If you can make it through this drama…advice needed. So we were on good terms with neighbor when we moved in about three years ago. We live on a private road that goes to our house and the neighbor. Neighbor is at the end of the road. Our house and land is mostly on one side of the easement. But my arena and small acre is across the easement. My pasture and land goes all the way to neighbors house on one side of the easement. Over the winter neighbor exploded over a fedex delivery deal where they will not go to his house because of his aggressive dog. And when I moved said package out of road to return to fedex after 10 days on our property in the rain he lost it. He screamed at me and threatened me, yes, I called the police and they just didn’t care. I have just dealt with it by ignoring him. He put no trespassing signs all over bordering land, which I could care less about. But I still do walk my dog and ride my horse on the easement road half my property and half his. It is the flattest and driest spot on my land. A month ago he called my husband over and ranted that my using the road wasn’t legal. It made his dogs bark and I should stay off it. Then called me horrible names, my husband said he was not listening to it and walked away. I have noticed anytime I come outside to do anything neighbor comes out to stare at me or drive by and then turn around at the end and drive by again. Now we are escalating to anytime I walk my dog he brings his aggressive dog and stalks me and blocks me from crossing easement. He follows me on the easement down and back and then walks right next to me on it with his dog growling. And when I started carrying a gun next walk he has now started shooting guns off in the air when I go down the road on horseback. Which my horse doesn’t care about anyway. But after dealing with escalation I am afraid for me and my dog while walking. I bought pepper spray and a body camera. I plan on recording behavior if it happens without my dog. And then confronting him on camera letting him know civil and criminal for stalking and harassment charges will be filed. Any other suggestions?
Your neighbor sounds horrible!
I am sorry you are going through this.
I love the idea of you getting camera footage of it. Are you in a one party consent state so you can legally record him?
(Though I doubt he has an legal right to privacy out on the road.)
It is worth knowing the facts about that stuff anyway.
Probably worth talking to a lawyer to know what your best course of action would be. Can you get an order of protection?
I’d do another police report. They may eye roll but documentation is important. Reckless shooting has to mean something, right? That sounds really scary.
Easements are the bane of my existence. You have my commiseration.
Does your neighbor have another way to access his property?
Take a look at your State laws regarding easements.
And breaching the peace, if that’s a thing where you are.
Definitely file incident reports. You want a paper trail on this.
He certainly seems to be impeding on the enjoyment and use of your property, as the easement is shared use.
Read your easement documents carefully.
I would discuss things with an Attorney pronto, the escalation needs to be addressed before there are consequences nobody wants.
Best of luck with this, he sounds like a loon.
Just get the evidence and press charges. Confrontation is what he wants. Cameras and diaries of events are your friends.
My (limited) understanding of easement is that they are a road/track across one property in order to access another property. This would make the easement road entirely yours up to the property line, and simply his own road/driveway on his own property. Meaning he can’t block your use of the easement on your own property, but can prevent you using his road. The easement should be access use only, so he can’t use it for other purposes, including (if you so choose) walking his dog and storage (such as delivered packages for more than a day).
Check your easement paperwork. Maybe consult a lawyer so you’re sure about what it means. Then go for a walk and explain it to your dog.
If he and his dog are blocking you from using your own property there will be something the police can explain to him as he is clearly threatening harm by doing so. A body camera to prove the situation would be good.
I’d have an attorney review your property documentation and have a survey done to have clear lines drawn, then have the attorney write your neighbor a lovely note about what is and is not legal.
I’d have a copy handy for when you call the cops every time he threatens you and tries to prevent you from using and enjoying your own property. I would wear a body cam and put cameras on my property.
Then, I’d take him to court for a civil harassment restraining order and possibly civil court.
What???
Why did you leave the package in the road, in the weather, for 10 days, and then return it, instead of being a much better neighbor about it?
He is not the only escalation problem. You are also escalating.
From a random internet commenter with no personal connection to you (me) – IMO you need far more help that internet comments can give. From every aspect, his behavior, legal, your behavior.
Neighbor may be batshit crazy and potentially dangerous. But honestly your post puts you in a very similar light.
Something similar happened to me. I was hand-walking my horse on an easement to get him used to going up to a neighboring farm to meet our farrier. The neighbor in question came out with his aggressive dog and told me I couldn’t walk there. I explained that it was legal for me to use the easement to go from my barn to the neighboring barn on the other side of him.
He started coming out every day, threatening me and my horse with his dog. I called the police. They came and gave him a dressing down and a promise that if anything happened to me or my horse that he would be held criminally responsible. He stopped bothering us.
Can you get the police on site when he’s being a jerk and get them to explain the law? I would definitely also get the protection order, though.
Half the easement is my property. It’s not his road. His attorney already told him that. Also I tried walking only my property to the side of the easement and he still was just as aggravated. I am unable to use any of my property adjoining his. And a huge portion of it does. Packages are not on the easement but dumped on my property and not picked up. We were told to leave them so he could “win” against Fed Ex driver. He didn’t win. They just dump on main road now. Which is state property.
No. He left multiple packages in the rain on our property to side of road. I offered to deliver to his house or even end of our property. I was told he was going to win against fedex so he was leaving them. Only now I have a pile of rotten dog food on my property attracting skunks and such. And we need to mow. Had enough of it. And that’s exactly what I said when he tore his car onto my land and screamed obscenities at me and threatened to run me over.
Carrying a gun here is normal. Everyone does. I am that rural. He shoots an AK off all the time. I have to carry. He’s walking a 120 pound dog that has attacked and bitten multiple people. He barely has control. If that dog attacks I am protecting myself. Hence the pepper spray. I was hoping the knowledge I would protect myself would force him to back off.
I am hoping with a video of him stalking me with his dog while I walk would be enough for someone to come. But I am so rural they didn’t seem to care the first time I called about him yelling and threatening me. Even though he was on my property.
I guess I should have added I own half the easement. And all the property is mine on the side I walk.
Carrying a gun is ok. Shooting it off especially behind people like Yosemite Sam is not.
You need to get whatever video of as much as you absolutely can, and call the police about that foolishness. And make a big deal that you are afraid of him shooting you and of a stray bullet etc etc etc. he’s also obviously trying to get you dumped, and play up that your horse gets nervous etc etc.
in most states you have to have some level of fear in order for it to meet the elements of the crime. And I second those who said contact a good attorney about all of this.
How can you own half the easement?
It’s common practice for two neighbors to give up equal amounts of land for a road easement for property access.
I’m sorry, but I’m having trouble visualizing how that works. From the description OP owns the land on both sides of the easement “road” which continues on the neighbour’s property to his driveway/house.
Unless… Is this an actual county owned and maintained road, built on easements on the two properties?
They sure did. One side is my property. The other side is his. The front half is all mine. I have a weirdly divided parcel of land. His family used to own all of it.
Bingo.
Given that he seems to be unhinged, that might be behind his irrational behavior. Might be a major factor among other factors.
Unfortunately that element of the situation is not fixable. Unless one of you buys the other one out, and/or in some other scenario, one party moves away.
There is a wealth of internet information on neighbors who are difficult to the point of psychotic. There is a whole branch of law dealing with these bad-neighbor issues. You may have to dig a bit to find information on the internet, but the examples are numerous. As well as many different ways that surrounding neighbors responded, some more successful than others.
Unfortunately sometimes humans can’t be fixed. The drama may wax and wane over time, but it doesn’t go away. I am sorry this is so, as it has ruined many innocent lives.
Given the level of crazy going on, please be careful that what you see as a reaction to his actions, both he and the legal system may see as your escalation.
Yes, he’s escalating. You see yourself as defending yourself. Holding on to your rights of use. But it can be made to look another way.
And, if your neighbor one-ups you every time, I hope you can see in what a dangerous direction this is moving.
In a lawsuit or courtroom, the context of what it was like at the time, is lost. Away from the farm, in a calm, official, procedural setting, it is hard to impart the feeling of actually being on the road with him and his dog, or with him shooting a gun. It comes down to the raw fact that you armed yourself when you hadn’t before. Regardless of the cultural context, which will also be lost in the system. Yes, he went up a level – but so did you. That’s what it looks like from the outside. No matter how good your reasons for doing so.
As they say about a kids’ playground tussle, it’s the second one in who looks like the aggressor, even though they are responding to provocation, not causing it. Matching the other kid’s actions, not creating the situation. But, often they are the one who is caught up for discipline. Fairly or unfairly. Even though the fight would not have happened if the other kid had not started it.
I have no answers, unfortunately. There may not be any good ones. Unless somewhere, somehow, you find the trigger that will back him off. Even his silence would be concerning because who knows what he will be plotting for his next move.
The excellent advice above to video-video-video, keep records, dates and descriptions of incidents, is invaluable and necessary. Try to frame your accounts of his actions as objectively as you can, while including notes on how you felt at the time. It takes a lot of time, but it is crucial to any progress through the system.
Contemporaneous records tend to carry a lot of weight in the system. Even if they are coming only from one party. They give the impression that this party is the one who is rational and organized, and trying to do things the right way.
Yes, keep calling the cops and making official complaints where possible. The paper trail over time is important.
You need to find a lawyer who specializes in bad-neighbor conflicts. One with multiple successful experiences in this legal area. Most lawyers don’t have it and may frankly be a waste of your resources. These situations are well-traveled in law generally, but are rare enough that direct experience with it can be scarce in many legal communities.
What about cameras outside your house? I have cameras all about my property and in my barns. And I agree about a lawyer and the police. I also agree @OverandOnward nailed it - if his family used to own all of it, he may really REALLY resent anyone who moves there.
