Posted on 06/16/2022 3:41:08 AM PDT by dennisw
Pensioner, 87, drilled holes through his neighbour's garden wall claiming it jutted onto his land by 'TWO INCHES' and put up signs warning, 'You and your cowboy builders are thieves' Ewen Taylor, of Cardiff, launched his campaign after neighbours built extension
The 87-year-old claims the new wall encroaches onto his property by two inches After being fined by police, he began putting up accusatory signs in his garden Family, who deny it encroaches on his land, say his actions have been distressing
A pensioner drilled holes in his neighbour's garden wall claiming it encroaches on his land by two inches and erected placards accusing the family of being thieves.
Ewen Taylor was slapped with a £90 fine for the criminal damage but has continued his protest by displaying signs outside his home accusing his neighbours of 'illegal building work'.
The family, who built the extension to create more dining space, say the row has left their children 'embarrassed to go out'.
For a number of months Mr Taylor, from Cardiff, has been putting wooden placards at the front of his house in the Grangetown area.
The 87-year-old's messages include: 'You and your cowboy builder are thiefs [sic]'; 'Other councils take down illegle [sic] building work'; 'Will they sue me?'; and 'Do not like my signs, tell the council'.
The display shows the street number of the next-door family, who said: 'It needs to stop really.'
Mr Taylor, a retired bricklayer who has lived in his house for around 50 years, said his anger was sparked in 2020 when the family built an extension in their back garden.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
States are specific but the basics have to be there. Taxes is not one of them.
His distraught wife said she guessed they'd have to move again. Apparently, he did it everywhere they moved.
-PJ
Most attorneys will write it up so that if anytime the wall/encroachment is removed, any new fence/whatever will NOT be allowed to encroach.
Playing with property lines can cause other problems...Say the required lot width is 100 ft...two inches would make the lot in violation of zoning requirement.
It is the process ov adverse possession. Failure to resolves such cases in a legal manner can result in whats know as a cloud on a title and have resultant issues on title transfers in most states to qualify for adverse possession the encroachment must be open, adverse, exist for seven years and the property must be significantly improved by the owner.
The “paid taxes” requirement for adverse possession is a California statutory requirement. Not sure if any other states require it or not, but I do know it isn’t a requirement in RI.
In CA law, if the encroacher cannot establish the requirements for adverse possession, the following are alternatives:
Equitable easements are paid permission to encroach on other properties, generally when the encroachment is too expensive to remove (as compared to the value of the property encroached upon).
Prescriptive easements are also permission to encroach but are not paid for, i.e. access to landlocked property. However, the encroacher cannot exclude the actual owner from the piece of land, and if so, it is considered an “exclusive prescriptive easement” which is illegal. The ability to exclude the owner is too much like adverse possession without the “paid taxes” requirement. You cannot skirt any of the requirements of AP by calling it something else.
I recently read of a story in Texas where a young couple bought a nice lot in a nice neighborhood, then proceeded to develop that lot by adding a double wide mobile home. They moved in and began their family. Several years later it was discovered that they didn’t actually owned that lot. They actually owned a lot two doors away. Fortunately for them the actual owner agreed to a land swap. It cost the young couple some expenses to re-file property deeds, but it could’ve been a much bigger nightmare.
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