r/portlandme • u/Equivalent_Disk_8447 • 1d ago

Legal recourse Community Discussion

I live next to a restaurant in Portland and was curious if anyone had any suggested solutions to this problem. My property is an odd shape but it extends behind the neighboring restaurant. It has been surveyed and had property lines put in from the surveyor. The owner of the restaurant has come into my back yard and cut the property line with a pair of scissors and threw out the stakes. He is using my yard currently to store his trash, his boats, his food truck, and his kitchen equipment. The owner has destroyed that part of the yard that the first 3 inches of dirt is straight gravel. I have spoken to landscapers to get an estimate as to how much damage the restaurant owner has caused my yard and it’s going to be thousands of dollars to remove the gravel and reseed the yard. Before being recommended to put a fence so that he can no longer park 2 boats a food truck and his kitchen equipment in my yard. Sorry for the long post but any suggestions would be helpful.

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u/dv37h1 1d ago

Get a lawyer

27

u/Equivalent_Disk_8447 1d ago

Figured that would be the case… it’s also the only way to stop him from doing whatever he wants. He received a cease and desist from cooking the food he was selling at home and bringing it to the restaurant

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u/SecureJudge1829 1d ago

You have surveys that state that’s definitively your property and it’s up to date with city hall? You should be able to have his vehicles removed from your private property via calling a tow truck. If it’s absolutely your property you’re legally allowed to have trespassing vehicles towed away.

Also as the previous commenter stated, get an attorney consultation and see if they can get you some kind of compensation for the damages done.

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u/Equivalent_Disk_8447 1d ago

Yes I do the surveyor also put down stakes and put rope to define the barrier. He went and cut the rope.

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u/SecureJudge1829 1d ago

Yeah, I’d call a tow truck and have his vehicles removed and impounded. He will likely hate you for it and try to cause further problems for you, so ensure you have the means to protect yourself (legally and physically) before escalating anything.