgage and refinance records trying to find evidence of an encumbrance on our property like a right of way, right of access, easement, whatever. Bupkis.
June 2nd: Brenda and I took time off from work to hit the Salt Lake County Recorder’s Office. We researched neighbor guy’s property back to 1980 and our property back to 1991 and saw no evidence of any kind of right of access, special setback, jog in our property lines, easements, anything that would indicate the neighbor was telling the truth. We also found out the name of the owner of the neighbor’s property. I won’t give the name, and I won’t give a description of the guy Brenda “chatted” with, but suffice it to say the name and the appearance don’t align. The plot thickens, maybe. We’re not 100% convinced the guy Brenda encountered is actually the owner. Unfortunately this remains a mystery.
June 8th: You could probably guess what came next… That’s right, I met with a lawyer who specializes in property disputes. I presented all of my research and asked his opinion. He agreed that it looks like neighbor guy has nothing backing his claim to our property.
While there, I asked about the 80+ year old black walnut tree in our backyard that never seemed to come back to life after the neighbor (yes, same neighbor) hacked off all but one branch from one side of the tree (the branches hung over his property). He said if an arborist verifies that removal of the branches killed the tree, we could sue. Hold that thought for a few moments.
Advice before leaving the lawyer’s office: send the neighbor a certified letter stating ownership of our property (including the concrete pad), and finish the letter with a request that he present any and all evidence that would prove us wrong. Then, if nothing happens, go on with life. Lawyer guy then began checking with his younger lawyers to see if any of them could take on the tree case (he was a partner in his firm, and all I’d really need is a pea-shooter for the tree issue).
June 13th: An arborist checked our tree. Its death was perhaps accelerated by the removal of the branches, but that’s not the cause of death. A tree disease swept through Utah about eight years ago and wiped out lots of black walnut trees. Ours survived, but it’s been in a downward spiral ever since. Physical conditions that exist on the tree now as well as past behavior indicate it died from this disease. So, it looks like we’re not suing over the tree, and we’re going to pay in excess of $1k to get it removed. Craptastic.
June 14th: I returned home from work to see a huge demolition size dumpster in the back of my neighbor’s property. In my mind, I’m guessing it’s for one of two things: either there’s a ton of furniture and other belongings that were left in the neighbor’s main house when it was vacated (did I mention the neighbor has two houses on his property? And did I mention that both houses, as of a few days ago, are now empty? WTF is going on over there?), or there’s actual demolotion in our future. I have not yet sent out the certified “stay the F off our property” letter, so I painted a Private Property/No Parking sign on a small wood panel and screwed it into the fence facing our concrete pad. If they demolish anything, they’re doing it in spite of receiving written notice.
June 15th: Oh, that’s today. The fences are still up, nobody’s next door, the dumpster is still there, and I have no idea what’s going to happen next. The fore-mentioned lawyer is ready to pounce if the neighbor does anything to our property, though. Until he does, life is close to being back to normal.
Have I mentioned I’m REALLY tired of dealing with crap like this? Perhaps. You have no idea… And word to the wise: before you purchase a piece of property, a house, whatever, get an ALTA survey, a house location survey, ANYTHING, right up front so you have your legal ammo ready when neighbors try to say your property is theirs.
