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Apartments in Alexandria, VA
Real estate in Alexandria, VA
How can I stop neighborhood kids from walking through my yard??
We moved into our new house in the suburbs in December and everything was fine. Recently, the swim club down the street opened and kids (from age 4 - 14) use our yard as a cut through to save walking about 3 extra blocks to get to and from the pool. I've spoken to a few of their parents and they promised to tell their kids to stop, but nothing has changed. Also, I have a 'mostly' friendly dog but, if he's surprised, he can get a little nasty and I'm worried he's going to nip one of these kids. What can I do to stop them walking through our yard and what are my liabilities if the dog bites one on our property?That is until I started holding conversations with the kids who would use my lawn as a short cut. Initially, it was just a few 'hellos' but eventually, led to more casual chat like, "I know you guys must be ready for summer". Once I won them over with my kindess, I told them how we were having a tough time getting our grass to grown in a few areas and asked if they'd mind using the adjacent bike path. "No problem Ms. Lisa - Sorry about that!" Now I see them redirecting their friends off my lawn - even when they don't know I'm looking! (The Bible tells us, "show yourselves friendly" in order to gain a friend . . . It worked for me and my lawn looks great! :o)
This does not work with everyone.
For the last ten years I have been bending over backwards, doing exactly what you said. Kindness are often mistaken for weakness. The more I try to do the teachable moment and get to know the kids, and explain things nicely, the more liberties they took. I asked politely, nicely, sternly, and all that. All I got was yes ma'am in my face and then they turn and laugh, mock me and call me names. So after years of being the nice (to them stupid push over) lady, I went out there one day and told them "The nice lady is gone from now on, stay of my f*ing lawn and stay of my property, I had it I'm done get the #@!& away from me!". I went through ten years of #@!& because I though I had to be nice and get in touch with "The Young" people. It does not work with everyone! Eventually I had to get the police involved (when some gang bangers threatened me bodily harm, and the younger kids started to hang with them). I had to get the police involved three times for it to sink in to them that I was actually serious. Suddenly all the single moms were in the street "defending" their kids, one even said she told her son it's Ok to run though others yards, he's done it for years and I'm the only one who has a problem with it. I told everyone, including the so called single parents, "See this house, see this yard, STAY OFF IT, it's called private property." I've had tried the nice way for ten years now I'm done! Ever since things have gotten a bit better but they still run their ball up my yard when they think I'm not there. Which is why my husband and I can't wait to move!
I bet you hug trees too, don't you.
Maybe Scott is being idealistic. So what? What's wrong with shooting for the ideal? Are you so jaded that it's not only not a possibility but that you have to mock those who aim for that. How would it hurt to try talking to the kids first? Maybe it won't work. So you spent a little bit of your time talking to the neighborhood kids. Terrible! What a waste of your life! You know it's possible to aim a little higher then life, to hope and even expect the best, but still plan for the worst. Maybe the best won't work out, but jumping to a doomsday scenario before trying anything else, well, that's not pessimism that's stupidity.
Going straight to fences or tall bushes costs you just as much time as talking to the kids and it costs money too. And it may not be something you really want on your property either. Going automatically to changing your property and putting in time and money makes more sense then trying to talk to the kids first...in what world?
And a no trespassing sign and poison ivy? Seriously? Have you ever talked to your neighbors? Some people do. Novel concept, I know. I'm sure her dog would love the poison ivy too. And then, you know, she might want to spend time outside on her lawn, have to be very careful. And have to keep that poison ivy under control because if it goes onto someone else's property, well let's face it, what the hell do you care?
To the OP, You have a right to protect your property. Whether it is by fence, guard dog, gun, high pressure water hose, whatever. I used to have a little #@!&$%* hopping over my fence all the time. Until I got a 100 lb pitbull and a 44 Mag. Oh look at that Rick... I'm a lib and a proud gun owner. How does that reconcile in your mind? LOL Guess what, Obama's not coming for my gun either. LOLLOLOL...
"Good fences make good neighbors", is a line in a Robert Frost poem called Mending Wall, and it's ambiguous. In fact there are hundreds of articles about this line, this topic--do good fences make good neighbors, from the simplest of human interactions all the way to national security and how we interact in a global world. Try googling "good fences make good neighbors", see what pops up.
The line "strong fences make good neighbors" comes 30 years later in satirical novel by Thomas Sharpe called The Throwback. This proverb is accepted as a non-controversial statement, (clearly by your use of it), as opposed to Frost's deliberate ambiguity.
Why don't you read Mending Wall for yourself. It's not too long, and it's online: http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html
As for my opinion on the subject at hand, Frost said it better then I could:
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
And the thing is, we never really know. Once the wall goes up, it's up, and you do not know what it is holding back, good or bad. You begin to forget too.
Btw, I must say that I find it very ironic that people are dropping more and more personal boundaries and sharing things with people they've never met, and at the same time, building up the physical walls around them. More hedges, more walls, better security systems, but the intimate details of your day to day life shared with hundreds or thousands of people, many of whom you've never met. Perhaps we should think about building different kinds of walls. Rebuilding them actually. But I seem to be one of the few who misses the quieter intimacy and friendships that those walls held in. Just my two cents.
By the way, I also happen to be an programmer. I specialize in web design and programming and SEO and social networking management.
And yes Winter, I also know my Frost.
gl
Have you met "Miss Lisa" who also posted? I think both of you need social interaction and would make a perfect match. You could get married and move to that ideal neighborhood where the neighbors think that your belongings and propery should all be shared in common. First the lawn, then the porch, then the TV, the car. It would be bliss for both of you.
Even if it doesn't stop them all I bet it stops most of them especially if you develop some sort of a friendship with them. It's a win win situation as you gain a friend as they do also plus you get to know your neighbors better and that's always a good thing as well. Heck they probably would even keep a look out on your property as in a neighborhood watch. when people know you and you are friendly is more invested with them and they will care more about you and your property and as such your grass also.
Hope you get this resolved soon. I had the same problem but it wasn't kids. It was men in their twenties drinking and leaving their beer cans on my front lawn and their cigarette butts as well.
I talked to them each one on one and explained that I was planting grass and that I was the one who had to pick up the beer cans every morning and that I'm sure they wouldn't want to be in my shoes and have to do that themselves. Thankfully it worked and I never had any problems after that.
Act like a man and show compassion instead of being a jerk that none of the neighbors like.
I had youths neighbor problems for years. A new home owner has two dogs and the kids taunt them, throw sticks at them that sort of thing. Nobody should go through anyone else yard. What's wrong with people. No respect. What if we all did that. Well maybe I can just go and use someone else's pool too? It's called PRIVATE Property and I am appalled that parents aren't teaching their kids proper behavior anymore. This is not how I was raised.
As for keeping them off your lawn in general, if a fence isn't an option, contacting law enforcement might be the only other option.
Do Not post "Beware of Dog" signs though, Those can get you sued because you are acknowledging your dog is dangerous
The guy sued for 10K....lol. Since he cut thru the property all the time, and the fence was new and not visible in the dark...lol.and neither were the signs....
Honestly, the insurance covered it and didnt get the owner involved (much). For the record....In NJ it is not tresspassing until you've notified them "verbally" they are tresspassing, even if you have no-tresspassing signs posted, and a fence. Therefore...the guy who scaled the fence, will not be considered a tresspasser unless he shows up at the property again (he's been notified he's not welcome by the police).
The fact that my friend lived next door to a bar caused him grief, and the upstanding fireman was almost forced to porch-sit at 1am when the bar got out to stop the drunk kids from vandalizing his property, etc. It was a shore town, so, the "kids" were very young and stupid.
However...you live in Virginia, and these laws vary by state. I'm from Virginia and can say that Virginia is not NJ....lol...(as evidence in the gun laws).
They have bullied my elderly neighbor even thrown rocks at people who cut her grass and not there's. They have bullied another neighbor and swore at her and told her to get her @** back into her house, threatened to stab my wife last feb. What makes people like this is a complete break down of ethics and common respect. I think it shows there ignorance and arrogance and I feel soooo sorry for them...all of them, they will wonder through life without direction and will end up in hell because of their trespasses
a) fence the yard. Any height about 3 ft tall will do. Yes, they can go over it but, read on.
b) Put up a sign that clearly says 'NO TRESPASSING'.
c) By a motion detecting internet video camera and point it out your window. I use DropCam and love it: https://www.dropcam.com/dropcam-ip-security-camera
d) If the kids persist, print the video stills and show them to their parents. If the parents won't control their kids and promote the idea of respecting other peoples property, then you call the police.
(After all, if the parents aren't going to be good neighbors by respecting your property then you should admit they are NOT good neighbors and you have nothing to loose)
Case closed.
Nobody looks at a piece of land and says, "hey, this would be great with a big horking fence in the middle of it," yet buggering up the optics is the only thing they really do.
Fences are never more than optical barriers -- by which I mean that, once a big wall is constructed across a property, it makes it *look* to the people on either side as though they are isolated from each other. In fact, they're only optically isolated: they can still hear each other just fine. But they'll now talk about stuff they'd *not* normally discuss in public. The change in comportment thus makes the fence less like a barrier and more like a bridge for (mostly) insipid, boring scads of underthought conversation nobody'd have said if they'd known somebody was *on the other side of the fence.*
AND a fence turns your yard from a known banality (the place with the friendly dog) into an unknown enigma: what's she got in that back yard? You'll have to hop the fence to find out. And wasn't that dog friendly *unless surprised*?
Chain link and wide picket fences ameliorate both problems (for they permit optical contact with the other side), but still present a pretentious metaphor of property fetishism to the average tattooed and ill-bred teen. Not recommended.
Of all the options above, only landscape solutions strike me as worth considering. "Sufficient disincentive" should be your objective, and while Timothy McCreary's dad's solution (firethorn bushes around the perimeter, as above) is perhaps "overkill," the concept is certaily good.
Here's the psychology: hopping a fence is fantastic -- initially ascendant, the hopper defies gravity to climax at a weightless apex where his mass and velocity cancel out and for the first time what's on the other side is plainly visible. Then, the ride down begins. The hopper's senses sharpen -- moving faster now, and thinking more spontaneously, he discovers new turf on the other side.
Contrast slogging through shrubbery: no fun.
Post signs, see if you can talk to some of the parents. Just kindly explain that you worry for their safety and wish they would not come through your yard. While you have every right to be upset, yelling and such (Which you don't seem like you'd do.) will only make things worse. If they start to argue or get upset walk away and contact your local police station and ask them what you can do. I would only call the police as a last option. Here they will ask if you have talked to the kids/parents before they take it seriously. :)
You sound like a very sweet person and I really do hope things get better for you soon. I understand why you don't want them walking through your yard, it does seem like they would be safer in your yard than someone else's. Nice to know you care about their safety. :)
So, the most accurate answers have been given:
POST IT, HALT'EM, and WARN'EM by Shannon Calandri; and
FENCE IT by many...
but have you considered that if you are merely trying to keep the children from walking through, you do not have to spring for a tall fence all the way around your property. All that you really need is a block at the entrances of your property. You could effect that with landscaping, decorative fencing or the like. And your *NO TRESPASSING* signs do not have to be tacky. You can make or have them made to match your plantings. Being attractive does not render them ineffective at law.
If your dog getting out could be a problem, buy him a fence. Everyone will be happier.
A prescriptive easement, similar to adverse possession, is designed to obtain rights less than full ownership to land based on long-term use or enjoyment rather than agreement or statutory methods.
In order for a prescriptive easement to exist, a party must show all of the following:
Actual, continuous and uninterrupted use (not possession) for 20 years.
Use, under a claim of right, in conflict with the landowner's use.
Knowledge of the landowner or use so open, notorious, visible, and uninterrupted that knowledge is imputed to the landowner
My yard costs me a fortune in money and effort every year. I wish somebody elses little bas tard child ran through my yard. It would be entertaining to watch my pitbull chew on the remains.
3 blocks is NOTHING for kids to walk. And if you're that concerned about the kids getting too much exercise, it's probably news to you about the obesity epidemic in our country. On the other hand, if the county or city gets enough requests for a public path to cut through the area, they'll make it happen. As for now, the homeowner has a right to request suggestions on what to do about keeping the children out of her property, and since it is HER property, the suggestions of "doing nothing", "relaxing" or comments like, "it's just grass" are inapplicable. She clearly wanted suggestions for proactive solutions to solve the problem.
There are great solutions here - some type of visible property line indicator that's too tall to just step over is probably the most proactive idea. About 50% of children will actually respect the owner's wishes of non-trespassing, and it's not because all kids are disrespectful, but because some kids just plain forget... again and again.
We also have property, unfortunately for us, an wooden board fence had to be installed to keep trespassers to a minimum because people would just linger and pull the leaves and flowers off the azaleas.
prisons are full of people that were brought up without common sense, or could careless about about anybody but themselfs. I hope your kids dont have to spend too much time in jail because of YOUR attitude
what solved it was when i stopped a couple of the repeat offenders to show them my police issue tazer. i showed them how accurate it was from my porch to the end of my property, and a video on my phone of the effects it has on the human body on full charge. they haven't been back since, neither have their little gangster wannabe friends.
the only way to get through a teenagers thick head is to be stern, and show that you are serious. otherwise they will continue with their "I don't care.. i do what i want" attitude.
Parents like you end up with bombs being built in the garage and you telling the news crew in the aftermath "But I asked Jimmy nicely not to build that bomb, I thought that did it"
Is there another way you can keep your dog safe from others and others safe from your dog? If he could bite someone in your yard couldn't he bite someone on the sidewalk?
You must not be paying attention to health in the news. Children don't get enough exercise and should walk. Most pools require an adult to be with children under the age of 16 so the parent should accompanying them. If they can't, maybe you should volunteer to be the adult that goes with them to the pool. Don't put in a pathway. If they trip and hurt themselves their parents will sue you. Be glad you do not have the problem described by some of those posting experiences here. You must live in a 55+ community?
45 age or IQ?; or are you just kidding and we don't get your humor?
If that doesn't work, invite some ranting homeless people to set up a shanty town along the edges of your property.
darla hamilton
just remembering
If you want to avoid a prescriptive easement, you can rope off the perimeter of your property one day per year and place "Private Property- No public entry without permission" signs by the rope fence. A lawyer or your insurance company can provide you with the required steps to take. You have to be there to enforce it, but for such an important benefit, it is not much of an effort.
American Bulldog and my 70 lb bull terrier make sure no one thinks of jumping the fence !!!
I can tell you what happened after you talked with their parents , they (the parents) probably laughed at you behind your back and told the kids that just keep doing it because you don't have any rights. I know this from experience. It can really be a bother. I would say the fence thing or at the time these kids go past your house to make sure to have a plan to do something outside the home. Cheaper than a fence, until you can get the funds anyways. Good Luck! TJeany
Sprinklers, fences and shrubs may have done the trick.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000071NUS/ref=asc_df_B00...
I found Amazon was the cheapest place to purchase it.
You can watch videos on Youtube of it at work on birds, and cats. It is awesome. The only problem that I can see is that you say they are going to the pool so they probably will not mind getting wet.
Hope this helps.
Or how about just a plain old picket fence...with a sign, "All trespassers will whitewash fence" haha
Good Luck!