A man has slammed his neighbour for ‘stealing’ part of his garden to improve his chances of selling his house for a profit.
He explained how his neighbour listed their house for sale – and advertised it as having a “spacious backyard” despite it being of overage size.
He said on Reddit: “Fact is, their house is placed on their lot further back giving them a larger front yard.
“The neighbour now cuts approximately 50 feet into our yard in an attempt to sell their house as a ‘spacious backyard’. This is always done when we aren’t home.”
Not only this, but his estate agent also listed the property as having “lake access” with the ability to “build your own dock” – something it also doesn’t have.
He added: “The house is across the street from the houses with lake access. I have gone over their attempts on taking our property with a shorter cut to no avail. They wait until we leave and cut it again. Odd thing is, they never cut past the property line until they listed it for sale.”
People took to the post to share their advice on the awkward situation. One wrote: “Get some of those 4′ steel stakes from Home Depot, hammer them in, and put up chicken wire a few feet back from where you think the property line is until you get the survey done.
“Look at Google Maps for estimated property lines, or Google how to find property lines, and at least you’ll get an estimate.
“Or you could pretend to be interested in the house (or have someone else call) and see if they have a survey for their property and use that to figure out your lines.”
Another user added: “Call the realtor, tell them your yard is not part of the for sale property and if they keep on advertising it as such you will file a complaint with the real estate board or owner of the agency.”
A third user said: “If you’re in the States and you pay property taxes you can call that office and have them print out a picture of your property that will show your house and the property lines.
“I did that and got a surveyor because my neighbours tried to say half of my yard was theirs and tried to set out picnic benches and plant tomatoes down the yard to show what was ‘theirs’. They got so pissed off when I showed them the survey.”
One more user added: “Look up the office of the realtor. Shady realtors leave off their office number to prevent people from talking to the broker.
“You can go to your state’s real estate commission and search for the realtor’s name. His or her profile will have their broker’s name. Send an email and then call. This is straight up fraud.”