I was hoping someone could give me some advice. I moved into my house about 6 years ago. At that time I was told approximately where the property line was.

I began caring for the property up to that line and had my neighbors come over and say I was over the line. I tried to be respectful and for the last couple of years we have had a pretty consistent "mow line"

They do encroach, however. We live along a creek and as such get wild animals in our yards. I have a ground hog who lives under my shed and there have been possoms and the like. I feel that these animals have to live somewhere and that living on the creek naturally means we are going to get them. They have felt the need to come onto my property and trap (humane trap) the animals and have the city take them to be released.

We do have different approaches to gardening. They hire a lawn service and I do not. In consequence my lawn does have some weeds in it. I just don't like all those chemicals and prefer to use a more natural approach. My lawn is well kept, however.

The problem is this year. I noticed that the neighbors were violating our "mow line" and mowing about 5 feet further in to my property (as near as I can see, about 5 feet of my property) Now the neighbor tells me he is going to put up flags to tell the chemical company to spray closer to my property line and even over it (by those 5 feet)

How do I defend myself? I do not want to have poor relations with these neighbors but at the same time I need to defend myself. I am a single female and as such maybe they feel they can push me around. I have contacted a surveyer but would really prefer not to go to the expense and would that really take care of the problem? We are both in posession of plat maps and the lines are pretty clear using landmarks visible on the maps. Do I need to have my attorney go after them?

I should add that both of our properties are seperated by about 20 feet of city property. There was supposed to be a road built and it never was. The neighbor treats this property as his and plants trees, etc. on it. He also has appropriated a lot that belongs to someone else but has no access to it.

What do I do? I just want him to stay off my property.

Marie