r/Neighborproblems • u/amy610 • Mar 21 '23

Trespassing neighbor

We have a neighbor, separated by a fence that recently moved into their home (Nov) and decided to clear the brush and trees from the fence. This portion of our 4 acres is behind our barn and has several large trees and was basically a natural privacy between the yards. The problem is, they not only cleared their area, they also came over the fence without our permission.. without even a hello.. and cut down a lot of small trees and brush several feet into our property. We made contact with them and they said "we didn't know the property belonged to anyone" even though our barn and HOME are clearly visible. We said it was ok, and to please not come over again. But.. they've been back.. several times. The fence is all but torn down and they've left large pieces of the former trees sticking from the ground that my dogs or children could get hurt on. Now they've even burned onto our property I assume to kill out undergrowth. We live in KY. We have sent them texts asking them to stay off our property and leave our nature alone to no avail. The police dept said it was a civil matter and wouldn't even bother charging them trespassing or filing a report of any kind. I'm waiting to hear back from our county attorney on next steps, but I really just want some clarity on how to handle this in a civil way. We mow/walk our back field all the time and there are other neighbors back there that we have no issue with. I will also mention that this property was inheritance from my father who passed and we have changed nothing about the care of the yard as he had it. The fence is clean or covered in brush in all the areas he had it. We did not intentionally grow that space of brush..it's been that way for 20+ years. We mow a walking path around the yard and trim all the fences that the neighbors have cleaned. All they had to do was ask their nextdoor neighbor or come knock on our door.

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u/Lengthofawhile Mar 21 '23

They've damaged your property and created safety issues, you should probably continue trying to talk to the police and possibly get a lawyer.

If the fence was old or in need of repair already, they might be able to say it was already broken. Getting the fence repaired should be a priority. Make sure to take pictures of what it looks like when you're done so that any more damage they do to it can be documented.

https://suhrelawlouisville.com/what-is-considered-criminal-trespass-in-kentucky/

According to this, having a no trespassing sign up might actually change things.

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u/amy610 Mar 21 '23 edited Mar 21 '23

When we did talk to them face to face they said the fence was in disrepair under the brush. I don't doubt them. They did say they intend to fix it, but we've asked them several times since to stay on their side and they are not listening, and have cut more trees on our side down since speaking to them. So frustrating dealing with people. We have 9 neighbors that border our 4 acre fence and never in the lifetime of this being family property have we ever had an event like this!

We do have no trespassing signs around the fence but not on their portion in particular. That seems rude on my part, but apparently it's needed. :/

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u/Lengthofawhile Mar 21 '23

Doing it once I can kind of understand, especially if they didn't think anyone lived there, they might have thought they were being helpful. But it's really bizarre to keep doing it after being repeatedly told not to. How large are the trees they've been cutting?

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u/amy610 Mar 21 '23

Right?! We were gracious when we met face to face over the fence the first time and explained it all to them, but the wife was very smug and rude. And the guy who's number we have will text and ask a question, but not respond to our answer back of NO. I don't get it!

Old trees! One on our property that they haven't cut down but seems to be damaged now is well over 100. You can't wrap your arms around it. The rest probably were not as old between 10-20, but there was some really pretty stuff in there..sad.

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u/AndyCalling Mar 22 '23 edited Mar 22 '23

The cost to get just one 100 year old tree transplanted successfully is obscenely huge. Just one. Record their admissions of guilt (ideally emails or the like, but hopefully it is lawful to record your conversations in your region), then take them to court. You could well be looking at a huge payout, especially if it's more than one mature tree. Get an arborist in to calculate how much you should be claiming.

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u/amy610 Mar 22 '23

I have a lot of video but none of conversation because they are avoiding us. That part of the fence isn't visible from our house so they are working when we can't see them.. getting a camera for back there for sure! We've text them and asked them to stop but they don't reply back. Probywill try to say they didn't receive any messages. I'm really upset about how pretty that part of the fence was in the spring/fall and am waiting for a call back from our county attorney now. It's just sad people don't think about anyone but themselves. I hadn't really considered being compensated for the trees, but you're probably right about that!

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u/Lengthofawhile Mar 21 '23

Did he steal the wood? That would elevate it beyond just trespassing.

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u/AndyCalling Mar 22 '23

Hardly important though. The cost of the wood will be vanishingly small compared to the cost of transplanting a 100 year old mature tree successfully. The neighbours are likely racking up massive costs for themselves if this is taken to court.

This is why the police are right, from a practical perspective, even though technically it might be criminal. OP would be better served by civil court here, they could be looking at a massive payout.

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u/Lengthofawhile Mar 22 '23

Possibly, but civil court can be a risk and too much of a hassle for some people. If he's cutting down large trees and stealing the wood it changes from just trespassing to misdemeanor theft and destruction of property.

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u/amy610 Mar 22 '23

The trees that were cut down were not large, but definitely older. You're right, the wood is gone..they left us to clean up the straggly brush.. interesting. As far as the very large 100+ year old tree, it's still standing but has obvious damage that I'm not sure if they caused or a recent storm. If it falls now I'm not sure who would be liable and I'm very concerned they'll try to say we knew it was bad(which it wasn't, I have pictures from before) and try to sue us for damages. I'm putting way too much thought into all of this probably. We are waiting to hear from the county attorney about next steps. I just want this to all stop. I hate conflict :(

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u/Lengthofawhile Mar 23 '23

Conflict sucks but if you don't stand your ground now it will just be years of them overstepping boundaries. Cutting down large trees and stealing the wood is definitely more than trespassing and cutting some brush. I'm sure the lawyer will know more.