My neighbor entered my proerty and caused damage while I was out of town. What do I do?

Question

I own a home in Texas. When I returned from a vacation, I saw that my next door neighbor put up a new fence. In order to do so, she had to put up new posts and lay new concrete for those posts. Whoever installed the fence did not clean up on my side of the property. There is dried, hardened concrete blocking my walkway between the fence and my house. The concrete is not level with the soil, so it will be nearly impossible for me to plant new grass to hide these little slabs. They left piles of dirt where they were digging. Also, the workers left a ton of trash on my property.

I know she is responsible for the damages to my property because of the faulty workmanship, not to mention the fact that her workers were trespassing. But in the past she has not been a very accomodating neighbor.

Any advice on how to deal with this situation and not cause a ruckus in my neighborhood? I simply want my property back in the condition it was before I went out of town.

Answer 1

If you are able to talk to her then discuss it with her, if not send her a certified letter (evidence for later), if the certified letter does not get any action then file a claim in small claims court. The reason for the letter is to show that you did try to settle your problem in a civilized manner prior to bringing suit. You may ask in the letter that se please have this problem taken care of in a certain period of time and make sure it is a reasonable time frame.

Answer 2

The first thing you should do is tell her about the problem and see what her response is. If she ignores you or refuses to do anything about the mess then there are a couple of things you can do. One is to check and see if a building permit is required in your town to put up a fence and see if she obtained one if it was necessary. If she did not get one then you have that bit of information as an added weapon to use against her and file a complaint in municipal court. If she refuses to do anything at all you could have the mess cleaned up at your expense and sue her in small claims for the cost, but collecting on that is another matter.

If it were me I'd pry up the dried piles of concrete (it's only laying on the surface) and heave it over the fence, along with all the other trash they left. I might even take a chain saw to the fence posts.

She probably used illegal Mexicans to do the work so you won't have any luck tracking down whoever did it. it is a violation of Federal law to hire illegals so if she did that call ICE and make a complaint.

Forget about not causing a ruckus. You can either use a pleasing method (not causing a ruckus by cleaning it up on your own and saying nothing to her about it) or go for pleasing results (heaving the mess over the fence). You can have it one way or the other but not both.

Answer 3

First, you need to ask your neighbor in writing to rectify the situation. Give a reasonable period to comply (say 30 days).

If they do not, I would contact a lawyer to discuss your options.

Answer 4

the united kingdom is in general a totalitarian state in which all rights are suspended till additional realize, in general in which the united states is heading. they may be able to mostly throw you within the london tower and castrate you for this heiness crime.

Answer 5

Sue her. That's the only solution if she won't fix the problem. She'll comply TRUST ME!

Answer 6

It will probably be easier just to clean it up yourself. Your grass will grow back.

Answer 7

tell her to pay for the damages or hire a lawyer and sue her.

Answer 8

you dont have to get hostile....ask her who was the company that did the job and call them and ask them if they would clean it up....if they don't comply then take further action.