If A Neighbor Removed Part Of My Lawn And Is Planning To Use It

At my previous home which I inherited from my dad, a neighbour had built a deck and half walled it. It ruined the drying on my dad’s clothes line because of perpetual shade and it was too close. One day I was doing clothes washing in the laundry when I looked up to see my neighbour watching me while having a beer. He had to stand on a bench seat to do it. I was infuriated. Then a bit later he walled it in more completely. My rear rooms became quite dark at all times so I complained. He got away with not having a permit because the building inspector signed off on it. But I came across a nice lady who thought that he was too close to the boundary. They took measurements and confirmed that he was in error. He was at this time trying to sell the house. His real estate agent ditched him because council informed them of the problem. A council guy asked me if I wanted to make him cut off a 1.5 meter by 2 meter piece of the deck, a corner. It seemed too trivial after all the time and money he had spent to do this work so I let him off. It was noted on council records that any further changes to the deck would require it to be removed. I still had a little win because his sale was delayed and because of the notation on his title he got less money for the property than he might have. But I just couldn’t make him cut a corner off the deck.

As for you, get a survey done first of all. Establish your right to the land in question. If an easement is suggested don’t accept market value. Punish them a little with double market value plus costs. Otherwise they may have to pay to remediate the land belonging to you at a complete loss. Only sell if you really want to. It was never your fault.

If you’re interested in learning more about handling property disputes and maintaining good relations with your neighbors, I recommend reading this article on Drawing the Line: How to Preserve Your Property and Maintain Good Relations with Your Neighbor