Ran into one of my territorial neighbor's posts

[Tinhack]

I'm so glad I live on the corner of a state route and a county road. I have only two neighbors. One is manufactured home park on part of the west I sometimes have to cleanup after. But none of them "own" their lot. The owner lives at the rear of that property but I never see him except when he's out mowing. He's deaf as a rock so we don't communicate. They just rent space and/or the home. The other is about a square mile farm which my property was cut from. The farmer couldn't care less but was worried his fence encroached on my property. The survey done when I bought the land moved that property line almost a foot. I told him I wasn't concerned. Just goes to show you surveys can change. I have two concrete monuments in the front corner--One on the state route and the other on the county road. The surveys always start from one of those monuments so I don't know how they could change. Except the last one was done by satellite reference. Who's right? When I put up new fencing, I made sure the posts were on a line one foot INSIDE my property lines.

Dang, that reminds me. I need to go out and fix some fence. The hog herds can be rough on fence if they get spooked. Seems they just go where they want to go.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

As for planting something up against a marker, Ohio FARM fence laws require each landowner to keep five feet clear on their side of a boundary. If one owner does not keep their side clear, the adjoining landowner has authority to clear it. Note, this is for farm boundary lines, the law is different for non-farm land.

Being from Ohio and from a farm, never heard of this law, nor have I seen anyone keep 5 feet clear.

Looked up the Ohio law changed in 2008. There is a 4 ft clearing requirement, but the neighbor does not have authority to clear it. You would have to petition the township and they could force it. You do have authority to enter within 10 ft on neighbors property to build or maintain the line fence, if you are responsible for the fence. but you are responsible for damage.
You can cut trees, etc that hang over the line, up to the line, but you can’t dispose of it on the neighbors property.
Lots of other factors, like both sides have livestock, etc. also provisions for fences built before 2008, different rules vs new fences.

 

[Tinhack]

I've never heard of any law like that in Texas either. It might be unconstitutional but I sure wouldn't plant anything I couldn't get a tractor over anyway. Restrictions like that may be covenants or restrictions of sale. Is that some kind of hobby-farm or something?

Now it IS against the law to tamper with survey markers.

 

[JamesHW]

All tallied we have 8 neighbors adjacent to our land, 5 of them on lots my family sold before I took over the property. The only issue ever was a renter on one lot decided our land was an appropriate place to dump some carpeting and a washing machine which was the impetus to post our back land. The other 3 neighbors are large parcels where heavily timbered land and the lot lines, where they do not cross ravines or watershed, are clearly indicated by larger border trees that over time have resulted in visible ridge of raised soil areas on Lidar images. The north and south boundary follow Kayaderossera Patent lines surveyed sometime in the 1700 and memorialized by bronze markers in the center of the road, so any kind of dispute along those lines is unlikely.

NY General Obligations law gives some protection from being sued by someone trespassing who falls down a ravine, etc. (this does not release the landowner from liability for attractive nuisance or dangerous situations the landowner was aware of, the typical example being a poorly secured well that someone falls in). We have stopped allowing hunting due to the nature of the people asking to hunt and our observation that they were not responsible individuals and likely to hurt themselves or someone else (this was borne out not long after our decision) and it was just easier to have a blanket proscription. Also one nearby family who decided it was ok to unload multiple magazines of a semi-auto weapon outfitted with a bump stock not far behind our house while we were away (and badly scaring a neighbors small children who were nearby) earned them a permanent ban from the land.

 

[MossRoad]

I think the Ohio law says you have to keep the fence row cleared 4', not 5'. And a neighbor can demand that you clear it.

https://farmoffice.osu.edu/sites/aglaw/files/site-library/LineFenceFactSheetApril2009.pdf

 

[MossRoad]

Looks like it may apply only to noxious weeds...

"971.33 Cutting of noxious weeds.
An owner of land, adjacent to a partition fence, shall keep all brush, briers, thistles, or other noxious weeds cut in the fence corners and a strip four feet wide on the owner's side along the line of a partition fence, but this section does not affect the planting of vines or trees for use.


Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 2008 HB323 09-30-2008"

Lawriter - ORC -

971.33



Cutting of noxious weeds.

 

[ovrszd]

I am sure glad I do not have some of you'ns as neighbors!

Me too.

 

[ovrszd]

I'll go along with that.

My neighbors & I generally know where the property lines are and respect them but don't get all bent out of shape if someone steps on our side of the line.
I have looked & can't find any permanent damage from one of them walking on MY property.
I have seen tracks in the grass from tractors or 4 wheelers but they were gone but they next time I mowed.

My neighbor to the SE runs cattle against me. It's common to see ATV tracks in my CRP or cow hoof prints and poo. I would never consider confronting him about this. That would be so stupid..... I appreciate that he accounts for his cattle daily and if looking for one comes onto my property to ensure it's not on me. The rest of my property isn't fenced and ends on a State Hiway. He's a good steward of his livestock.

 

[MossRoad]

I find this kind of stuff fascinating.

Just goes to show you that you shouldn't start an argument with someone if you don't know the rules they have to abide by. They might be different than the rules you have to abide by.

Here on TBN many years ago I learned about differences among the different states' fencing laws, trespass laws, etc... when I got into an argument about trespassing. Yes, an argument, VS a discussion. It's very easy to do.

For example, here, it's assumed all land is closed and you need permission to enter it, while in some other states, all land is considered open unless otherwise posted. I did not know that until the argument turned back to a discussion and some links to laws were posted, read, and understood, and then you get that "A ha!" moment that things might not be the same for everyone.

 

[MossRoad]

Just a couple weeks ago my wife and I took a drive over to northeastern Indiana to walk on some nature preserves. As we were driving along a dirt road, she mentioned that "people sure like purple around here." I asked what she meant. She said she saw a bunch of purple on fence posts, trees, etc.... :laughing:

I told her that's a relatively new law in Indiana where you can paint purple on trees, posts, etc... to designate it as no trespassing. Most people here have never heard of that, either.