What can I do about my driveway situation?

Question

I currently live in a house that "shares" a driveway. Essentially, the neighbors decided that they wanted to use our driveway, didn't ask, and refuse to stop parking there. My great-grandparents built the house with a garage on the driveway. My neighbors used to have a garage in the back alley, but tore it down and planted plants to enclose a backyard. They now use the cement from the garage for a patio that wasn't there. The neighbors do have a side entrance to their basement on the side of the driveway, so they do own about 2 feet, from their house to the beginning of the driveway. We had a survey done, but it was bogus. It said that the neighbors own three feet of the driveway, and that our property ended under the other neighbor's house. We have a letter and photograhs from the previous neighbor asking us to connect a fence to our garage, to enclose their property. They state that the driveway is ours. What can we do to get them to stop using our driveway?

Answer 1

I would call your county government...they should have an office that covers real estate and deeds...you should be able to find out what they have listed as the property size/location. They can also give you information as to how to get this resolved within local laws.

The fact you have a letter from the previous tenants/owners of the other house is a very good thing. When we bought our house, we found out the neighbors' fence was about a foot into our property. Our realtor told us that if we didn't draw up a letter basically saying "you can keep your fence there, but it's our property" and we continued to let the neighbors "use" our property, they can basically claim it as theirs and we would have to go along with it.

Also, you should try to see if you can have the surveyors come back out...let a manager know the results are in conflict with county records and ask for a re-do. If they won't, you may have to pay for another company to come in and do another survey.

Answer 2

The FIRST thing you should do is to send them a registered letter that tells them to stop using the driveway. If you don't do so, and you truly do own the property, they can take it from you under the doctrine of Adverse Possession. You can interrupt their possession by simply sending such a letter. If they continue to use the driveway, go see an attorney. Take a copy of the letter & the receipt showing that it was delivered to them.