re: OT lawyers: Unique trespassing issue

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What else would you ever do with it???

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Mow it, bitch about people looking at it the wrong way, etc... you know stuff.

(no message)

Donate it to the city for a sidewalk. If you're going to donate it, don't give it to the assholes on the other side of the road. If they make a sidewalk there with curbs, they won't be able to drive over it anymore. Two birds. One stone. Maximum petty.

You could create a HOA and make it against the rules to drive over the grass

Put posts in the ground or plant some small trees/bushes on that strip.

Sorry if too long.

Not a lawyer, but a planner who knows a bit about (and often deals with) planning/zoning/subdivision laws and regs.

I am taking UptoPar's idea and giving us some graphics.

So, from your description, the property was originally like this:



And from the way you are describing it being subdivided into multiple properties and the private drive being extended and dedicated as a public road, it is now something sort of like this:




First of all, one can't subdivide property without providing SOME kind of legal access. Most often it is frontage on a public road or street, otherwise it has to be a PERMANENT easement. This is where this is very confusing-- from your description, the meth head family has no frontage on the old driveway/new street, because you own the first 3 feet or so of what would be their frontage. So, how do they have access to and from the public street system without trespassing?

Unless the property in question is in B.F. Egypt, just about any local jurisdiction, with any competent staff, would not have allowed a subdivision of land that would have created in effect a 'landlocked' parcel of land and then permitted it for a residential home.

And this public street-- was it formally dedicated by the local jurisdiction? (county/parish, municipality)? Do they have responsibility for maintenance and access/ installation for any public/private utilities along its right of way? As a previous poster noted, standard right-of-way, regardless of the pavement width, of a local street is 50 feet. This can allow not only for the roadway itself, but drainage, water lines, power lines, gas lines, sidewalks, etc., all within publicly owned land.

I would check my survey to ensure that you do, in fact have this 3 feet strip on the other side of the road. And it you do, it would be in your best interest to bring it to the attention of the local planning and zoning staff, and have it rectified. IF you own it, your regular mowing it constitutes maintenance and use and the meth neighbors cannot gain adverse possession of it (squatter's rights). However, their regular driving/walking across it is establishing a prescriptive easement (easement upon another's real property acquired by continued use without permission of the owner for a legally defined period).

If you own that 3 foot strip, it is not worth keeping. Sell it to them, swap some land with them, or just donate it to them. It will put all parties in a good state-- you, your meth head neighbors, and the local jurisdiction.

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When people start driving and parking in the yard, it is time to move.

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True. I live in a small town, nice L shaped dead end street with a ravine behind us on one side, a big antebellum house and land on the other side.

Like many older neighborhoods in small towns, there are some bigger nice homes and a few smaller homes mixed in. One home, empty for a long time, finally was sold. It had worried me because the sale price was low and it easily the least desirable house on the L.

Well, here come the cars parked on the grass. Then, the neighbor must have decided "it is cool" and has started doing it. No HOA, so looks like it is time to move.

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To be clear: the neighbor who's trespassing on my 3 foot section to access their property already has their own driveway accessing a public highway that they used to use until the last year or so when they started using my 3 foot strip of property to DRIVE THROUGH THEIR YARD to access their driveway .

They already have access to a public highway and don't need to drive/walk over my 3 foot section. They have a complete different address.

...I certainly am not willing to give up that property via donation. I'd sell it to them if they were willing to purchase it though.

And yes, I have a survey indicating it's my property.

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Gotcha. So the situation is more like this:



In that case, you can:

1. Make them an offer to sell. Be aware, however, that the fair market value of that 3 foot strip is very low, because it is only of use to the meth head family parcel, as it would add to their total acreage AND allow them the direct access off of the new local street. No one else would want to buy a three foot deep strip of property that is not develop-able.

2. If they won't buy (or won't buy at a reasonable price), I would put a fence, wall, or other solid barrier (not hedges) along your boundary with the meth heads ( 3 feet in from the street right-of-way), to prevent them from continuing to cross your strip for access. As I noted, if they continue to do so without you engaging in an active fashion to stop them, they could gain a Prescriptive Easement and in the future you would not be able to put up such a barrier.

3. Before spending the money on a fence or wall, you can even use the idea that you will put up such a barrier as a threat to "assist" them in making the decision to purchase the strip.

Good Luck!

Go to Brandenburg, find some retired Stasi and tell them “Wir bringen die Band wieder zusammen!” (We’re getting the Band back together!)

They’ll handle it from there:

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To be clear:

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Actually, not much here is clear. Why don't you give us a picture, or at least respond to the poster who has made two attempts at giving us one, tell him how he's wrong/right.

Help us help you.