Yeah, I said slowly. Just got in. He nodded like everything was perfectly normal. Then he tapped the railing proudly. What do you think? That question hung in the air for a second. I glanced up at the beams, then at the support post sitting inside my yard, then back at him. What do I think about what? He chuckled.
The balcony. I tilted my head. Why is your balcony over my backyard? His smile didn’t disappear, but it definitely paused just for a split second. Then he shrugged. It’s just airspace. He said it casually, almost amused, like I had asked why clouds float. It’s not like we’re using your lawn or anything. Now, if you’ve ever had someone say something that sounds completely insane, but they say it with total confidence, you know the feeling. Your brain kind of stalls.
You’re standing there thinking, “Did he really just say that?” I pointed to the post. That support beam is in my yard. He glanced down at it quickly, then waved his hand like it was no big deal. Contractor handled all that. That sentence, I swear to God, every time someone says the contractor handled it, it usually means something very much did not get handled.
I said, “My trees been cut, too.” He leaned over the railing and looked at the maple branches like he was noticing them for the first time. Oh, yeah. They had to clear some space for the deckline. Deckline? like it was some technical necessity of the universe. I took a slow breath. Did anyone ask me about that? He scratched the back of his neck.
I figured it’d be fine. That right there was the moment something shifted inside my head. Not rage. Not yet. Just a realization. He didn’t think this was a problem. He thought it was already settled. Like if you just build something big enough, people will accept it. I didn’t argue with him right there. I just said, “I’ll take a look at my survey.” He nodded.
Sure thing, man. Then he stepped back inside like the conversation was finished. I walked back to my house, grabbed the folder where I kept all the paperwork from when I bought the property, and pulled out the land survey, clear boundary lines, exact measurements. I walked back outside with a tape measure, measured from the fence, then from the post, then from the corner marker I had installed when I built the fence years earlier.
The balcony wasn’t barely crossing the line. It was hanging almost 3 ft over it. and that support post about 2 feet inside my property. I took photos, measured again, took more photos. Then I walked around the maple tree. The branches on one side had been cut back hard, not trimmed, not pruned, just removed to make room for the structure.
They from across the street wandered over while I was standing there. He looked up. Holy hell, he said. Right. I replied. He walked under the balcony squinting. They build this while you were gone. Apparently, he whistled. That’s bold. Bold. That was a polite word for it. That night, I sat at my kitchen table looking through city zoning rules online.
Turns out there are a lot of regulations about where structures can be built. Setbacks, property lines, encroachments, and balconies projecting over another property. Yeah, those get attention real fast. The next morning, I called the city building department. A woman named Carol answered. Calm voice. sounded like she’d heard every kind of neighbor dispute imaginable.
I explained the situation. There was a pause. Then she said, “Can you send photos?” I emailed them over. 10 minutes later, my phone rang. “Sir, that looks like a structural encroachment.” That was the first time I heard that phrase. Structural encroachment, which basically means someone built something where they absolutely were not supposed to.
