Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Neighbor Dispute
My wife and I bought our first house recently.
The neighbor of this house put all of their garbage
cans on our property. They have been doing so since
they moved in about 1 and half years ago. The previous
owner of our house was an old lady, and she did not
even bother to care about this.
On the closing day, my wife moved those garbage cans
into our garage because she though those were ours.
Neighbor came out and claimed those cans, so my wife
returned those cans back to the original place.
I asked them to remove those cans from our property
later of the day.
Now our neighbor accused us took one of their cans, but
actually, we did not. Any legal action which we can take
for this nonsense accuse and have them removed cans from
our property? We have not even moved into this house yet.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Neighbor Dispute
Yes, you can remove their garbage cans. If they continue you can sue them for specific performance and nuisance in small claims court.
Joel Selik
Attorney at Law, CA & NV
Re: Neighbor Dispute
The only sensible thing you can do now is approach the neighbor diplomatically and try to get your relationship back on a friendly basis. Sure, there might be something you could sue them for right now, but why? You are going to have to live next door to these folks, and your interests are best served by carefully building a relationship of friendship and trust, even if you do have to fake a little humility in the short run. There is sometimes a high price associated with proving you're right, even when you absolutely are.