I'm warning you upfront this is long and tedious.

I purchased land at the end of a private road, and as the title states my neighbor built an addition to his lake cabin within the road. Before I get into the nitty gritty let me first say that I'm not seeking any information regarding the legality of the situation. Legally speaking I know what my options are. If you plan to reply with "Get a lawyer" save your post. I'm seeking advice w/ regard to diplomacy and not winding up in a longterm feud w/ my neighbor.



A year ago I purchased some lake front land at the end of a private road which is .2 miles long with the plan to build a cabin for myself, as well as develop some of the land. The road runs parallel to the lake and hillside. There are 6 lake front homes between the road and the lake. I purchased land at the very end of the road and the road dead ends at my property line.

The area is undergoing gentrification so there's a mix of everything from 50k fishing cabins to 500k lake homes. My next door neighbor is very nice and we usually sit and drink a beer or 2 every weekend. He has a small cabin that was rundown and he's done a lot of work renovating it, and adding on an addition.

The county doesn't actually maintain the road but it's an official county private road w/ legal easement. When I first started coming out to the property to work I couldn't actually get to my property because his boat trailers were parked on the road. I got him to move the trailers over enough so I could squeak by.

The other difficulty is that his cabin is right by the road and he's never put in any parking. He simply parks in the road, again leaving just enough room to get by (usually but not always).



I've been patient for a year and I've done much work that benefits everyone such as cleaning up a LOT of garbage throughout the whole area, landscaping, and I put about 20 tons of rock on the road. I also became the de facto road grader. I assumed that after he realized I was here for the long haul he'd realize he needed to do something about his boat trailers and parking problem. I was wrong.

I began asking him to move his trailers a couple of months ago and even offered an area on some of my land where ha can store them. He acted like that was a good idea but nothing has happened. Last weekend I asked him again to move them and explained that I'm having trouble because contractors coming to do work are having a hard time getting by. He told me "That's bull****!". That didn't sit well and made me realize I have a problem.

The question is how to handle the problem diplomatically as well as how far to push the issue. Beyond convenience, his violations are pretty detrimental to my property value. I've divided the problem into 4 sub problems and I'm seeking advice w/ regard to whether to pursue all of them, or some of them, and how far to push.

Legally speaking the road is a 30' wide easement in which you can't park, store anything, use it as your yard, or build.




The 4 sub problems:

1. Storing trailers in the road. This one's nonnegotiable and the trailers will be moved.

2. Parking in the road. This one is very close to nonnegotiable. His parking along the roadside is bearable. Unfortunately he doesn't even park along the side and literally parks in the middle so I have to watch that I don't hit his mirror. Long term I think it'll have to be solved. It's going to be costly for him though because it's a hillside and to build parking will require a lot of fill and a lot of work.

3. This is a broader problem which effects the owner of a vacant lot as well. The road doesn't conform to the easement because someone ( I don't know who or when) simply moved the road over by nearly 100' to make it nicer where it goes thru a ravine. Of course they moved it onto my land and it takes up almost 1/4 acre of my land (enough to build a house on). This problem is a little hard to explain. It's most likely not to ever be solved and I'll likely chalk it up as a loss.

4. My neighbor originally bought a small cabin which was built pre building codes. The cabin was built within 1'-2' of the road. There's nothing to be done about that. In 2016 he built an addition to that cabin. Not only did he build it close to the road but the foundation sits about 2' within the road. The overhang is another 2' so he encroaches on the road by 4'. He used to work in construction and has built several houses before.

In 2016 the building code (which had been in effect for decades) required a 15' setback. I know the neighbor was aware of this before he built. He didn't get a building permit either.

This has a very negative impact on property values and the aesthetic of the neighborhood. He did do a very nice job though. This is a tough one for me to decide whether to pursue. It would surely result in a Hatfield - McCoyesque feud.

There's really only one solution if I pursue problem 4. If I decide to pursue it I'll have to file a zoning complaint. The zoning department will send him a letter giving him 30 days to remedy the problem. The only remedy (and one which zoning will enforce) is for him to tear down the addition.



OOT diplomats please advise

how does a poster of your caliber not include pics smh

I thought photo bucket closed up shop?

Sadly this was one of my first thoughts. Either a satellite view or an MS paint, and whether the MS paint is worth more OOT points I leave to oT to decide.

wrt the actual meat of your post I'm wondering how much you pushing for your "non-negotiable" requests differs from your nuclear option. Like, is this dude the type of person to regard your request of, "Please don't put a literal shipping container in the middle of the road," the same as "Hey, that addition is a little close to my property line. What do you think?"

You don’t want to hear “get a lawyer” but the way you describe the situation clearly points in that direction as the end result.

I see two potential next steps, either you continue the nice personal route but start to get firmer in your demands or you go the passive-aggressive way and tell your contractors to have his vehicles towed if they cannot get past them.

Seems pretty clear to me that the neighbor thinks you are too nice and he keeps testing the waters. Otherwise he would at least comply with the most basic of your demands.

Don’t forget to not set any precedent where he can claim you tolerated something for that long of a time now that it would be unreasonable now to make him abide to the rules.

lol lawyers. retain the services of Alobar.

Mad,

I guess I wasn't clear. I've gotten a lawyer, which is why I said I know what my options are legally speaking.

There's really only one next step. The questions in my mind are really how many of the problems to try and solve and what, if any, way can it be done diplomatically enough to avoid a feud.

I concur, I've been exceedingly nice.

Avoiding precedent is why the problems I decide to saolve have to be solved now.

I'm pretty sure I've never made an MS paint in my life. I couldn't turn off enough information layers in the satellite view to avoid details.

This cul de sac drawing shows the basic layout

In that drawing there are 6 lots on the top of the road, the lot closest to the circle is my neighbor. I own the entire circle and the 6 lots on the bottom of the road. There is no actual cul de sac, the road dead ends at my property line (where the circle meets the road).

Really feel for you. Neighbour disputes are beyond terrible. Thankfully you are pretty level headed so hopefully can be civil even following his ridiculousness. It's amazing to me that he isn't bending over backwards to be accommodating towards you. He definitely thinks you are a soft touch.

Oh, OK got it now

Do you have a gut feeling how reasonable he is?

My parents are in a dispute with the neighbor of one of their properties where years of trying to solve a situation about tree cutting didn’t get them anywhere before they decided to go the legal route. Now that neighbor is claiming that the property line is wrong by something like 10 inches. Doesn’t sound like much but amounts to a couple grand in land value because 1sqft is valued >$50.

Mad,

I think he's fairly reasonable but very opportunistic. It won't end really bad but will probably mean not speaking. He's a hypocrite about it as well because there used to be an older lady who parked in the road and he would always complain about it, while at the same time doing the same thing to me.

Is his cabin addition along the section of "new" road that passes through your land?


Assuming that is not the case...
Which would cost him more, tearing down and rebuilding the addition, or paying for that section of road to be moved and re-graded ~15-20 ft away?
Edit - that's probably not an option bc then the road would be in your land if it is not already, correct?
and probably not a legal option either way.

Since the road doesn't conform to the easement, how are you sure that his new structure doesn't comply to the set back? (You said the road might be off by as much as 100' and the set back requirement is 15'.)

No. That's further up the road and only effects him insofar as he'd likely be forced to incur a portion of the cost to put the road back where it belongs.

J,

It's been surveyed. There's a survey stake less than 2' from the corner of his addition and very clearly shows it's in the road.

Where the road passes his addition he could step out of his door and get hit by a car.

If you don't file a complaint now, is there some legally defined period of time where it's too late to file a complaint?

After reading your other responses it seems pretty clear this guy is taking advantage of you and will not change anything until he is forced to.
Seems like an easy F him, file the zoning complaint, and let the relationship with your neighbor fall where it may.

Agreed. The guy sounds like a bit of a knob tbh.

Ask the guy where he feels the property line is and how you are supposed to get to your property with the big bulldozer you plan on bringing in this spring. Wait for his response before proceeding.

Couldn't you just call the county if talking to him doesn't do that job? I don't understand getting a lawyer. Talk to neighbor, if he doesn't get the house off the road... call the county.


In this situation he'd need a lawyer if he didn't fix the problem....

This does not seem like someone worth keeping in good graces with. He thinks you’re a ***** and won’t do anything, hence why he won’t even move his trailers and his cars, let alone do anything about his illegal addition. Time to call his bluff and go scorched earth via whatever your lawyer says, the time for diplomacy has long since passed

+1

Release the hounds

Expand the road by having it go underneath his house

+1 to Dudd. I'm not sure there's a way to preserve a relationship, but this doesn't seem like a relationship worth preserving. It probably makes sense to say, "Hey, I know we've talked about this before, but this really isn't a workable situation for me. So I need you to do X, Y, Z."

Based on what you've said, neighbor isn't going to do X, Y, or Z, and then you release the hounds.