re: Next door neighbor horror stories

Came home one day, and found a trench dug across the back of my yard. Neighbor said he needed to run power to his shop and the power company was going to run the line (he dug it with a backhoe, not the power company).

I told him he needed to ask my permission, and get an easement. His response of course was he didn’t have to and pretty much frick off. Little did he know, the power company engineer is a friend of mine, who told me when they were supposed to meet him there. So of course I was going.

Surprise! Engineer asked him if the trench he dug was on his property. His answer of course was yes. I’m standing there and said no. Walked over to where the survey corner was and pointed out he had no access to the right of way and exactly where the line was. And of course I had the survey from when I built the house to back it up.

Engineer, “sir you’ll need his permission and an easement to run the line”

“He’s fine with it”

“Actually no I’m not fine with it. One you dug it in the wrong place and two you didn’t ask before you did it, so fill it back up and repair the damage to my yard and then you can ask”

He filled it back up and repaired it. Since the other neighbor would pour gas on him if he was on fire, he had to ask. So I gave the power company the easement 5’ from my corner in a spot the slope makes it unusable, then he had to run it the rest of the way on his property. After he paid the power company twice to come out.