We ran into a neighbor problem on a boundary survey. When returning to a corner we had set the day before we found it was gone. We were there to set the side line and had planned to occupy the position at the corner.
Then the neighbor??s ??boyfriend? comes out and announces that he had removed the corner marker because it was ??on his property?. Not too smart since the malicious act is a crime punishable by jail time and a fine.
Then to make things even more stupid he calls the police because ??we were trespassing?, however trespassing is not a crime for surveyors in the process of locating a boundary in my state. He might have had recourse if we had caused damage to the property, but, all we did was set a steel bar and with a cap and that had been flush with the ground.
I??m thinking of pressing charges, because my client will need to bear the expense otherwise. We can??t finish the survey or record the map unless the police or lawyers are involved. My assistant thinks it should have been easy to explain by showing the record information we had already obtained. However, the neighbor??s boyfriend was having none of that.
Just the day before, we had talked to the neighbor about the position of the corner before we set it and got no indication that there was going to be a bonehead fight. At least I got him to admit that he took out the corner in front of the police. And when I asked him to return the mark he went inside and brought it out to give to me.
Have any of you ever pressed charges against an interfering neighbor? How would you compete this survey? I am positive the neighbor will continue to wipe out anything we set there.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
Did you tell the police that you wanted to press charges?
I think that the client should be the one pressing charges because they are paying the bill!?ÿ?ÿ I call it "Theft of Service" when I talk with my clients about "stake pullers".
Don
You need to double rod the corner when you reset it. Drive a rod then drive a rod on top of it. When he goes to pull the corner the 2nd rod will still be in the ground for the next Surveyor to find.?ÿ
I would tell the boyfriend I was hired to Survey this tract, and that is what I am doing. I would stay off the adjoiner tract, and just stay on my clients tract.
If you feel you need a law enforcement office present for your safety, then get one to be with you while you set the corners.?ÿ?ÿ
I wonder how a "boyfriend" has standing to do what he did?
No, I didn't tell the police anything yet except to show them maps of the vicinity. You are right Don, it is the client's responsibility. He is calling his attorney.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
When I reset that monument it would be a much longer rebar than normal or maybe even a pipe.........and concrete might be involved.?ÿ A bag or two of quick setting sakrete, a pair of posthole diggers, and a long monument would make removal a task not easily accomplished without heavy equipment.?ÿ Even better if your client can make the boyfriend foot the bill for your over-the-top efforts.?ÿ
A client may well want to foot the bill for the extra expense rather than involving the police. Money is generally less of a problem than TIME. Consider what your time is worth to you to resolve any conflict? You yourself may want to foot the expense.
Paul in PA
20 years ago I was in Walton County, Georgia doing some work for a proposed quarry site that at least one adjacent landowner was furious about. I was told to use some 1" rebars 4' long for control points. I had to use a fence post driver to set them and it was brutal hard work. Anyway the next time there I discover every single one of them have been removed. The fella had came out there with his tractor and apparently there is some kind of tractor contraption that grips as you pull up on something and he snatched every single rebar out of the ground.
20 years ago I was in Walton County, Georgia doing some work for a proposed quarry site that at least one adjacent landowner was furious about. I was told to use some 1" rebars 4' long for control points. I had to use a fence post driver to set them and it was brutal hard work. Anyway the next time there I discover every single one of them have been removed. The fella had came out there with his tractor and apparently there is some kind of tractor contraption that grips as you pull up on something and he snatched every single rebar out of the ground.
There is such a contraption. We had a much smaller version of one that we could use with our pickax to pull any rebar, good, bad or otherwise. It worked quite well actually. (It came in real handy when my crew chief couldn't drive a rebar straight. ??ÿ )
T. Nelson - SAM
At least he was obvious if not ham fisted in his attempt at sabotaging your work. I had one fellow follow after me while doing a breakdown for a subdivision that didn't meet with his approval and moved everyone of my control points anywhere from 5-15' and reset them. It wasn't until I came back to set corners that I couldn't get anything to remotely check that I realized what he'd done. Had to redo the entire control network and knowing his tricks had to hide?ÿthem all and set bogus points that would be obvious for him to play his games with.?ÿ
?ÿ
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Set a feno. I broke the axle case on an f250 trying to pull one of those..?ÿ
20 years ago I was in Walton County, Georgia doing some work for a proposed quarry site that at least one adjacent landowner was furious about. I was told to use some 1" rebars 4' long for control points. I had to use a fence post driver to set them and it was brutal hard work. Anyway the next time there I discover every single one of them have been removed. The fella had came out there with his tractor and apparently there is some kind of tractor contraption that grips as you pull up on something and he snatched every single rebar out of the ground.
There is such a contraption. We had a much smaller version of one that we could use with our pickax to pull any rebar, good, bad or otherwise. It worked quite well actually. (It came in real handy when my crew chief couldn't drive a rebar straight. ??ÿ )
Hi lift jack and a bit of chain?ÿwill pluck?ÿthose puppies right out of the ground.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Thank you everyone.
My client has a backhoe 🙂
The real irony is that he was alright with giving the neighbor permission to use a spot for a driveway, but, after this incident he changed his mind.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
"...hide?ÿthem all and set bogus points that would be obvious for him to play his games with. "
?ÿ
Ha ha,
Reminds of how I used to set nails for traverse points. Would dig out a hole 3"-4" deep, set the nail in the bottom and cover them up with dirt/leaves. Then, a couple feet away I would leave a nail with ribbon tied to it set flush with the ground. A sketch in the field book noted tie distances to some physical object, fence post or power pole usually, so we would always be able to find the real nails. Of course this was only done when I had good reason to believe we were being observed.
Many times I would come back and find the "false" nails disturbed, but the "real" nails...never disturbed. A lot of times I would notice an interested party watching what we were doing, and upon a return to complete the job the false nail would be gone.?ÿ One time the actual client did the pulling, saying she was afraid her dogs would get choked while trying to eat. She had a metal finder, she saw us driving nails into the ground, and if the nails had not been so easy to find she likely would have scored the real nails.
Sure, nails cost money, but not nearly what it cost to establish traverse control points throughout the county. Some set as far back as 1972, still finding them today.
ubenhavin?
Just curious.?ÿ What exactly would the charges be??ÿ What was the crime and has anybody successfully (a land surveyor) pressed charges and prevailed having someone pull one of your corners?
I always kick a little dirt over my control points.?ÿ Everyone confuses them for property lines or corners, so it's best just to hide them from sight, and avoid alarming anyone who will remove them, or worse, move them.?ÿ
Just curious.?ÿ What exactly would the charges be??ÿ What was the crime and has anybody successfully (a land surveyor) pressed charges and prevailed having someone pull one of your corners?
I would say it would be hard to fine a landowner for pulling a corner, however this was the landowners boyfriend so maybe fine him for practicing land surveying without a license, and maybe thief or property.?ÿ
But I doubt it is worth the trouble.?ÿ
20 years ago I was in Walton County, Georgia doing some work for a proposed quarry site that at least one adjacent landowner was furious about. I was told to use some 1" rebars 4' long for control points. I had to use a fence post driver to set them and it was brutal hard work. Anyway the next time there I discover every single one of them have been removed. The fella had came out there with his tractor and apparently there is some kind of tractor contraption that grips as you pull up on something and he snatched every single rebar out of the ground.
@Just A. Surveyor
About 45 years ago we did a boundary survey in Gwinnett County.?ÿ It was a wooded site and we had to cut every traverse line.?ÿ We set hubs and tacks for traverse points, did the field work and turned it in to the office.?ÿ A couple of weeks later we went back to set the missing corners.?ÿ ALL of our hubs had been pulled and axles set in their place.?ÿ The owner thought the traverse points were corners (DOH!!!!).?ÿ We had to rerun the traverse but luckily the lines were all cut.
Andy
Andy
Wow! Now that is hardcore for him to pull those.