Person Maliciously Complies With Entitled Neighbor’s Demands, Ends Up With More Land
There are two tragedies in life, or so the saying goes, not getting what you want and getting what you want. And it’s particularly bad when one goes out of their way to be rude and unhelpful, only to learn that you were absolutely, irrevocably in the wrong.
So one new homeowner agreed to do a land survey when a somewhat belligerent neighbor demanded it, only to learn that their yard was actually too small. Regret soon turned to revenge, as OP’s neighbors started to mess with their stakes. Soon, a land dispute started and small-claims courts were invoked.
A neighbor who refuses to acknowledge where their property begins and ends is a major pain
Image credits: elenakaretnikova2022 (not the actual photo)
So one netizen decided to pay for surveyors and discovered that the property lines were majorly misplaced
Image credits: Paris Lopez (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Frames For Your Heart (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Valerie V (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Jared Muller (not the actual photo)
Image credits: CockyNurse
Land disputes are as old as time
Figuring out the boundaries of a property is an often annoying first-time task for any new homeowner, particularly if, as in OP’s case, the whole territory is overgrown and needs some fixing. As strange as it sounds, long-time homeowners will often encroach on unoccupied lots and then simply “forget” that they have added some land to their own. Accidents do happen, but there must be some degree of malicious “overlooking” of territory, once a person sets up plants and fences.
Fortunately, OP had the foresight to document and even record what their neighbors were doing, as otherwise, it would be quite hard to prove anything. While from the neighbor’s perspective, it must be deeply annoying to learn that a piece of land they had been using for possibly years is not theirs, do they really want to live in a world where land is attributed based on vibes? Fortunately, this is not the world we live in. If OP lives in the United States, the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) would have all the details for the surveyors to confirm.
OP also had the wonderful vindication of discovering, like a child on Christmas morning, that their yard was actually even bigger than expected. Of course, this comes with the added burden of actually telling the neighbor and perhaps getting them to vacate the location they were on, but undoubtedly, it must feel nice to end up getting all of what they had paid for, instead of a smaller yard. After all, most people don’t purchase first-time homes to flip them, they want to live there for an extended period of time, so the extra bit of yard will, literally, go a long way.
Sometimes simply being nice pays off
As many readers noted, the “malicious” part of malicious compliance is key here. Had the neighbor simply been nice, most likely a simple, cheaper solution would have been possible. But once someone has been rude or hostile, it’s not hard to motivate oneself to be as petty as possible. No expense is too great to get back at someone who has been unnecessarily rude. Catching the neighbor’s wife on camera interfering with surveyors’ markers must have felt like an amazing level of vindication. Some might balk at the price of a surveyor, but it really is an in-depth, highly skilled job.
OP mentions the neighbors possibly moving, which is perhaps the best-case scenario. Because living next to neighbors who might hold a grudge even if you are legally correct sounds like a stressful situation. This way, OP got their land, the hostile neighbors left and they got a nifty little story out of this encounter. As many of the comments (visible below) show, these sorts of encounters are strangely common, with landowners decking to fight over property that isn’t theirs and coming off worse for it.
OP answered some reader questions in the comments
They chated with the readers who appreciated the solid bit of malicious compliance
Others shared similar stories
Had a neighbor like this once. Came about because my mother had divided the land and given an acre to my sister, who proceeded to lose it after using it as collateral to buy a custom built home. Guy who bought it out of foreclosure immediately shut off the water to the home on the adjacent property (despite it being in the deed that he had to provide that water in perpetuity) and claimed the lone driveway (that served the other two acres behind him) as his own. Said we couldn't use it anymore. So my mother commissions a survey. Turns out the driveway is wholly on our side of the property line. Surveyor marked a stake where his corner was. This m**o went out and dug it up and threw it in our yard! He's since gone and the neighbors that bought it from foreclosure had their own survey done so they could install a fence properly.
The Bible says “Cursed is anyone who steals property from a neighbor by moving a boundary marker”, which goes to show this has been a problem since ancient times.
I had a neighbor try this but right after I had a surveyor done I immediately had a company come out and install a privacy fence so it stopped them from moving my stakes for a 3rd time. It also invited a war between us but I settled it in civil court. They kept throwing trash into our yard and I had it all on camera so when I took them to court they were made to pay for all the clean up and whatever damages. All they had to do was leave my property stakes tf alone but in the end it cost them $20,000 plus
Had a neighbor like this once. Came about because my mother had divided the land and given an acre to my sister, who proceeded to lose it after using it as collateral to buy a custom built home. Guy who bought it out of foreclosure immediately shut off the water to the home on the adjacent property (despite it being in the deed that he had to provide that water in perpetuity) and claimed the lone driveway (that served the other two acres behind him) as his own. Said we couldn't use it anymore. So my mother commissions a survey. Turns out the driveway is wholly on our side of the property line. Surveyor marked a stake where his corner was. This m**o went out and dug it up and threw it in our yard! He's since gone and the neighbors that bought it from foreclosure had their own survey done so they could install a fence properly.
The Bible says “Cursed is anyone who steals property from a neighbor by moving a boundary marker”, which goes to show this has been a problem since ancient times.
I had a neighbor try this but right after I had a surveyor done I immediately had a company come out and install a privacy fence so it stopped them from moving my stakes for a 3rd time. It also invited a war between us but I settled it in civil court. They kept throwing trash into our yard and I had it all on camera so when I took them to court they were made to pay for all the clean up and whatever damages. All they had to do was leave my property stakes tf alone but in the end it cost them $20,000 plus
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