Some people think they’re above the law or think they can get away with whatever they want.
These overgrown toddlers may get their way for a while. But check out how it came back to haunt this neighbor.
In the province of Ontario the only legal and recognized land surveyor is an Ontario Land Surveyor (OLS). Your brother in law who “knows how to work a transit” just isn’t qualified.
I moved from the Toronto area back up north in 2007. In 2008 we bought a home on a 4 acre forested lot from the original owner.
Through conversations with the original owner I remembered him muttering something about how the neighbor to the north had their driveway awfully close to the property line.
It turns out to be a bad omen.
I thought no more about it until later that fall. Our neighbor’s house was built slab on grade and the builder must have messed up or not properly installed any drainage for the gravel pad. Every time it rained they had water into their ground floor – an inconvenience to say the least.
But, not my problem. That is, until the neighbor rented an excavator and had a deep ditch dug all along our side of his driveway, dumping all of rocks and spoil from the excavation onto our property. We also lost a number of trees, this all mature black maple sugar bush trees.
I was getting concerned. We had problems with a jerk neighbor in Toronto and ended up having to get a survey and put up a fence. I wasn’t going to lose any sleep worrying about it this time – call for a surveyor and get this over with.
It turns out the OLS firm I called were the ones who surveyed the development when it was built 10 years earlier. They had no trouble mapping out how and where the neighbor’s driveway for over 100 feet now arced up to 12 feet onto our property – never mind the rocks and dirt in the bush beyond that.
I sent a registered letter with a copy of the survey and a polite letter to our neighbor. With registered you have to sign to pick it up. They received it, but did not respond. I waited a month and then sent another registered letter. That one wasn’t picked up and was returned to me.
Yeah, that should work – if I don’t receive the letter everything will just go away. In way of explanation, the neighbor was a successful local business man and in smaller communities some of them tend to think that they’re a bit special, and can make their own rules.
I learned from the jerk neighbor in Toronto that there’s not much point trying to discuss things personally.
So he decides to play hardball.
We have a system – let’s use it. The next letter that’s sent to them is from our real estate law firm – they know the right language to use and how to get someone’s attention.
Surprise! That one not only gets picked up but we receive a letter from their lawyer. They freely admit that they’re at fault and will make everything right.
Except they don’t. They don’t do anything – for the next three years. Absolutely nothing.
I starting receiving expert advice from some of my friends.
“SJK, you should fix it at your own cost and then sue them for that amount!” “Uh, well, what if they claim they could have fixed it a lot cheaper, or I did a bunch of things that weren’t needed.”
“SJK, you should charge them for all the trees they cut down and make them replace them!” “Yeah, but we do live in the forest and trees aren’t really hard to find. In fact, we cut down trees that get too big too close to the house – it’s not like we’re in the big city.”
I decide to do nothing. After the angst and sleepless nights with the jerks in Toronto I decide to just wait it out. After all, they’ve admitted fault through their lawyer, it’s not like they can wiggle out of that one or change their minds.
I learn that the neighbor’s wife hates living in the forest and would much rather have a schmancy house in town. And with the water problem that has never been resolved it just isn’t as much fun as they had thought it would be.
Four years later – what I was waiting for. A realtor’s For Sale sign in front of their house. I stop and take a picture of the sign so that I have the phone number of the listing agent.
I call them as soon as I get to work.
And then he finally starts getting somewhere.
“Hi, this is SJK, I see you’re listing a property at XXX. You may not be aware of this, but your client is trespassing on my property.”
Of course, the neighbor can’t pretend this isn’t true and now we have to clean up the mess to our satisfaction before the property can be sold.
Oh my! The five yard dump trucks ran for close to three weeks. They hauled load after load after load of top soil. It had to be dumped, spread out and compacted.
The gravel driveway had to be dug up and pulled back to the property line, and all that filled in as well. At the end it was all seeded with the understanding that it will eventually go back to being forest.
“SJK, is it OK now?” “Not quite yet, it looks like there’s still a lot of work to do.”
All the weeping tile, rocks and piles of dirt were removed as well – not a job easily done and very time consuming.
Don’t get mad. Wait, then get even.
Here is what folks are saying.
I guess we don’t roll that way in Ontario? Ha.
Great analogy. What is wrong with us?
At least they can move on.
I like it. No messing around.
You clearly haven’t been to Toronto. Haha.
Things were made right in the end. That’s what matters most.
If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.
