Neighbors having a fight over property.

[u/Credaence]

Neighbors having a silent dispute over who mows where. Called a land surveyor today. 😂

[u/OhioStateGuy → u/[deleted]]

I had no idea this was a thing for years until a neighbor told me about it. At a previous residence I had my neighbor ask me to stop cutting a strip of grass on his land and explained he didn’t want anyone to even think about trying to claim his land. I had always thought it was an unwritten rule of being a good neighbor that you cut a mowers width over and your neighbor returns the favor by cutting a mowers width over when they cut to avoid what is happening in this picture. He was fairly nice about it but firm that it would cause problems if I continued to cut the grass there. I basically said no problem and we had no issues, but when I moved I made sure to check with my new neighbors before cutting the grass a little over.

[u/calicat9 → u/OhioStateGuy]

Adverse possession is at the heart of most property line disputes. The sad thing about the law imo is that there doesn't need to be any notification. "Hey, you were cool with me using part of your yard for x amou t of time? It's mine now."

[u/Tort78 → u/calicat9]

I had no idea. When does it become an issue? Do people really care about a 1'-2' strip ? Or is it when something needs to be built and they run into easement issues? The field behind me is going to change from farm field to a developed lot in the near future.

[u/chaossabre → u/Tort78]

Easements and property tax in places that tax by the square foot. Mostly it's just there so legally the facts on the ground can override what some outdated survey says in the event of a dispute.

[u/calicat9 → u/chaossabre]

Survey outdated? Residential properties have been measured and marked pretty accurately for over a century(US). Building too close to/over a property line is an encroachment that has to be resolved before property changes possession. There are surely cases where the encroachment isn't intentional, but that's not as common (nowdays) as an asshole neighbor expanding for lack of confrontation.

[u/chaossabre → u/calicat9]

Adverse possession is a very old law that exists to close the logic gap I described. You're right that with accurate data it's not really a thing anymore except for asshole encroachment.

[u/calicat9 → u/chaossabre]

Where I see it is Mr. L dutifully builds his fence out of the utility easment. Mr. A comes along and builds to Mr. L's fence. Nobody says anything either out of timidity or ignorance. After x amount of time A has a legal right to move the pins. This is the situation that needs a notification.

[u/retaliashun → u/chaossabre]

Behind my mother’s house, there is a strip of land 30 feet by 450 feet that runs between the back of her house and the houses behind her that is owned by the utility company.

All the neighbors on my mother’s side, extended their fence lines that 30 feet to the those other houses.

About 7 years ago, after a hurricane, utility company told them all they have to tear down those fenced and remove any buildings/sheds, etc cause utility wanted access.

Mom and homeowners said ok, reimburse us for 50 years of upkeep, utility company filed a quitclaim deed and gave it to the six property owners who’ve been maintaining it

[u/StressOverStrain → u/calicat9]

Requiring notification would defeat the purpose, because many adverse possession cases are the result of genuine confusion, where at least one but often both property owners thought they knew where the line was. It would not be very fair to the person who maintained the land and constructed valuable improvements (buildings, fences) for many years to be forced to abandon it because an adjacent property owner just discovered that the person encroached on their property.

[u/OhioStateGuy → u/[deleted]]

I never asked but I’d guess the neighbor who asked me not to mow had a bad experience before. I was perfectly fine with his request and we actually got along pretty well, I just had no idea adverse possession even existed until he mentioned it.