If you lived on a corner lot, and the neighbors...

[Jumping In Puddles]

decided that corner would be nice for a little garden "and it would look like it is on your property, we could put a community bench there too..." (:eek:) what would you say?

 

My husband planted wild spring flowers there just to dress it up a bit but of course, once spring is over you have to weed it or it gets over grown. He doesn't want to invest money in something nicer because that corner takes a beating from the snow plow in winter. He rebuilds a rock wall every year on the spot.

 

My neighbor told me our property doesn't go right to the street (implying she has a right to make a garden there), which I knew, but as far as I know, we are suppose to maintain property right to the street.

 

I told her if that wasn't the case then I could decide that her property has a nice sunny spot next to her driveway and I'd love to see an apple tree there and then plant one. That would be weird, no? Here is the corner in question:

 

 

My dh feels my neighbor is out of her mind.

 

:bigear:

Edited August 19, 2010 by Jumping In Puddles

[MariannNOVA]

I agree with your dh. Clearly, another neighbor with boundary issues.:glare:

[QueenCat]

Check your plat. You should have received a copy at closing. Our property goes down to the street but there is an easement. We "own" the easement and are required to take care of it. BUT the govt and utility companies can do work on it or use the easement portion at their discretion. NOT our neighbors.... your neighbor is nuts!

[Impish]

Watch out for your hedges and trees. Neighbour may feel the need to prune things...

[KidsHappen]

It really depends who they property belongs to. In our neighborhood there are a few corner that are own buy the owner of the house and they can do whatever they want and then there are a few that are own by the HOA I guess and they do make those nicer. So if it is you property tell them no but if it is communally owned or not owned they can do whatever they want but you don't have to maintain it.

[Margo out of lurking]

I'd laugh, like they were joking, and say something like, "Oh yea, thanks for volunteering MY yard for that!" And then I'd stop, looked shocked, and say, "You weren't kidding?"

 

Since it's too late for that, I'd ignore the suggestion. If they brought it up again, I'd reply, very brightly, "Thanks, you've mentioned that before, but we're not really interested in that!"

 

I think people are nuts. Does that make me mean that I wouldn't allow my property to be used that way? Dh and I would probably put up a small decorative fence just on the corner as a discouragement.

[Mejane]

I think it's rather pretty the way it is. Sounds like your neighbor is one who thinks every inch of a yard should be "manicured." Agree about checking your plat or city ordinances and going from there.

[hornblower]

Your neighbour is out of her mind.

 

Love your lot. Beautiful.

 

Consider planting something prickly like holly just to make a point. There's a variety called Nelly Stevens which can go as a specimen or be pruned into a hedge......

[MariannNOVA]

Watch out for your hedges and trees. Neighbour may feel the need to prune things...

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

You know, the good thing about the unbearable heat this summer is that those flipping forsythia bushes have grown like wild fire.:lol::lol::lol:

[Supertechmom]

Around here, it's tecnically called an easement and the dept of transportation,water, electric,gas, and so on has so much right to our property. I forget how much of it. But it's still ours, is still figured in surveys - with the easement noted - and is not community property.

 

Plus, your insurance would be responsible for injuries. You would be held accountable for illegal activity as well. Think crazy teens parking their butt on the community bench at midnight having a beer. People who are caught with underage drinkers on their property can go to jail around here.

 

I would pull the county maps and see where the lines fall and what is considered mine "legally". Then explain that to the neighbor.

[Jumping In Puddles]

:lol: oh, Impish... no one would really do that right? :sneaky2:

 

I will dig out the map, but I do think you are all right and we are responsible to maintain any property that goes from the street to our property line (which could only be a few feet anyway I'm sure).

 

Thanks for all the replies and the nice comments about our lot. :D

Edited August 19, 2010 by Jumping In Puddles

[simka2]

Check your plat. You should have received a copy at closing. Our property goes down to the street but there is an easement. We "own" the easement and are required to take care of it. BUT the govt and utility companies can do work on it or use the easement portion at their discretion. NOT our neighbors.... your neighbor is nuts!

 

Dh works in Right of Way and easements, and said this is pretty accurate! Even if there is an easement...it doesn't give your neighbors rights to it!

[tiffijo1]

ya

[melissel]

I think she's crazy. I wouldn't even look it up. I'd tell her no way, because that would open you up to potential lawsuits, whether you're actually liable or not. If that corner takes a beating from the snow plow, it would just take one person to twist an ankle in a divot or one kid to fall off a broken bench, and you're looking at papers from a lawyer. I wouldn't open myself up to that whether you actually own the corner or not. People are sue-happy.

[Catwoman]

Another vote for "your neighbor is nuts." :willy_nilly:

 

And nervy! :glare:

 

Cat

[OhM]

 

My neighbor told me our property doesn't go right to the street (implying she has a right to make a garden there), which I knew, but as far as I know, we are suppose to maintain property right to the street.

 

 

 

So it's the neighbor who wants to put a garden there? Not an HOA?

 

The property may or may not belong to you (with or without an easement), but I'm pretty darn sure that she would have no right to it in any case!

 

I'd do what others have suggested and ignore the lunatic!

[Remudamom]

Go over to her place and start surveying. Tell her you think the neighborhood needs a pool.

[NanceXToo]

She IS out of her mind. What a loon. Tell her to go put a "community bench" in front of her own house.

[Dobela]

Go over to her place and start surveying. Tell her you think the neighborhood needs a pool.

Then take her lawn furniture to your yard to see how well it would work for the community corner. I mean, obviously, you aren't going to provide anything for it.:lol::lol: I really think some people just don't have a clue when they open their mouth. They don't realize that you would be responsible even if she did it.

[melmichigan]

decided that corner would be nice for a little garden "and it would look like it is on your property, we could put a community bench there too..." (:eek:) what would you say?

 

My husband planted wild spring flowers there just to dress it up a bit but of course, once spring is over you have to weed it or it gets over grown. He doesn't want to invest money in something nicer because that corner takes a beating from the snow plow in winter. He rebuilds a rock wall every year on the spot.

 

My neighbor told me our property doesn't go right to the street (implying she has a right to make a garden there), which I knew, but as far as I know, we are suppose to maintain property right to the street.

 

I told her if that wasn't the case then I could decide that her property has a nice sunny spot next to her driveway and I'd love to see an apple tree there and then plant one. That would be weird, no? Here is the corner in question:

 

 

My dh feels my neighbor is out of her mind.

 

:bigear:

 

 

BTDT. Our neighbor planted four evergreen trees on our property before we bought it (it was my DH's grandfather's house and he was housebound by then), and not just a few feet over the property line. ;) I paid the big bucks for a stake survery to prove the property lines and asked if they wanted to move them before we had them removed as part of our overall plans for the property.

 

I later found out they went to the city tried to stop the addition we put on our house two years later. That's when I started saving up the big bucks for a six foot privacy fence. :D

 

I think the flowers look nice.

[Catwoman]

Go over to her place and start surveying. Tell her you think the neighborhood needs a pool.

 

Or a mosquito habitat. ;)

 

Cat

[QueenCat]

Go over to her place and start surveying. Tell her you think the neighborhood needs a pool.

 

:lol: Yes, do this.... and then send us an update :bigear: