Florida Trespass Law
 

In view of property rights issues concerning trespass of daily concern to Villagers (you know what they are) this thread is for posting of references and facts.

Please try to read something and cite a reference instead of giving your opinion. Trespass, as you know, is legally defined by the state.

I'll go first, here's one by University of Florida

FE111/FE111: Handbook of Florida Fence and Property Law: Visitors and Responsibilities to Visitors

What are the types of people that might enter my property?

The legal duties owed by a landowner to a person entering his property depend upon the classification of the person who enters the property. Florida law classifies such people into three types. The first type, invitees, includes any individual who is invited onto the landowner's property or is led to believe that an invitation was given. The second type, licensees, enters upon the owner's property albeit without invitation, but rather with the assent of the owner for the individual's own convenience, pleasure, or benefit. The third type, trespassers, enters upon the property of another without an invitation, license, or other right to enter the property (Lukancich v. Tampa, 583 So.2d 1070 [Fla. 2d DCA 1991]; 41 Florida Jurisprudence 2d Premises Liability sections 10, 53, and 60).

Hey, i'll go second
 

FL STATUTE
810.08 Trespass in structure or conveyance.—
(1) Whoever, without being authorized, licensed, or invited, willfully enters or remains in any structure or conveyance, or, having been authorized, licensed, or invited, is warned by the owner or lessee of the premises, or by a person authorized by the owner or lessee, to depart and refuses to do so, commits the offense of trespass in a structure or conveyance.
(2)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, trespass in a structure or conveyance is a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

Even a DEA sniff dog did not have the right to be on the property surrounding someone's house.

Florida v. Jardines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

trust me, it's easier to read in wikipedia...

Asked and answered again and again and again!

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

Where is that ignore button?

Check this out!!!!
 

Doggie Doo Game | ToysRUs


We could loan this game out to trespassers here in the Villages. :D

Check out the Toys-R-Us video, too. http://www.toysrus.com/buy/active/do...30594-11796515

that's a stitch, Tal.
btw, one of the major offender dog walkers told me several times "nobody minds" about his dog pooping in their yards. He holds the dog under the shade trees of homeowners who are up north, while he smokes.

Then he got multiK landscaping and put up a "No dumping" dog sign in his own yard.
sheesh.

I know this poop/trespassing thing causes a lot of stress. IMO if it bothers you that much go for it, call LE. You'll still have stress and aggravation, just a different kind and it will be a situation you chose. Sometimes just taking control of the situation helps.

There were probably other neighbors retaliating from his dog going on their yards. There is one neighbor a few doors south of here who often has a lot more poop on her yard than anywhere else. I kind of take this as a sign of neighborhood ill will. She seems to have found out that sometimes a fight is more stressful than it is worth.

Thoughts
 

When I was President of a rather large Condo in Florida we were familiar with the 3 "P's" which Condo boards face. They are Poch's, Pools and Poop. These define the most common problems for a Condo board. Looks like in the Village's they are still an on going issue??:mornincoffee:

Looks like this thread has strayed from a 4th "P" - Privacy!

Kitty This pretty much repeats across all states as it is contained in common law. You should be thanked for bringing to the attention of posters who have been debating this issue for as long as they have lived here. It is a benefit for newbies to have these discussions repeated.

Thanks for saying that Rubicon. I keep seeing posts where it's thought to be OK to walk the dog at the street side because that isn't really the homeowners' property; or that owner has to post a no trespassing sign or else it is not trespassing at all to come on the property.

we're making progress. really, we are. Imagine coming here from the country. Oh boy, poor Santa Claus.

You are correct about the trespassing statutes and everything else - but it is not enforcable.

No police officer is going to respond to a call when the subject is a dog pooping on a lawn.

Unless it's the Chief's or Mayor's lawn.

I'm sorry someone has a dog that poops on your lawn. It has happened to all of us. It happens everyday in all 50 states. All of the information about Florida law is interesting, but what's the point? Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy? If you are upset, telling us (who don't ever walk near your yard) the law doesn't solve the problem. Tell the offenders that it is a problem to you. If they continue...well, you can't fix stupid and researching and posting the ordinances won't change anything either.

The point is I enjoy doing the research and some people want to read it. It interests me to lay to rest age old parlays of opinion with information.

Information is a good thing.

I had this problem up north and resolved it very easily. I first asked the dog owner nicely to not let his dog do its business on my property. When he ignored that, from then on I just shoveled up his dogs mess, brought it down to his yard and dumped it on his front steps. He asked what I thought I was doing and I simply said, you forgot something. I never had another problem.

I like that. No whinning, just a proactive approach.

The thread was meant a fresh start for a balled up discussion about trespass that began on a concurrent golf course issues thread.

That's probably a much more serious example of trespassing though here in the Villages are you are showing intent to mess with your neighbor's property whereas the neglectful dog walker is basically just being careless. And there is that easement problem of much of the property on the lawn near the street being also the property of the Villages.

You may like this link-- http://www.americanbar.org/content/d...thcheckdam.pdf

According to Sumter Co. Roads and Bridges and VCDD, the right to disallow foot traffic in the easement (edited to add and the right of way) rests with the homeowner. In the past I asked this question directly of the authorities in both organizations after discovering that 15 feet of my 'postage stamp" lot is road easement (thanks to downeaster, this should say right of way, not easement).

Thanks for doing that research.

I believe the more accurate statement is that property belongs to the homeowner, but the county has the right to use it for specific purposes, such as utility maintenance (the water and irrigation supply lines are in there), road widening, or installation of a sidewalk. I could be wrong.

If that easement is owned by the villages - why do property owners pay taxes on it instead of the villages paying the taxes on it; and why doesn't the villages management send someone to cut the grass on the easements shown on our property?

I know this thread has gone off topic but there is a fund of conflicting and misinformation here. There seems to be a propensity for sounding off before doing any research.

For instance: "easement" and "right of way". Both repeatedly misused in this thread.

Another example: "The Villages owns". "The Villages" is the name of this community, a postal address, and it is also part of the name used by the Developer. The property within this community is owned by the residents, the various CDD's, the Counties, the Cities, the utility companies, the Developer, etc.

My point? Beware of what you read here including what I have stated above. If it is important to you, do your own research.

http://thevillageslandscape.webs.com...egulations.htm

Village Community Development Districts


These links may help. Sorry, Kitty, for not staying very technical with my comments. I define someone's property as what they have complete control over but in the Villages there are many limitations on the control various land owners have of their property and as another poster pointed out these vary a lot by the authorities involved.

downeaster. you are right about my misusing easement vs right of way. the 15 feet is the right of way. only 10 of it is the easement. the principle is the same. the property does maintain it, and does have rights to say who can be there.

If for example, the neighbor's are having a family reunion and Uncle Joe wanted to sleep on my "right of way" in a tent, wouldn't you think that would be trespassing?

wait, nevermind. Uncle Joe's tent would be a lawn ornament and not allowed anyway...
And since I'm in charge of maintenance of that area, how do I get Joe off of it?

Maybe downeaster can answer this definitively. I thought the same as mulligan. You own, pay taxes and maintain all of the lot. You can't build a permanent structure on easement or right of way in case TV needs access to buried utilities or the roads dept needs access for some reason I can't imagine.

maintenance responsibility is in my deed restrictions.

I appreciate the sound research being done by some posters.

I can not answer definitively but can tell what is included on the plat furnished at closing. It shows a "10' wide special easement" in the rear reserved for, by not limited to, utilities and drainage. The front of my lot shows 13' from my front lot line to the edge of the concrete curb. It notes that the lot owner "shall have the obligation to mow and maintain all areas of easements and right-of-ways". Foot notes state the total to be maintained by me includes the 780 square foot section of right-of-way in front and the 600 square foot easement in back.

My interpretation? I own the 10' easement but am restricted as to its use. I do not own the 13' right-of-way between my front lot line and the curb. I am obligated to mow and maintain both.

As to trespassing, I'll cross that bridge when and if it ever becomes necessary.

What tells you that you do not own the right-of-way?

I don't know anything about Fla law but I had a situation with trespassing in NY. Nothing with POOP.

My former brother-in-law was trespassing on and vandalizing my property. I called the police, they took reports of damage but wouldn't talk to him unless I lied and said I saw him doing it.

So, I spoke to my attorney who advised me that since other people were allowed so was he and to press the trespassing issue there had to be malice on his part (there was).

My attorney served him with a stay away letter directing him to stay away from my home, my place of business, my barn, my vehicles and to avoid anywhere that he knew I was.

If you want to get serious about the POOP issue get the persons name and address, have your attorney write them a letter, send it certified and then when they reoffend LE will treat it seriously. IMO, unless you show how serious you are nothing will be done.

Go down to the ARC. I'm sure they will explained it to you.

I would take a look at the American Bar Association pamphlet on relations with neighbors before going to an attorney. http://www.americanbar.org/content/d...thcheckdam.pdf Attorneys should be your last resort after running out of all your options. They actually mentioned something like this in some law school classes especially those that involved reasonable people and what they would do in such-and-such a situation. I know some people can be extremely unreasonable however.

I went to some lengths to explain my interpretation in my previous post.

Explain what to me? What does the ARC have to do with property ownership?

maybe this will help...I was surprised to learn that I do not own several feet on the street side of the property. This can be confirmed with a call to the property appraiser. And here's a very clear description of both easement and right of way.

Brevard County Public Works - Easements & Right of Way

What is an Easement?
An easement is a right of use granted over the property of another. The best examples are electrical utilities, water lines and access areas. The existence of an easement on your property does not impact your ownership, but rather provides for the use of a portion of your property for a specific purpose by another, non-title holding individual or entity.

What is a Right-of-Way?
The most common example of a right-of-way would be a roadway. In the case of a County maintained road, the land, or right-of-way is publicly owned, but you enjoy the use of it. The right-of-way is not necessarily limited to the paved or unpaved travel area of the road itself, but often includes the shoulders. Drainage ditches, sidewalks and other related structures and improvements are often located within the road right-of-way, but just outside the travel surface of the roadway. The width of this non-traveled area can vary.

The difference between the two is perhaps most easily understood through comparison. With an easement, you own the property and pay taxes on it, but someone else reserves the right to use it in a specific manner. With a Right-of-Way, someone else owns the property, but you enjoy the use of it (within predefined limits).
For information on rights-of-way and easements, there are two areas that might be of interest.

That's a good document, Tal...

It recommends these steps:
talk to the neighbor first,
write them a letter next, if unresolved,
call law enforcement
That's very patient...and I like it for a strategy.

In Patty's situation, there was clearly personal malice involved, in which case, nipping it in the bud seems wise.