Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
bullying and harrassing neighbors
The house next door was sold 1 year ago. After the new owners moved in they had a survey done after a year and found our garage sits .66 on their property. They have since been calling the local zoning officer and law enforcement on us for ridiculous claims. They have started parking their vehicle behind ours so we have a hard time getting out of our drive. They are trying to bully us into buying a foot of their property at a ballooned price. I must add that they are both in the law enforcement field . I have lived at the residence for 10 years with 2 previous neighbors and not one mention of a boundry dispute. Also the survey they had done is not from the most reputable surveyor. We do not have the money to have another survey done. Also when I put up the garage I went through all the proper channels with having my building permit signed off by the town zoning officer at the time before the garage was built.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: bullying and harrassing neighbors
There are no easy answers for bad neighbors. Everything you do is going to cause the problem to get more complicated. FIrst, you may consider the proerty yours if it has been continuously held for a priod of 20 years adverse to the rightful owners. So, if you and te prior owners held this .66 of a foot for more than 20 years the new buyers areout of luck. Second, you may have a survey that you received when you purchased te property or one from when you put up the garage. The survey may show that the buyer's survey is wrong. Third, you can sue them ot force the issue to the table, one to stop the harrassing and two to have the court set a fair and reasonalbe price for the .66. It is a costly way to stop the problem.
Re: bullying and harrassing neighbors
I will add to the previous answer that even if you are encroaching on their property, and you have not satisfied the requirements for adverse possession (20 years plus a few other considerations), the neighbors still do not have the right to trespass or otherwise harass you.
The problem is, if your neighbors are in law enforcement, you will have to work extra hard to get the police on your side. I would recommend that you look for the old survey as the other attorney mentioned, and try to tolerate any minor annoyances by your neighbors. If they do anything especially egregious (completely blocking your driveway with their cars) then you can take pictures and call the police.
Re: bullying and harrassing neighbors
I will add another note. The fact that they are in law enforcement may help you. If you know which law enforcement agency they work for, do a Freedom of Information Act request for rules of conduct. Chances are that they may be violating their employer's code of conduct. This may be leverage that you can use to bring this situation to a close.
I might also add that if this ends up in litigation, you should subpoena the closing and lender documents. Chances are that there was a survey done at that time and you may have some defenses, depending on what shows up.
If nothing else, you may get a free independent survey from the time of the sale.
In fact, if you know the neighbor who sold it to them, that neighbor may have a copy of the survey that you can obtain.
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