Bad trouble with neighbor brewing..

[TAstro]

I recently bought a house in south AA County. Unfortunately, I have a crazy neighbor. A really, bad, crazy neighbor. He is in his mid 60's. I know for a fact he has been committed to mental institutions. He was in jail for trying to kill his son. His son and all the neighbors warned me to stay away from him. He has a drug history. He had to surrender firearms (thankfully.?). He lives in this old nasty Winnebago like a crackhead or meth-head. He has told me he worked for DEA, he was a border patrol agent, ran his own power company, and generally talks pure BS when I see him. He is always going on about some lawsuit against the county, how everyone in town is racist, how the neighbor (who is a nice gentleman) has a "hangin tree" behind his house and burns crosses and all this other nonsense.. He has no running water, no septic tank .. He comes around and is a total creep. I caught him looking in my house the other day when I was out letting the chickens out (was around 7 or 7:30 AM). He claimed he was just coming to say knock on the door and say hi.

Here is the worst part. He used to own my house and was foreclosed on about 6 years ago or so. Before he was foreclosed on, he cut the property in half and kept the other half, separated by a creek that is too deep to walk across easily and way to wide to jump. The other day he sent me some screenshots of the county website saying he actually owned a portion of my side of the creek. I told him I would get back to him. According to my deed I have 12.4x acres. According to the screenshot he sent me, it says 11.xx acres. This I need to get resolved.
I have a cellular trail camera up on the end of my property, which is not pointing towards his end, I saw him on camera walking around today. This means he drove on to my property while I was at work and was walking around.

I am now looking for suggestions how to handle this situation.

I have a life. This guy does not. He is the type of guy who will sit on his side of the property and have nothing to do except stew and generally be crazy, who knows what he could or would do.

I am reaching out to a few companies to get a formal survey done. I already started to talk to my girlfriend and make sure anytime he did something or came around we texted each other about it so at least we have SOMETHING in writing.

I also may go get more trail cameras and hide them strategically.

I did NOT want to get a ring or any other WIFI connected security system (I do not trust big tech...) but I am thinking maybe I need to weigh the pros and cons and get one.

Any general advice? I do not want this situation to blow up but this dude is off his rocker crazy and maybe dangerous.

 

[budman93]

Got some big mean dogs? Sounds like a horrible situation to be in. Especially since he used to own the house.

 

[Sealion]

Can't offer much more than STAY STRAPPED.

 

[rseymorejr]

See if he'd like to move into a nice townhouse in Westminster with a random group of fun folks?

https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?246234&p=5946489#post5946489

 

[Matlack]

Post no tresspassing signs everywhere. Get some recordable video camera's outside of your home. When he tresspasses contact the police and have him tresspassed from your property. Then get a restraining order. Oh, and build a fence to keep him out. Make sure it is on your property line.

 

[cms1528]

Can I assumed that after you took possession of the house you changed all of the locks on the property so he does not have an extra key to your home/outdoor structures etc.

 

[budman93]

Post no tresspassing signs everywhere. Get some recordable video camera's outside of your home. When he tresspasses contact the police and have him tresspassed from your property. Then get a restraining order. Oh, and build a fence to keep him out. Make sure it is on your property line.

12+ acres is a lot to fence.

 

[Bikebreath]

This is touchy. You can't easily ignore him, or avoid him. You sure don't want to encourage him. How do you make him keep his distance...he wouldn't want to deal with you if somehow he thought you were crazier than he was. Good luck.

 

[pbharvey]

I did NOT want to get a ring or any other WIFI connected security system (I do not trust big tech...) but I am thinking maybe I need to weigh the pros and cons and get one.

Right now I'd trust a camera a lot more than I'd trust that guy. Is it even legal for him to permanently camp on his own property without water and sewer? I'm pretty much of the mind people should be able to do what they want on their own property but I'm sure AA County doesn't see it that way.
Good luck.

 

[omegared24]

I did NOT want to get a ring or any other WIFI connected security system (I do not trust big tech...) but I am thinking maybe I need to weigh the pros and cons and get one.

Any general advice? I do not want this situation to blow up but this dude is off his rocker crazy and maybe dangerous.

I'm not a fan of big tech either but these systems work really well. Inside? I get it, no cameras in my house but outdoors, that's a different story.

I use Blink and I'll tell you that they work extremely well. The batteries in my high traffic wireless camera lasted 8 months. They can be wired of course and have withstood all kinds of storms, rain, snow and heat...no problem.

The instant notifications and ability to save video on my phone is a no brainer. You'll sleep better with those instant notifications. Again...it's outside. If someone wants to hack my cameras to watch the outside of house have at it.

 

[308Scout]

Post no tresspassing signs everywhere. Get some recordable video camera's outside of your home. When he tresspasses contact the police and have him tresspassed from your property. Then get a restraining order. Oh, and build a fence to keep him out. Make sure it is on your property line.

This - and get a survey done. Start documenting everything. Having a clear history of the issue documented will go a long way later.

At my last house in a residential neighborhood, we had similar trespass issues with a crazy neighbor. Having video and other documentation of events helped tremendously. Unfortunately, not many options until the crazy gets criminal. We finally ended up moving to get away from the situation rather than have the cycle of constantly having the sheriff out and the neighbor either arrested or taken for "evaluation" keep repeating. We lived with that for about 3 years. The neighbor was either in jail or committed during about half of that time.

 

[Bikebreath]

This is touchy. You can't easily ignore him, or avoid him. You sure don't want to encourage him. How do you make him keep his distance...he wouldn't want to deal with you if somehow he thought you were crazier than he was. Good luck.

It just came to me. The first time you have to call the cops on him you meet with the officers first. They report to him that you have had a LOT of problems and he is lucky (whatever incident happen in this case), and that you were in rare instance of clarity and didn't exhibit some of your previous behavior.

The cops don't reveal any more...they leave a lot of questions in his head to mull over and see how it is in his best interest to avoid you.

 

[Mightydog]

Get out the survey you received when you closed on the property. Post “no trespassing” signs along the border of your property and his according to the survey. Got any bear traps?

 

[Roksfr]

Posting your property is definitely step 1. If the property isn't posted anyone can stroll around your property at their leisure.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Damn, hope you got a real good deal on the land.
As far as posting it go a head and do it, let him worry about a survey and pay for it.
More than likely, if he gets rung up enough,the problem will solve itself.

 

[welder516]

You best start going on the offensive , Signs , Cameras , Documentation . I would also pay a visit to the local Sheriff or LE in your area and ask questions , or if you have a couple dollars to spend on legal help . But getting documentation is paramount IMHO

 

[tallen702]

He can't legally live out of a camper in AA county unless he has a variance or is in a registered mobile home park.

Check the property records to see if he has a variance, that's your nuke if you need it.

 

[Bikebreath]

Get out the survey you received when you closed on the property. Post “no trespassing” signs along the border of your property and his according to the survey. Got any bear traps?

I know I'd forget and step in them, but that's asking for a liability lawsuit. However, I do like the creativity of the idea.

 

[Pale Ryder]

12+ acres is a lot to fence.

It is, but depending on property lines he may only have to fence what is adjacent to crazy. Sure he can go around it but then he’s trespassing on two properties. No short, cheap answer to this. Every move you make, he’s likely to ignore or counter.

 

[GuitarmanNick]

Next time you catch him on your property, take him(may have to use some persuasion) to a secluded portion and have him start digging a hole. Tell him he had ample opportunity to mind his own business, but chose to invade your privacy. After he pisses himself, allow him to leave with the understanding that he never again sets a foot on your property, or anything you think is yours.

Credit given to a scene from Yellowstone for the idea.