Before you buy a house, you should always have a survey done to ensure you know exactly where the property line is.

What would you do if your new neighbor tried to force you to move your chicken coop, even though it was there when you moved in?

That is what happened to the homeowner in this story, but he got sick of the demands, so he used adverse possession laws to take several feet of the neighbor’s property.

You wanna throw a fit over the property line? No problem!

So, I bought a house in 2018. I had to in a hurry so I could get my mother in my old home before her chemo got intense.

That sounds like a great piece of property.

My family had outgrown the one we were in, and we found one that needed some work but had 5.25 acres and a chicken coop.

Neighbor (Dan) obsessively manicures his property and it is much nicer as a result, but the price and features worked for us on our side.

Why does the neighbor think he can demand this?

We fix up and paint the chicken coop, only interrupted once by Dan asking us to tear it down or move it. Surely the coop was well on our side of the property line, I thought.

I politely declined and described how the only thing I’d be doing is building an enclosed run toward my house to protect the birds from predators after fixing some things inside the house that have been neglected.

Hopefully they can get the house back into good shape.

The previous owner was a serious alcoholic and there’s a lot of work to do. Dan walks away angry but defeated.

A couple of years pass and the run is built exactly as described and our informal survey shows the property line about 20ft back, and I build gardens roughly the same distance from the property line.

Getting a professional survey done is a good idea.

Dan has a survey done that suspiciously puts the back corner of the coop and about 1/3 of the run over the property line, but we agreed that it could stay so long as I don’t encroach any further and I eventually move it which WAS my actual plan.

He said to take all the time I need, declining my offers to buy the dirt or trade easements and reimburse him for the cost of the survey.

I guess he can change his mind.

Another year goes by and Dan has changed his tune. He interrupts a target practice session with my two foster kids to demand that I demolish the coop and run soon, to which I said “I suppose I could push that project up to next fall (2024)”.

He isn’t happy but seems pacified. I wasn’t thrilled either but I’m a reasonable guy and would prefer to have a good relationship with a neighbor I don’t like much.

Is it really that much work to adjust the chicken run?

Enter May 2024, six months before I agreed to do anything, and this guy shows up in my back yard wanting to talk about the coop again. “You know, Dan. You said I could have all the time I needed and then demanded I tear it down, going back on your…”

Cue the most childish temper tantrum I think I’ve ever seen. He was literally stomping on the ground with elbows out, screaming about suing me and how he’ll own my whole house by the time he’s done with me.

This guy knows the law.

Malicious compliance: Ok, Dan. I decided the best place for that coop is exactly where it is. It’s been there about 20 years and adverse possession only requires 10.

I can take that 12sqft of dirt from you and you’ll even have to pay my legal fees. Only the run needs to move since it’s only been there 5 years. That’s exactly what I did.

Oh, I bet he hates this.

The new run connects to the gardens and the roof funnels the roosters’ crows right to his house. Setback requirements say structures must be 5′ from property lines.

The back corner of the run is now exactly 5’2″ away from the supposed property line and he gets to hear and smell my chickens every single time he’s outside.

He will not have peace until he dies or moves. I am well within my rights and while I do struggle with medical and PTSD issues from my service, I learned very well from the Navy how to be technically correct in a way that works only for me.

I bet the neighbor wishes he were more reasonable now.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Yup, never trust the other guy’s survey.

I agree with this commenter.

Yes, have a proper survey done.

Getting a professional survey makes sense.

This is good to know.

Don’t make demands you can’t back up.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.