Property disputes have a funny way of turning even the friendliest neighbors against each other.

This homeowner thought everything was fine when new neighbors moved in and built a large pool in their backyard. It wasn’t until he ordered a survey for a new fence that he discovered part of the pool and deck actually sat on his property.

Rather than demanding they remove it, he tried working with the neighbors and even paid an attorney to draft an agreement that would let them keep the pool where it was.

After dragging their feet for months, the neighbors refused to sign it. After that, he was done trying to handle it privately.

Read on to see what he plans to do next.

Pool encroachment

We bought our house, and the current neighbors moved in 2 years after the lady next to us sold her house.

As soon as they moved in, they started building a giant pool in their backyard.

I assumed they knew where all the property lines were and didn’t say anything.

They finally reviewed the papers, but didn’t sign.

Last summer, I decided to put up a fence and had a survey done, which determined their pool/deck was on my property.

I had a bunch of conversations with them, with all the evidence showing where the property line is.

I also told them they can leave the pool where it is, and I will put my fence around it as long as they sign an agreement which states both parties know that this is my property, and in the future, if something happens, one of the houses needs to be sold, we can ask it to be removed.

I spent north of $1,000 working with my attorney to draft this agreement. After asking them to review this agreement for 7 or 8 months, they finally did so and told me they didn’t want to sign it, nor did they have any interest in paying for the lawyer fees.

He’s at a loss about what to do next.

Now, not only did I spend money on working with a lawyer, but I also have to move my fence again since they don’t want to sign the paperwork.

At this point, after a year or so of dealing with this issue, I just gave up and complained to the city. I asked how they could issue a permit for something to be installed on my property.

Am I wrong for doing this? I mean, how much more money can I spend trying to make them happy? At what point should it be the other way around?

Yikes! It seems like there should be some legal route to take.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a son who is left wondering how to hold up a collapsing fence while his dad runs for the nails.

Let’s check out what advice the folks over at Reddit have for him.

This insurance adjuster thinks the pool is a liability.

Here’s someone who really points out the obvious.

For this person, the municipality messed up.

Here’s someone who sees their reluctance as luck.

The neighbors really messed up here.

But the homeowner was way too lenient. He offered to let them keep the pool where it was, paid for the lawyer himself, and stayed patient for nearly a year while they dragged things out. Wow!

The problem is that they clearly wanted to keep using his property without signing anything that protected him legally in the future.

At this point, he really needs to stop trying to keep the peace and go the legal route, because that pool has to get off his land.