Thought I would post this after seeing the other thread about the woman that things the surveyor is going to control her with 5G.
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I got a call from an adjacent landowner. I had sent a crew out to the adjacent next door lot. Now, in our area we may or may not disturb the neighbors with a knock on the door. Some people appreciate it, some do not.
This one thought we should have, and we didn't. So I asked if they had spoken with the crew, and they said that they had and they were nice and professional. In the end it was nice to hear some good feedback about our crew's interaction with the neighbors.
To answer some of the comments sure to come...I know in some areas it is common practice and perhaps even required to notify all the adjoining owners, but that is not common practice around here.
My point is that the yahoo in that video was not doing it right.
We are normally professional with anyone who appears close enough to speak with.?ÿ We do not normally knock on doors of anyone other than the client.?ÿ Some people, however, are not happy with the fact you were ever born and came within eyesight of them.?ÿ Suddenly, they take ownership of everything except your client's property, including the streets and alleys.?ÿ Had one who said he would not trust any electromagical thingybob.?ÿ We got out a common 200-foot steel tape and told him his property was 90 feet wide.?ÿ He agreed with that.?ÿ Then we showed the distance from where he believed his property started to where he believed his property ended and found that to be something like 115 feet.?ÿ Then I asked which 90 feet he wanted to keep as his.?ÿ He then deemed the tape to be wrong.
Not survey related, so to speak, but when I was working for a county in NY we were in the midst of replacing a creek crossing one one of the roads. This was on the stem of a T intersection of two county roads, slightly further down the stem from the crossing was a town road through a small development (10 or so houses) which hooked around to one side of the T cross, even though we had set up and marked a detour avoiding that road and even put a partial barrier across it, locals would use it anyway. Well low and behold one "Karen" who lived on that road had a real problem with this and would repeatedly hound us about it, and didn't understand the concept of a "Public Highway" (what were we supposed to do, block off the entire road? and she really got pissed when I referred to it as a "Highway"). One day a different lady called me, asking if that road was private or public, I told her public, she explained that the reason she was asking was that her newly licensed son was returning home form work one night and he didn't feel safe using the alternate route. He chose to use this road and sure enough this lady comes running out of her house and stops him and starts berating him for using "HER ROAD". The next day is when I got the call from the Karen, she told me that if the county didn't do anything about it, she would take some of the limbs that had fallen from her trees during a recent storm and put them in the road to stop people from using it. She also had to make a point to tell me that she paid $300k (1990's) for her house and people who didn't live there had no right to use that road.
I have no idea why these calls came to me, I was doing driveway and utility permitting at the time, this was a function of the Design and Construction Contracting staff.
Now, in our area we may or may not disturb the neighbors with a knock on the door.
In Oregon we are obliged to notify by statute.?ÿ
Elsewhere, as in Washington State, it comes down to the concept of the "curtilage". If you are accessing close to the house you notify, if not, probably not.?ÿ?ÿ
"curtilage
New word added to vocab... thanks!
I encountered this yesterday in the field.?ÿ Third trip through his yard in the last month and this time he appears and complains.?ÿ The first time we did knock on the front door and no answer.?ÿ I guess I get no credit for that, probably should have left a card....
I looked up our CA right of entry law for him and reviewed it myself.?ÿ It says we must notify the tenant or landowner of the proposed time of entry "where practicable".?ÿ After pondering this for a while I came to the conclusion that "where practicable" for me comes down to whether I am in the mood to take the time to walk up the hill and around to the front of the house and deal with it at that particular moment.
I appreciate his position and i apologized 5 or 7 times.?ÿ Not much more I can do for the guy.?ÿ I usually try to put this burden on the client to notify the neighbors of our survey.?ÿ I could do better at highlighting this and making sure there is follow through.
The neighbor is correct, I could get shot one day if I continue on this path.?ÿ It's hard when you cross into six or ten different yards on a typical survey.?ÿ I could have a full time crew member going around door knocking and neighbor stroking if I tried.?ÿ While it might be good for business I don't think my typical client is interested in supporting this endeavor.
Still, it was inconsiderate and a little bit of courtesy goes a long way in my experience
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It helps to do a little homework.?ÿ When the guy comes out you politely say, "Good morning, Mr. Smithers."?ÿ Knowing their name shocks them a bit.?ÿ That gives you a chance to continue with cordial conversation such as, "I know you have lived here for over 20 years.?ÿ Do you have any idea where I might find a 1" iron pipe marking your property boundary?"
The neighbor is correct, I could get shot one day if I continue on this path.?ÿ
I always hear that, but it never materializes. I used to jump fences all the time to put in a rebar and cap, but my fence jumping days are behind me. I have also carefully removed a fence board, set the rebar, and put the board back on...
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Then I had a project where we walked quite a ways around a guy's property, he saw us one day and told us we could use his property for access. I wish I had knocked on his door.
