[DAVES]

My two cents worth for free. I would call the villages. They have some truly skilled people who can hopefully avoid problems. An attorney, may well make it worse.

You can easily get a copy of the survey if, you do not have one. From the post, right now it is your neighbors OPINION.

Once things start to go bad, it is hard but not impossible to turn them around. The original post. Of course we only get one side of every story. Usually there are at least two sides to every story. Neighbor removing the flags? First of all they are not permanent. Unlike perhaps wooden markers they do no damage. The dog and an invisible fence, I would get this resolved before you leave your dog out. I am NOT an attorney. We do have leash laws. I do not know if an invisible fence fills that requirement.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by DAVES

My two cents worth for free. I would call the villages. They have some truly skilled people who can hopefully avoid problems. An attorney, may well make it worse.

You can easily get a copy of the survey if, you do not have one. From the post, right now it is your neighbors OPINION.

Once things start to go bad, it is hard but not impossible to turn them around. The original post. Of course we only get one side of every story. Usually there are at least two sides to every story. Neighbor removing the flags? First of all they are not permanent. Unlike perhaps wooden markers they do no damage. The dog and an invisible fence, I would get this resolved before you leave your dog out. I am NOT an attorney. We do have leash laws. I do not know if an invisible fence fills that requirement.

The OP didn't say it was an invisible fence.

[rjm1cc]

Maybe a way to salvage the relationship is to ask him to hire his own survey company and if your survey was wrong you will pay half his cost. Then you will probably have to offer to pay all the cost if your company was wrong. If it turns out you were wrong I would try and get a refund from your survey company.
The two of you should try and put back the markers. The agreement should be if the surveys are off by say a foot. Not an inch or two.
I would also give the survey paper work to the new company and tell them your problem and to confirm or dispute your survey in writing.
In short try and get the survey companies to answer the question and both of your be on the side of getting it correct.
Good luck

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Pachine58

Hi, I am new homeowner in the historic side of villages. I bought a house that was built 4 years ago.

Yesterday the man who owned property next door came over to tell me my survey stakes were wrong and he owned the land. He informed me he pulled them out and removed my flags for my dog fence. Went on to tell me Lake county called him to say when house was built the villages made a mistake on property line and he owned the property..( WTH).

I looked up on county site for info and found nothing. I just paid for a survey 3 months ago which included maps.

What can I do? I’m ****ed he took my stakes and destroyed my flags. Help!

Further thoughts,"bought a house that was built 4 years ago." Perhaps, the people who bought it new decided to move due to issues with the neighbor.

The devil is in the details. The op does not say the neighbor is a Villager. Surely, people around the villages are not all pleased with the villages intruding on what was.

[Villageswimmer]

Originally Posted by Velvet

Dear OP, this does not bode well for future neighborliness. I’d find out more about who this person is from the other neighbors. If this person is liked in general I’d react differently than if they are known to be a jerk. I find counting on my neighbors in emergency or just for fun makes life more enriched.

When I came back from my trip I found that my neighbor was using the grass by my house for his plants, burning my grass out. I mentioned it to him that I was concerned about my grass. He took his pots of plants and threw them out. He was trying to use the shade on my side to shelter his plants.

A week later he saw I was having trouble bagging my yard waste and he brought his bag holder over for me to use as long as I wanted.
Hubby mentioned in passing he’d like to learn pickle ball, neighbor lent him his racket. Even took him to the court one morning and introduced him to the game.

I wish I could take back asking him to move a few pots from my grass. They were out of the way, I was being petty. Now I’m thinking what can I do for my neighbor?

In conclusion, the person might be more important than the survey line. If the person is usually a jerk, this might not be the home you really want in the long run.

You are such a nice and honest person. I find as I get older sometimes things that bother me shouldn’t. I try to bite my tongue, and if successful, am later glad I did. We’re constantly learning about ourselves I guess. Sorry to derail from the topic.

OP, I’m sorry this happened and hope you get it resolved soon. It takes a lot of guts to pull up someone’s survey stakes. Have you considered calling the Sheriff’s office for advice. Or maybe the Property Appraiser?

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

The OP didn't say it was an invisible fence.

Seems you are right. Another poster said it was an invisable fence. If, it is a wooden, plastic fence I assume they need a permit. As stated I am not an attorney. There are rules for everything. I expect if it is a physical fence it needs to be inside of the property line and the fence owner must maintain both sides of the fence. If, it has a good side and a back side, the good side needs to be what the neighbor sees.

I think all agree it sounds like trouble.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

Maybe a way to salvage the relationship is to ask him to hire his own survey company and if your survey was wrong you will pay half his cost. Then you will probably have to offer to pay all the cost if your company was wrong. If it turns out you were wrong I would try and get a refund from your survey company.
The two of you should try and put back the markers. The agreement should be if the surveys are off by say a foot. Not an inch or two.
I would also give the survey paper work to the new company and tell them your problem and to confirm or dispute your survey in writing.
In short try and get the survey companies to answer the question and both of your be on the side of getting it correct.
Good luck

We've not met the neighbor. Going by original post it does not seem a reasonable solution is possible.

Sadly amusing personal experience through business, I met a guy who lives in Germany. He is married to some duchess and they live in an ancient castle located on a huge property. He and his neighbor are fighting over a tree that has been there for well over 100 years. He told me that under German law he needs like another 20 years and then it will be grandfathered as OK.

Moral, it is not just here. Finding a solution with no antagonism is, or should be the goal. It is difficult to achieve. Too often it is impossible.

[valuemkt]

Having a paper copy of a survey is pretty useless. What the OP needs are survey stakes from a NEW survey. Good luck with that.. I've called every land surveyor and the villages to try and do same for my property. The original surveyor is too busy as are all others .. If anyone knows a bona fide surveyor pls post

[Pachine58]

Yes invisible fence just installed and was training the dogs. That’s why flags

[Escape Artist]

Originally Posted by Velvet

Dear OP, this does not bode well for future neighborliness. I’d find out more about who this person is from the other neighbors. If this person is liked in general I’d react differently than if they are known to be a jerk. I find counting on my neighbors in emergency or just for fun makes life more enriched.

When I came back from my trip I found that my neighbor was using the grass by my house for his plants, burning my grass out. I mentioned it to him that I was concerned about my grass. He took his pots of plants and threw them out. He was trying to use the shade on my side to shelter his plants.

A week later he saw I was having trouble bagging my yard waste and he brought his bag holder over for me to use as long as I wanted.
Hubby mentioned in passing he’d like to learn pickle ball, neighbor lent him his racket. Even took him to the court one morning and introduced him to the game.

I wish I could take back asking him to move a few pots from my grass. They were out of the way, I was being petty. Now I’m thinking what can I do for my neighbor?

In conclusion, the person might be more important than the survey line. If the person is usually a jerk, this might not be the home you really want in the long run.

Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing.

[jack.hunter00@yahoo.com]

Take You original survey to the county and have them verify it's accuracy. Then show the neighbor the counties approval and he should pay for a surveyor to put posts back in. If your original survey was correct.

[RICH1]

He's lost his faculties! Sounds like the Alzheimer's

[KSSunshine]

Originally Posted by Pachine58

Hi, I am new homeowner in the historic side of villages. I bought a house that was built 4 years ago.

Yesterday the man who owned property next door came over to tell me my survey stakes were wrong and he owned the land. He informed me he pulled them out and removed my flags for my dog fence. Went on to tell me Lake county called him to say when house was built the villages made a mistake on property line and he owned the property..( WTH).

I looked up on county site for info and found nothing. I just paid for a survey 3 months ago which included maps.

What can I do? I’m ****ed he took my stakes and destroyed my flags. Help!

Perhaps a more neighborly approach would be more helpful than some of the other posts. Go over, tell him you are sorry about this and are working to discover how The Villages could have made a mistake...would he like to participate in this discovery process. Then you make the appointments with the Surveyor to discuss the differences...call Lake County who can probably send someone out. This takes the You vs. Him out of the equation. Otherwise, you'll end up warring for the rest of your (or his) time. It's also possible that you have a neighbor who has some level of dementia emerging, so he really believes that the land is his. De-escalating the tension between the two of you is a win-win while the process plays out.

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by Pachine58

Hi, I am new homeowner in the historic side of villages. I bought a house that was built 4 years ago.

Yesterday the man who owned property next door came over to tell me my survey stakes were wrong and he owned the land. He informed me he pulled them out and removed my flags for my dog fence. Went on to tell me Lake county called him to say when house was built the villages made a mistake on property line and he owned the property..( WTH).

I looked up on county site for info and found nothing. I just paid for a survey 3 months ago which included maps.



What can I do? I’m ****ed he took my stakes and destroyed my flags. Help!

IMO, the first thing to do is to decide if you want to even try to have a cordial and amicable relationship with your next door neighbor who did this. If you do, then have a conversation with him about his concern, and your concern, and see if this is even an achievable goal. He may just be a combative SOB, and nothing you can do will make him a pleasant neighbor. In which case you are screwed in that regard, but not necessarily screwed in regard to where the property line goes.

If he wants to try to have a nice relationship with his neighbor, which I think is doubtful since he pulled the stakes without a conversation, I'm sure the two of you can find a way to verify the true boundary line.
If, he is, as we suspect, just a jerk, you'll have to verify the line yourself, replant the stakes, and tell him if he touches them again you'll call the cops on him and charge him with all of the appropriate charges.

He sounds like a crackpot to me. "The Villages called me and told me they made a mistake on the survey"....oh yeah...I'm sure they did. Happens all the time.

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by RICH1

He's lost his faculties! Sounds like the Alzheimer's

I hadn't thought of that, but that's a reasonable possibility isn't it?
That won't make it any easier on the OP to be living next door to him, but maybe provide a bit of understanding I suppose.