Well, Jonathan went to talk to the neighbor behind us this evening (the one whose shed is on our property). I urged him to wait for a time when Wagner could go over with him, but he thought it would be hard to catch the neighbor at home during the day when Wagner was around.
Jon was gone about 15 minutes, a time span Athena and I spent nervously listening for loud shouts or, worse, gunfire.
He came back with a wry look on his face, and the first thing he said was "I didn't yell at him." Apparently all proceeded calmly at first, with the neighbor conceding that the property line ran through his shed--at which point Jonathan offered to shoulder the entire cost of moving the shed and rebuilding the fence. From our point of view, that was an exceptionally fair and generous offer made in a spirit of neighborly compromise, and the conversation should have ended then with a group hug and singing of "Kumbaya." Instead, the neighbor said flatly, "I ain't moving my shed." Jonathan pointed out that the shed was in fact on our property and the law was on our side. The neighbor then said, "I'll see you in court."
Uh-oh.
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3 comments:
If you didn't want to move your shed maybe you should have put it up on your own property! :)
It'd be nice if you could maybe find a way to charge him some rent for all the time he was using up that bit of your property there.
This actually reminds me a bit of why I even dislike fences. When we were in texas we were in a subdivision that required a fence around each backyard. The houses actually came with them. However there were alleys and the garages were all on the backs of the houses. The problem then is you *never* manage to see your own neighbors. They would drive up to the mailbox to grab the mail, then pull around back and right into the attached garage. This was a contrast to the subdivision in northern Illinois where we had front garages on the houses so you would have a better chance to actually see and converse with neighbors.
Of course, from where I'm at now all I can see is a field of soybeans turning yellow and the end of my neighbor's driveway. That driveway itself is pretty far away from mine and the other neighbor has a driveway that's on a gravel road across from the small field next to the house. I think I've only seen each neighbor once or twice in two years.
That’s unfortunate.
Offering to pay for moving the shed is a very, very gracious offer.
This guy sounds like a real winner.
What is wrong with people??
If he is willing to go to court instead of having it moved for free, I am willing to bet he will he is the type to hold a grudge a long time.
Maybe he will come to his senses and you will not need to go to court.
Yeah... in many ways there were a lot of advantages when we lived out in the country with the nearest neighbor a mile away!
We're clearly in the right about this, but I've got the sinking feeling that this may be one of those situations where the phrase "Pyrrhic victory" applies. :-(
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