Looking for opinions on how to proceed, the property is in Pinellas County, Clearwater to be exact.
I purchased a property a few weeks ago to rehab and have had nothing but problems with the next door neighbor. Before I purchased the property, upon introducing myself to the neighbor, the first words out of her mouth were "oh, we are going to have problems". She proceeded to tell me the property I was buying was partially on her property (she is actually only the tenant, not even the owner. She claims she is in the process of buying the house but she is still just the tenant). After hearing about this potential issue I had a survey ordered, as I would not have proceeded with the purchase if my house was encroaching on another property.
The survey came back and showed my property was okay, I have about 6 inches between the edge of my property and the edge of the property line. I even located the owner and explained over the phone that I would be fixing it up, she said she had no problem with me standing on her property to do the repairs I needed (mainly removing a wall AC unit and patching the hole, and then painting). At the time I knew I would be better getting a written signed approval but she stated that wasn't necessary.
I purchased the property but every time my guys are there working, the tenant is there watching out the window like a hawk. Any time anyone comes anywhere close to the property line she comes out of her house and tells them to not step foot on her property or else she will call the cops.
In an attempt to get things done appropriately, I called the non-emergency police line and asked them to come out where I quickly did the repairs necessary on the side close to the property line (figuring it was better to call the cops myself than to have the cops called ON me). The tenant was adamant to the cop that I was not allowed on the property and that the owner told her to call the cops anytime I stepped foot on the property. Long story short I was not able to do work that day, turns out the tenant had also called code enforcement and told them I was doing things without pulling a permit so code enforcement came out and gave me a red tag (even though code enforcement never actually put a notice or anything on my house/door). I only figured it out because the tenant told the cop I had a stop work order and he called the building department.
I am in the process of getting the stop work order part cleared up, pulling any permits necessary to stay out of trouble from that standpoint. In the meantime, the tenant has also run off the termite tenting company who came to tent my property for termites. I was out of town when they came, but the tenant would not allow them on that side of the property to fully close off the tent (there is a small wooden fence on one side and then a makeshift mesh fence she put up on the other side, preventing me from accessing that side of my property).
So after the long story above, I don't know the best way to proceed in order to get my property fixed up. I still need to tent the property, and replace siding and paint that side of the house. I will also be putting up a fence ON the property line (the current fence shows 1.4 feet onto my property) and I am sure that will be an issue. I managed to talk to the owner again and she changed her statement and now will not give me access. She claims she is selling the property and just can't let me, although she doesn't have a good reason.
The tenant herself is the biggest B^%$ in the world and is just out to screw up this entire job. She claims that side of the property (formerly a garage) was enclosed without permits back in 1993, and that I am going to have to tear it down, although the building department and code enforcement don't care one bit about that.
My only choice so far regarding the painting/siding repair is to quickly have my guys do it one day when I am there, and just deal with the cops when they come.
Is there any other legal actions I can take in order to access this section of my house and get the work done? It is literally only 6 inches so in reality we will have to have our feet on the other property slightly in order to do the work.
What would you do in this situation?
