December 21, 2006

• I'm really not sure you could claim it is yours just because it is on your property when you know who it belongs too. Otherwise, you would be able to confiscate pretty well anything people brought into your house if, say, they left it unattended while they were in the toilet. (hmmm . . . nice laptop on my kitchen table . . . ). I mean, otherwise, what would protect cars left on the street, etc. Now, if the situation was that you didn't know who it belonged to, and it just showed up, with no obvious way of returning it to the owner, and so on, then, yah, you might get away with it. Still an irritating situation. You probably could charge them with trespassing or somesuch.
• Or burn their house down. Fire cleanses all. (OK, maybe that is a bad idea)
• This is pretty much unacceptable. Complain to your local planning authority. They can red-tag the job until they are in compliance with their permit, which undoubtably does not say that they are allowed to trespass and litter. And since your local planning authority allows foundations to be placed only 5 feet from the property lines, now that I think about it, you probably won't get any help from them because they're developer stooges. You might have to go to the local paper (do they have an Action Line column?) Example. (may require a visit to bugmenot.com to view)
• My suggestion is to go out and get some nice big bushes or small trees and plant them all along the property line. That way they can't put the ladder on your property, and your view of this new monstrosity will be obstructed by nice green vegetation. (It's what we've done every time one of our neighbors starts building up near the Pro22 compound.) The added bonus is that if, for some reason, the workers do start throwing their ladders on your newly-planted shrubbery, you can demand they compensate you for replacement costs. Meanwhile, I suggest documenting their transgressions. Take lots of photos, just in case you need them.
• This is not legal advice, but just information for the purposes of an academic discussion. I can't speak for what goes on in Washington State, but in Ontario, even if it's perfectly clear who owns what property, there is usually a right of entry given to the owners of adjoining lands to make necessary repairs or improvements to their property. It's there under the common law, but is even there under statute as well, that even if the owner denies them entry, the abutting owner can just go on and do the repairs they need to do (I've seen this in the case of weeping tiles on a farm, which was just a spite measure over a larger development issue, but that's another story). As for stuff you "find" on your property, the courts have been pretty sympathetic to finders-keepers over the years, but only after the case that all reasonable enquiries have been made to find out the true owner. Lost wallets getting turned in to the cops, notices in the paper, that sort of thing. Now, if you "found" a ladder on your property, you would have to show that you made a reasonable search to find out who the real owner is. And given that there's construction next door, that mystery should be easy to solve. Repainting, then, becomes simple theft. Long story short, I'm guessing they can go on your property despite you having said no. Claiming the ladder is tantamount to theft. If you want to hold on to it, and wait for them to claim it, that could be viewed as theft as well. If I were in your situation, I'd be frustrated too, but I wouldn't let that lead me into an act which would create more problems than it solves.
• Build - a - big - fence
• Regardless of the legal renoberations, if you know it's not yours, and you take it, that's theft. Surely there must be a direct way of dealing with these folks that doesn't put you in the wrong.
• Surely there must be a direct way of dealing with these folks that doesn't put you in the wrong. I guess you could always paint the side of your house facing them an ugly colour or something. I had some neighbours that I didn't get along with all that well. Stupid snobby yuppies didn't like the fact that our lawn was not a pristine patch of green grass. They also took exception to having more than one colour of flowers in the flower beds at one time. Anyways, their garage was within 2 feet of the property line, so they stuck a chain link fence right on the property line next to the garage, and piled all sorts of crap -- ladders, wood, junk, etc. between the garage and the fence where only we could see it. Of course, they put a nice wooden privacy fence along the rest of the property line, and to hide the crap next to the garage from sight of their yard. We were only renting house, so nothing I could do about it. In the end, those neighbours bought the house when our landlady sold it so they could do the yard the way they wanted.
• They leave their tools out overnight, and in two years they've never been taken? Wow.
• I second what Mr. Knickerbocker said!
• Dig a trench. If you REALLY want to get back at these fools, hire a backhoe and operator. Dig a 3 foot deep 2 foot wide trench on your property line. If anyone inquires, mention that you're thinking about putting a wall to display a 9/11 memorial there, and you will be filling it with cement for the posts. (Although you really only need to dig post holes, but who's counting. I imagine it'd be pretty damn hard to have the back legs of a ladder in the trench with the front on solid ground. (Seriously though, the 9/11 thing works.) A restaurant gained access to our not in use backyard, and "prettied" it up (white xmas lights, new trees and plants, paper lanterns). We had some empty pails and debris back there. They did it as they put up an extension to the restaurant with windows looking out onto our backyard. I briefly mentioned that since he was "using" our space, he should pay a nominal fee (like $200/month). He vehemently disagreed, and even threatened (bullshit) to sue for the "improvements" he installed. This person is somewhat influential in local politics, and every time I pestered him after that, or denied him access to my backyard to remove debris or rake leaves, the Housing Dept. or some regulatory dept would send someone over and issue a random violation. This, of course, was now war. So, I put up this UGLY mural, easily visible from the dining area. Cutouts and printouts of firefighters, police cars, fire trucks, images of the twin towers, and HUGE sign which read: "9/11 we shall overcome. We shall never forget. Let the lights that shone, never die out! We will prevale!" (spelling mistake intentional). He never mentioned anything to me, but a week later the windows were bricked over. Case closed. You can't fuck with 9/11 (It also helps that this was in lower Manhattan).
• I know it's bad, but it sure did make me laugh.
• Confiscate. "Look after" the tools, "in case someone steals them". The grow both absent minded and technically ignorant. You might even want to try to "fix" the tools.
• am I just being a dick? yes. So what there's a ladder on your yard? Big deal. There are a lot more important things in life.
• yes. So what there's a ladder on your yard? Big deal. There are a lot more important things in life. Yeah, first it's just one ladder in your yard. The next thing you know there's two, then three. Soon you got a freakin' ladder forest in your yard. And then what are you going do? You got ladders sleeping with your wife. Beating your dog. Stealing your newspaper. TAKING YOUR JOB!!!11!!!! We should build a fence to keep those damn ladders out of this country. /:D Seriously speaking, while it is literally just a ladder, at the core of it is the dismissal of common courtesy by these contractors who have been around on and off for TWO years. I imagine things wear down on you after awhile. I hope they finish soon HH, and that the people who move in aren't reflective of these workers.
• Don't steal the ladder. Document all the crap in writing and pictures. Show where the dirt and fill has ruined your yard. Take pictures of the fence that they didn't tear down, and pictures comparing the fence they supposedly "replaced" Write out a complaint and send copies to everyone you can think of--construction company, planning and zoning, all forms of media, city council, where ever you can think of. Put a sign out on your yard to the effect that "this mess on my lawn has been left by XYZCo." Take them to small claims court if they don't make your property damage right. OTOH, if your place is a dump, it isn't going to work, so steal the ladder already.
• Go to your magistrate's office or to the office of whomever issues criminal summons and warrants in your county. If the magistrate believes it to be a criminal offense, then he/she will issue a summons/warrant (you will need to have the name and address of the potential defendant). There could be a some sort of trespass of property statute in your state. Perhaps littering will be the charge. Also, you could go down to your small claims court and file a civil action against them. This might be for trespass, nuisance, or something else. Again, your magistrate may be able to advise you on what to pursue. Typically in a small claims court, there is not too much of a burden on you to use the proper legal terminology. You will probably be okay mentioning the terms trespass, littering, and nuisance in your complaint even if they are not technically the right causes of action in the state of Washington as long as you provide a fairly clear statement of what is going on and what remedy you would like to see. Good luck.
• I know that where my parents live, if the city or someone else does something to damage your yard (dig a hole, put something over your grass to kill it, dump litter, etc.), they have to pay to fix it. In fact, they're actually usually required to fix it to be nicer than it started off, since they have to lay down St. Augustine grass sod, whether the yard started off with it or not, and re-do whatever concrete they've damaged (curbs, sidewalks). Look into local ordinances, and (if your community is as yard-proud as my parents') you may have quite a bit of protection. If this isn't the case, plant big holly bushes, or something else pretty but prickly. You'll get privacy, and your homeowner's insurance may actually go down since it's a good security measure! fimbulvetr , they got offended because you had more than one color of flower in your yard? (You don't live by the Menil in Houston, do you? I know they're all required to have gray/white houses, cars, flowers, dogs, etc. to match the museum.) Aren't gardens supposed to be rainbowy explosions of goodness?
• Aren't gardens supposed to be rainbowy explosions of goodness My opinion as well. That was in Guelph, Ontario. They only liked red flowers in their yard. Red flowers, green grass. Which is what they did to my house when they bought it. They also went through the garden shed behind our house and threw out all of the gardening tools (they weren't ours, they came with the place) because they were "rusty". They also tore up all the goosberry bushes, cut down the plum tree, sodded over the vegetable patch, and got rid of the composter. I moved out not long afterwards.
• Or, am I just being a dick? Yes, and a tiny flaccid one at that.
• They are obviously anti-garden weirdos, then. Sheesh. It sounds like you had a good garden going (I'd love to have my own shed and composter!), and they wrecked it.