I bought my first house last year. One of the things I loved most about it was the huge backyard.
A few days after moving in, I noticed my neighbor had a boat parked partially on my property. Apparently, the previous owner had allowed it for years, so he just assumed it would continue.
I went over and spoke to him politely.
I said, “Just giving you a heads-up, I’m having a fence installed next month, so I’ll need the boat moved before then.”
He laughed and replied, “Come on, don’t be that guy. It’s not bothering anybody.”
I didn’t argue. I simply reminded him that the land was part of my property and left it at that.
A month later, the fence crew showed up.
The boat was still exactly where it had been.
I knocked on his door one more time and asked if he could move it before construction started.
He told me to screw off and slammed the door in my face.
At that point, there wasn’t much left to discuss.
I showed the survey markers to the fence company and told them to build the fence directly on the legal property line.
They did exactly that.
The result was a perfectly legal fence that enclosed part of the area where his boat was sitting. Now the boat can’t be removed without either taking apart the fence or finding another solution.
Needless to say, he wasn’t happy.
He called the police, but after looking at the property survey, they explained that the fence was on my land and that it was a civil dispute.
A few weeks later, I found out he was trying to sue me to have the fence removed.
His wife even called me and said I had ruined their entire summer because they couldn’t take the boat to the lake.
Maybe that’s frustrating, but I gave them plenty of notice.
I didn’t block their boat overnight.
I simply built a fence on my own property after repeatedly asking them to move something that never should have been there in the first place.