‘We caught him chopping our plants down at 2am.’ Their Neighbor Insisted Their Plants Were On His Property, So They Did A Property Line Survey And It Didn’t Work Out For Him
by Trisha Leigh
Neighbors can be great to have – if they’re nice, normal people who don’t sneak out into the yard in the middle of the night to solve their disputes with you.
OP and his parents had a neighbor whose house was very close to their own. Because of this, they put in some plants in front of their kitchen windows to gain some privacy.
This was a long time ago but I remember it clearly. We moved in to a community with tight space in between our house and our neighbors, and we didn’t like them being able to see into our kitchen.
We put up a bunch of plants, costing thousands but my parents thought it would be worth it.
The neighbor cut them down in the middle of the night, claiming they were on his property.
A week later my parents awoke to the plants completely chopped down. My father was furious, and marched down to our neighbors house. He told my father the plants were on his property line, therefor he had total right to take them down.
He warned that if anything were to go on his property again, he would report us to the authorities immediately.
They had them replaced but when they caught him doing it again, they all agreed to have a new survey done by the city.
Later that day my father called the company that put in the plants, and with the warranty we could have them replanted next week for no charge. We made sure there was no way it was on our neighbors property. However a few days later we caught him chopping them down at 2am.
We called the police upon destruction of property, and after a chat with my neighbor he decided to call a professional and mark his property line. My father agreed.
The survey resulted in the neighbor having to tear down his fence and move it 11 feet backward and off OP’s parents’ property.
A few days later i got home to find orange tape in my neighbors yard. Apparently, his fence was 11 feet over our property line! We watched as he took down his fence, completely furious.
Within the next month we were enjoying our new space and privacy in our backyard, and my neighbor ended up losing 1/4th of his backyard.
My neighbor ended up having to pay almost 10k for the destruction of our property, and we got to plant our plants again.
I have a feeling Reddit is going to revel in this one!
The top comment says sometimes justice really can be sweet.
This person says maybe they’ll get even luckier and the guy will move out.
A land surveyor weighed in, too.
Sometimes you just know it is coming.
It’s too bad a lot of things don’t happen that should in real estate deals.
This really is pretty sweet.
Let’s hope they don’t end up on one of those true crime neighbor shows, though.
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