He Asked His Neighbor to Stop Using His Property—Then a Simple Boundary Dispute Turned Into Years of Threats
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Property line disputes have an incredible ability to turn a few inches of grass into the most important territory on Earth. One neighbor mows slightly too far, somebody parks where they shouldn’t, a survey stake appears—and suddenly two adults are locked in a conflict worthy of international diplomacy.
This particular feud started with something that sounds relatively fixable. One homeowner noticed his neighbor regularly driving across his property to maneuver cars in and out of a narrow driveway. Rather than immediately escalating things, he approached the neighbor and says the two came to an informal agreement about where the boundary was and how they’d handle the lawn.
Apparently, that agreement lasted approximately one night.
Three years later, the homeowner says he’s dealt with everything from unwanted mowing and ignored property lines to personal insults and alleged threats of violence. He’s tried notes. He’s gotten a survey. He’s put up “No Trespassing” signs. He’s even called the police.
And somehow, they still can’t get past the same basic request: please stay on your own property.
Ongoing Property Line Dispute
When I moved in approximately three years ago, my neighbor was using my property to shuffle his cars. Single wide driveway and two cars. Instead of driving one out to the road while the other one parked at the end of the driveway, he would drive around it. I knew the line was close to his driveway but couldn’t determine how close at the time.
I approached him about it and settled on something as an informal agreement for mowing lawns and for him to stop using my property.
That night he drove over the line that we agreed to. In other words, he lied to my face when he said, “I’m not driving on your property.”
Wow.
I left a few notes asking him to please stop using my property. He responded with his own note which included several self-entitled allegations like “It was never a problem with the other owners.” and “You can’t take it with you.” along with several personal insults including references to religion, race, and age.
We’ve had a couple of face-to-face confrontations where he goes on a tirade and threatens me with violence and makes comments about my race and being a racist. Mind you, I’m a white guy living in a predominately black neighborhood.
Long story short, he’s stopped mowing my property after a survey but started up again after the stakes came down.
Oh brother.
He would mow along his driveway a single run. He actually sweeps the clippings off of his driveway, so I let that slide. Eventually it turns into two runs with the lawnmower, and then three.
I put up “No Trespassing” signs a couple of weeks ago and he stopped again so I took them down Sunday so I could mow the grass growing around them figuring he finally came to his senses. He didn’t and mowed my grass again, so I went out and put up the signs again.
He approaches me and starts threatening me with violence and repeatedly calls me a white trash racist, so I called the cops because I thought this was a hate crime. Cop tells me he can say that if I was yelling. I honestly couldn’t remember which came first but my yelling was a few words. He was yelling for 20 minutes straight. I left after the first 5.
This keeps getting worse.
Cop didn’t do anything but talk to him but I feel like the attack needs to be addressed.
I have video of him saying it. I didn’t have my phone on me, but he was still yelling by the time I got it and set it to record video. I wanted to post it here, but I guess they don’t allow video.
WWYD?
Commenters generally felt the homeowner needed to stop treating this as an informal disagreement between neighbors and start creating much firmer boundaries—both literally and figuratively.
After three years, notes and verbal agreements clearly aren’t accomplishing much. If a professional survey has established the property line, readers suggested keeping the survey documentation handy, reinstalling the no-trespassing signs and looking into a physical boundary such as an appropriate fence if local rules and the property layout allow it. At this point, repeatedly taking the signs down because the neighbor appears to have “come to his senses” seems unnecessarily optimistic.
The threats are the more serious part. Whatever anyone thinks about an argument over mowing, threatening violence isn’t an acceptable way to settle it. The homeowner already says he has video of at least part of one confrontation, and continuing to document future incidents seems far more useful than engaging in another shouting match.
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That said, calling the racial insult itself a hate crime probably wasn’t the strongest angle. An offensive comment and a prosecutable hate crime aren’t automatically the same thing, and the police officer’s response seems to have reflected that distinction. The alleged threats and repeated trespassing are more concrete behaviors to focus on.
Most importantly, this feud desperately needs less face-to-face confrontation. The homeowner doesn’t need to convince his neighbor that he’s right, win the argument or get him to finally behave reasonably. He needs a clearly established property line, documentation of violations and the appropriate authorities or legal channels involved if the behavior continues.
After three years of fighting over strips of grass, another driveway debate probably isn’t going to be the conversation that finally fixes everything.
This person has some solid suggestions.
So does this one.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops helping his neighbors out with his snowplow after they complain about his farm.
And there are plenty of alternatives.
If three years of arguing haven’t settled the property line, it may be time to let a fence do the talking.
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