Posted by M Conway on 8/20/08

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On reparian property, I put an un-used cast iron woodstove
in a depression eroded during flooding with plans on
filling it in at a later date. I own the property. You
can't even see the stove unless you are on my property.
One morning I heard a knock on my door. I rose and found
my neighbor and his wife standing on my deck. He asked me
to follow him, he wanted to show me something. He seemed
quite agitated. When we arrived at the eroded depression
at the end of my yard he mentioned something to the effect
of having concerns about someone falling in the
depression, injuring themselves and then suing him. I
sleepily made a comment that a person walking along a
stream bed on another person's property should be careful
and mentioned that it was not his property. After
questioning where I believed my property ended and his
began he became irate that I would tell him what people
will sue for and what they will not (apparently he has
been sued in the past). He actually rents his property as
a vacation spot to numerous individuals in all seasons.
At that he left displeased, never mentioning the stove,
which was what I thought he had in mind (would have
removed it if he asked).

Maybe a year later, he had his property surveyed. Lo and
behold, my property extended a full 5-10 feet more toward
his rental cottage than he may have anticipated. I
noticed, despite the realized boundaries, he continued to
mow according to his old erroneous boundary assessement.
I asked him if there were any confusion after the survey
and he claimed that he was only "doing more" to ensure he
was covering his property. I began cutting along the new
boundary. I regularly checked that the metal post (rebar)
was still flagged and set into the ground every few
months. Another year passed. On one occasion, his
nephew, cut well into my property, clearly outside of the
mower boundaries from the last cut (he probably didn't
know). I went to look for the boundary post and it was
missing! I asked the neighbor if there was any confusion
and he became quite irate and said he had never hand any
interest in where our properties begin and end (he also
revised the first encounter over the depression - now it
was admitted the survey was done to see if I was dumping
on his property). Should I worry about his mowing of a
portion of my land (adverse possession?). Should I worry
about the missing marker?

Thanks.

Re: Property Boundary, 9/13/08, by --.

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