Reload
2
I've been working on trying to sue a neighbor for trespassing and figured I'd run it by the brothers of EOG to see if anyone has gone through something similar, or knows how I should proceed.
I bought a condo last year and in January, a difficult neighbor bought a unit on the level above mine. There are a total of only four units - two on each floor. Each floor has an outside deck that is space for "exclusive use" among that floor's owners. There is a "common" set of steps connecting both decks, but each floor's deck is exclusive to the owners on the respective floor.
What this neighbor does that is annoying is that every day she goes on the second floor deck, goes down the steps, and then across my first floor deck to get to the driveway. I have been annoyed with her for other reasons and never gave permission for her to use my deck as a means of egress. She has a perfectly useable way out - her front door. But instead she continues to cut across my deck and I consider it to be trespassing.
Research I have done on this has been interesting. The FCC, for example, has a definition of an exclusive use area as one where you have control over who can enter onto it. There also seem to be some words out there about rights of "egress", but I feel if the upstairs owner has a perfectly useable means of egress already then it should be prohibited to use my deck instead.
I have a lawyer working on this situation for me and he has already written a letter to the neighbor. In fact, he is the one who wrote the Master Deed for the condominium. The next step could either be an arbitration case, or even a civil trespassing case in court.
Has anyone been through anything like this before? I am just trying to get as many opinions as I can.
I bought a condo last year and in January, a difficult neighbor bought a unit on the level above mine. There are a total of only four units - two on each floor. Each floor has an outside deck that is space for "exclusive use" among that floor's owners. There is a "common" set of steps connecting both decks, but each floor's deck is exclusive to the owners on the respective floor.
What this neighbor does that is annoying is that every day she goes on the second floor deck, goes down the steps, and then across my first floor deck to get to the driveway. I have been annoyed with her for other reasons and never gave permission for her to use my deck as a means of egress. She has a perfectly useable way out - her front door. But instead she continues to cut across my deck and I consider it to be trespassing.
Research I have done on this has been interesting. The FCC, for example, has a definition of an exclusive use area as one where you have control over who can enter onto it. There also seem to be some words out there about rights of "egress", but I feel if the upstairs owner has a perfectly useable means of egress already then it should be prohibited to use my deck instead.
I have a lawyer working on this situation for me and he has already written a letter to the neighbor. In fact, he is the one who wrote the Master Deed for the condominium. The next step could either be an arbitration case, or even a civil trespassing case in court.
Has anyone been through anything like this before? I am just trying to get as many opinions as I can.