Woman and Her Neighbor Rejoice in Triumph After She Removes Her Fence, Outsmarting Lousy Neighbors
A good relationship with your neighbors can sometimes be a life-saver, or at the very least, not cause any additional headaches in your daily life. But what if your neighbor is the opposite, an imposing person who willingly steps out of bounds?
In today’s story a young woman approached Reddit’s r/pettyrevenge community to tell her petty, light-hearted revenge story. It all revolves around her neighbor, boundaries, and conveniently, a fence.
More info: Reddit
Use it or lose it – young’s woman petty revenge against pestering neighbors, who attempted to dupe her
Image credits: Zen Chung (not the actual photo)
This woman had a fence she didn’t need left over from the previous tenant, and in a turn of events, the fence was soon the center of attention over a few years
Image credits: u/Material_Solid_7747
Her neighbor pestered her as soon as she settled into her new home, their fencing request rejected due to OP’s law awareness
Image credits: Alvin Engler (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Material_Solid_7747
The woman’s realtor was aware of the fencing request, but the neighbors continuously bugged the woman over the next few years, regardless of the rejection
Image credits: Anastasia Shuraeva (not the actual photo)
Her neighbors proceeded with the fencing regardless; she decided to roll up her sleeves to sneakily roll up her fence the same night, digging out the fence posts
Image credits: u/Material_Solid_7747
Since the neighbors didn’t have an entire side of the fence to work with, they had to wait for a while until the rest of it arrived, costing time and money
Revenge is one of the most common tropes in literature, movies and art in general. It is deeply rooted in our experience as human beings, therefore present in our daily, mundane tasks as well. However, not all revenge is your favorite movie character’s vendetta against their mortal enemies. Sometimes revenge can be petty and minor, as most of our daily chores are. Buckle up for a young woman’s dispute with her neighbors.
Firstly, the woman was approached by her young neighbor regarding her fence on the same day when the OP (Original Poster) settled into her new house, which is already a weird way to welcome your new next-door neighbor. The neighbor asked whether she could put up a fence since she was running a daycare, and to save money, they just wanted to tie into OP’s fence.
The OP refused, since the neighbor would be fencing in a portion of her property. The woman didn’t want the neighbor to use her fence due to adverse possession law. The neighbor would then own the property between their houses if they maintained the wall for a set number of years.
Even the OP’s air conditioner would then be in the now neighbor’s owned “property”. Regardless of the rejection of the proposal, the woman’s neighbors decided to selfishly proceed without being granted permission or notice as well. Naturally, this didn’t look great for the OP.
She noticed that the neighbors had the material for the fence already delivered, but there was an obvious amount lacking since they were planning to use the woman’s fence and did not purchase material for her part of the fence. In OP’s point of view, this only confirmed her suspicions.
Image credits: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
Without a shadow of doubt, the woman decided to take petty revenge. OP stayed out late into the night and dug up her fence, as well as the fence posts, to prevent the neighbors from using those, knowing full well that this would cause inconvenience to the neighbor. Of course, since the neighbors didn’t purchase enough material for the fence in the first place, the fencing was delayed for them.
To rub more salt into the wound, the OP provided instructions and a care package to the new homeowner after she sold the property, detailing the property line map as well as advice to “watch those neighbors like a hawk”. Quite an introduction to your new neighbors, I would say.
If you find yourself in a similar predicament, this law firm suggests that it’s best to document any changes with video and photographic evidence to clearly show how the neighbor impacts your property to build your case as a precaution. Nonetheless, the OP could’ve gone a different route with her approach in this situation. As pointed out by a Redditor under the OP’s post, the woman and her neighbor could’ve drafted an agreement to preclude the adverse possession law.
The agreement would have prevented the neighbor from owning the land even if they maintained the fence for several years. On the other hand, from the OP’s perspective, this is a legal hassle and might include legal fees, for which the OP wouldn’t get any return.
What’s your stance on the OP’s predicament and her petty revenge? Do you reckon what the woman did was right, or did she waste her energy and time? Does the legal solution sound like a fair deal to you, or just an additional headache for the OP? Let us know in the comments below.
If you enjoyed reading about OP’s predicament, you may also be interested in a similar article which recaps other instances of petty revenge.
The woman’s post was strongly supported by the community for her action
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Land Surveyor here. Yes, adverse possession exists. However, It is extremely difficult to actually make use of. In this situation, that fence would have to be in place for TWENTY YEARS before they could even Start to make a claim. And THEN they would have to meet all the other criteria. This could be easily circumvented by simply having a notorized letter stating everyone is aware the fence is over the boundary, but adverse possession can not be claimed. My parents actually did this when neighbors built their driveway part over the line. They let the neighbor keep it, under the condition they agreed to the letter, and that if they ever repaired or replaced the driveway, they'd have to remove the part over the line.
Depends on where they are. In my state it's 10 years.
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I'm really having a hard time visualising this. Is it that there was no fence dividing the properties, just a square of chain link for the dog to be contained in?
More or less. There was a cheap chain link fence for the dog, but it wasn't quite on the property line.
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Where I live, we put our fences up just inside our property line, not on it. Some places you have to put the fence a foot inside of your property line. We had a neighbor who had several aggressive pit bulls. His yard had fences on three sides that belonged to neighbors. He only put up a fence on the fourth side where the house sat. He wouldn't keep his dogs from barking nonstop. So after a year of this, we took down our fence adjoining his yard. Haha, he had to keep his dogs inside. He was too cheap to put up his own fence.
I love you! I'm taking that idea with me when we have to move next. No barking downs where we live now but I went insane at five dogs barking all day during lockdown and a few months after at a place we rented. We were in the midst of building a house in the country or would have moved ASAP.
Load More Replies... Land Surveyor here. Yes, adverse possession exists. However, It is extremely difficult to actually make use of. In this situation, that fence would have to be in place for TWENTY YEARS before they could even Start to make a claim. And THEN they would have to meet all the other criteria. This could be easily circumvented by simply having a notorized letter stating everyone is aware the fence is over the boundary, but adverse possession can not be claimed. My parents actually did this when neighbors built their driveway part over the line. They let the neighbor keep it, under the condition they agreed to the letter, and that if they ever repaired or replaced the driveway, they'd have to remove the part over the line.
Depends on where they are. In my state it's 10 years.
Load More Replies... I'm really having a hard time visualising this. Is it that there was no fence dividing the properties, just a square of chain link for the dog to be contained in?
More or less. There was a cheap chain link fence for the dog, but it wasn't quite on the property line.
Load More Replies... Where I live, we put our fences up just inside our property line, not on it. Some places you have to put the fence a foot inside of your property line. We had a neighbor who had several aggressive pit bulls. His yard had fences on three sides that belonged to neighbors. He only put up a fence on the fourth side where the house sat. He wouldn't keep his dogs from barking nonstop. So after a year of this, we took down our fence adjoining his yard. Haha, he had to keep his dogs inside. He was too cheap to put up his own fence.
I love you! I'm taking that idea with me when we have to move next. No barking downs where we live now but I went insane at five dogs barking all day during lockdown and a few months after at a place we rented. We were in the midst of building a house in the country or would have moved ASAP.
Load More Replies...
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