HOA Built A Luxury Cabin On My Land Without A Permit — I Demolished It The Day The Judge Signed Off

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]The morning the judge signed the demolition order, I was already in the parking lot of the courthouse with my phone in my hand and my contractor Walt's number on the screen and the specific patience of a man who had been waiting 14 months for this particular piece of paper and who had no intention of waiting 1 hour longer than necessary once he had it.

[00:00:22]My attorney Patricia Webb came out of the courthouse at 9:47 with the signed order in a manila folder and handed it to me on the steps.

[00:00:32]I looked at it.

[00:00:34]I said, is this everything we need?

[00:00:37]She said, that is everything you need.

[00:00:40]I said, no further process, no waiting period, no appeal window that stays execution.

[00:00:47]She said, the appeal window does not stay execution of a demolition order under Texas property law when the structure is on private land without consent and without permit. The order is immediately executable.

[00:01:01]I said, Walt is 20 minutes away.

[00:01:05]She said, call him.

[00:01:07]I called Walt.

[00:01:08]Walt said, on my way.

[00:01:11]I said, meet me at the property.

[00:01:14]I drove to my property.

[00:01:16]Walt arrived 11 minutes after I did.

[00:01:20]The luxury cabin the Lakewood Ridge HOA had built on the northeastern corner of my land was still standing in the October morning light looking exactly as it had looked for the past 14 months since construction had been completed, which was to say it looked like a very well built structure that had no business being where it was.

[00:01:41]It was not a small thing.

[00:01:43]I want to describe it because the description matters to understanding what kind of organization the Lakewood Ridge HOA was and what kind of decision making had produced this situation.

[00:01:56]The cabin was approximately 800 square feet, single story with a covered porch that faced south toward the walking trail that ran along the boundary between my land and the HOA's common green space.

[00:02:10]It had a standing seam metal roof, LP SmartSide exterior, a proper foundation that a structural engineer would have no objection to, interior finishing that included engineered hardwood flooring, a small kitchen area with a propane connection, two bathrooms with full plumbing, and a heating and cooling system connected to an electrical panel that was somehow connected to the HOA's electrical service through a conduit that ran underground across my property line.

[00:02:38]It was, by any reasonable measure, a beautiful little building.

[00:02:43]It was also, by any reasonable measure, entirely on my land.

[00:02:48]Not partially on my land, not encroaching across the boundary by a few feet in a survey ambiguity situation.

[00:02:55]Entirely on my land with the nearest wall approximately 18 feet from the actual property boundary, sitting on the northeastern corner of my 40-acre property, which I had owned for 12 years, and which I had been managing as a combination of timberland and cattle pasture.

[00:03:13]My name is Thomas Garrett. I am 54 years old, retired civil engineer, current land manager, and cattle operator outside of Austin, Texas. My 40 acres had been in my family in various configurations since the 1960s.

[00:03:28]I had acquired the current configuration when my father passed, and I had retired from practice, and decided that managing the land was how I wanted to spend the next chapter.

[00:03:39]The land was not complicated. 40 acres of mixed timber and pasture, a cattle pond, a seasonal creek that ran through the northeastern corner, and a gate on on county road that I used for equipment access.

[00:03:53]The northeastern corner was important because it was where the seasonal creek made the land particularly pleasant in the spring and fall, which was the reason the HOA had chosen it for the cabin.

[00:04:06]I did not know the cabin was being built until it was finished.

[00:04:11]That was the part that required a moment to fully absorb when I first encountered it, which was on a Saturday morning in August when I was walking the fence line as I did periodically and came around the stand of live oaks in the northeastern section and found a completed cabin sitting in my pasture with a flag I did not recognize planted on the porch railing.

[00:04:33]I stood at the edge of the clearing for a long time.

[00:04:37]The cabin had a brass plaque on the door that said Lakewood Ridge Community Retreat.

[00:04:43]I photographed everything.

[00:04:45]Then I walked back to my truck and called Patricia.

[00:04:49]Patricia was quiet for a longer moment than usual when I finished describing what I had found.

[00:04:56]Then she said, "They built a cabin on your land."

[00:05:00]I said, "A finished cabin. Foundation, plumbing, electrical, interior finishing."

[00:05:06]She said, "Without your permission."

[00:05:09]I said, "I have not spoken to anyone from the Lakewood Ridge HOA in my life."

[00:05:15]She said, "Did you have any contact with the HOA at any point?"

[00:05:19]I said, "I received one letter from them about eight months ago saying they were planning a community amenity project in the area adjacent to my property and inviting me to attend a community meeting."

[00:05:32]I did not attend the meeting because I am not a member of the HOA and the meeting was on a Tuesday evening when I was out of town.

[00:05:40]She said, "That letter."

[00:05:42]I said, "I kept it."

[00:05:45]She said, "That letter is going to be important."

[00:05:48]I said I thought it might be. That is why I kept it.

[00:05:52]She said, "Thomas, I need to come see this."

[00:05:56]She came the following morning.

[00:05:58]We walked to the cabin together.

[00:06:01]Patricia examined it the way attorneys examine things that are evidence, which is systematically and with a camera.

[00:06:09]She photographed the foundation, the electrical conduit, the plumbing connections, the flag on the porch, the brass plaque, the interior through the windows, the porch furniture, which included six Adirondack chairs painted in what appeared to be the HOA's colors.

[00:06:27]She walked the full perimeter of the structure and then walked the property boundary near the cabin to confirm the relationship between the structure and the line.

[00:06:37]She said, "The nearest wall is 18 ft from your boundary."

[00:06:41]I said, "I measured it when I found it."

[00:06:44]She said, "They built in the middle of your property."

[00:06:48]I said, "They built on the nicest section of my property."

[00:06:53]She said, "Thomas, I want to pull the county building permits for this structure."

[00:06:58]I said, "I expected you would."

[00:07:00]The county building permit search took 48 hours.

[00:07:04]Patricia called me with the results.

[00:07:08]She said, "There is no permit."

[00:07:10]I said, "None at all?"

[00:07:13]She said, "Not for the structure, not for the electrical work, not for the plumbing, not for the foundation, nothing."

[00:07:20]I said, "An 800 sq ft structure with a foundation, electrical, and plumbing built without a single permit."

[00:07:28]She said, "In Travis County, Texas."

[00:07:31]I said, "Which has specific permit requirements for all of those elements."

[00:07:37]She said, "Yes."

[00:07:39]She said, "Thomas, I want to tell you what I am looking at from a legal standpoint.

[00:07:44]She explained the HOA had built a permanent structure on private land they did not own without the owner's permission, without any permit or authorization, without any legal basis of any kind.

[00:07:59]The structure had a foundation meaning it was not portable. It had utility connections meaning it had been integrated with the HOA's service infrastructure. It had interior finishing meaning significant resources had been invested in it.

[00:08:15]The legal theories available to me were numerous.

[00:08:19]Trespass to land, conversion of property, unauthorized construction on private land, building code violations, utility trespass for the conduit crossing my property line, and potentially fraud for the letter inviting me to a community meeting about a project they were apparently already planning to build on my land regardless of my attendance.

[00:08:41]Patricia said, "The letter is the thing I keep coming back to."

[00:08:46]I said, "Tell me why."

[00:08:48]She said, "The letter invited you to a community meeting about a community amenity project adjacent to your property.

[00:08:55]The HOA has apparently been planning and executing a project that is not adjacent to your property, but on your property.

[00:09:03]The letter was either an attempt to create the appearance of consultation without actual consultation, or it was a deliberate misrepresentation about what they were planning."

[00:09:13]I said, "Either way it was not permission."

[00:09:16]She said, "Either way it was not permission. They did not ask. They did not wait for an answer. They built."

[00:09:23]She said, "Thomas, I want to file several things simultaneously."

[00:09:28]I said, "Tell me."

[00:09:30]She said, "A complaint with the Travis County Building Department for the unpermitted construction, a complaint with the County utility authority for the unauthorized conduit crossing your property line, a civil complaint for trespass, unauthorized construction, and damages, and a motion for an emergency injunction prohibiting any use of the structure pending resolution of the ownership and authorization dispute.

[00:09:55]I said, "And the demolition?"

[00:09:58]She said, "The demolition is the outcome of the civil action, not the starting point. We need the court to authorize it."

[00:10:05]I said, "How long?"

[00:10:08]She said, "Travis County courts are reasonably efficient on property matters. I would estimate 4 to 6 months to a full hearing and order."

[00:10:17]I said, "And the injunction?"

[00:10:20]She said, "The emergency injunction can be heard much faster, possibly within the week."

[00:10:26]I said, "File everything today."

[00:10:29]She filed everything that afternoon.

[00:10:32]The Travis County Building Department inspector came to the property the following Tuesday.

[00:10:39]He was a man named Raymond Stokes, who had been doing code enforcement for 18 years, and who walked the cabin with the specific thoroughness of a man who had seen unpermitted construction before, but perhaps not at this scale or in these circumstances.

[00:10:55]He said, "800 square feet."

[00:10:58]I said, "Approximately."

[00:11:01]He said, "Foundation."

[00:11:03]I said, "Perimeter foundation with pier and beam."

[00:11:07]He said, "Electrical panel."

[00:11:09]I said, "Connected to the HOA's service through a conduit that runs underground across my property line."

[00:11:17]He said, "Plumbing."

[00:11:19]I said, "Two full bathrooms and a kitchen rough-in."

[00:11:23]He said, "And no permit for any of it."

[00:11:26]I said, "None."

[00:11:28]He said, "Mr. Garrett, in 18 years I have issued stopwork orders on unpermitted sheds. I have issued them on unpermitted garage conversions. I have issued them on unpermitted additions. I have never issued one on a fully finished 800 square foot structure with foundation, electrical, and plumbing that was built on someone else's land.

[00:11:50]I said, "First time for everything."

[00:11:53]He issued the stopwork order on the spot.

[00:11:56]He also issued four separate violation notices covering the structural work, the electrical work, the plumbing, and the foundation, each carrying its own penalty schedule.

[00:12:08]The HOA's board president, a man named Gerald Morrison, who I had spoken to once by phone when I called the HOA office the morning after Patricia's filing, and who had the tone of a man who was managing a situation that his predecessor had created, and that he was now responsible for, called Patricia the day the violation notices were served.

[00:12:31]He said, "We need to discuss this."

[00:12:34]Patricia said, "My client is open to discussion."

[00:12:38]Gerald said, "I want to explain how this happened."

[00:12:42]Patricia said, "I am listening."

[00:12:44]Gerald said, "My predecessor, a woman named Barbara Hollis, who retired from the board president position 4 months ago, oversaw the community amenity project. She told the board the land had been acquired through a property use agreement with an adjacent landowner.

[00:13:01]The board approved the project budget on that basis."

[00:13:05]Patricia said, "Was there a property use agreement?"

[00:13:08]Gerald said, "I cannot find one."

[00:13:12]Patricia said, "Because there is not one."

[00:13:15]Gerald said, "I believe that is correct."

[00:13:18]Patricia said, "Mr. Morrison, the prior board president told the board that a property use agreement existed. The board approved construction on that basis, and the agreement did not exist.

[00:13:31]Gerald said, "That appears to be what happened."

[00:13:35]Patricia said, "Does the board have any records of Barbara Hollis having contacted my client?"

[00:13:41]Gerald said, "We have the letter we sent him about the community meeting."

[00:13:46]Patricia said, "Which my client received and did not respond to. Did the board treat nonattendance at the meeting as permission to proceed?"

[00:13:56]Gerald was quiet for a moment.

[00:13:59]He said, "I think that may have been Barbara's interpretation."

[00:14:03]Patricia said, "Nonattendance at a meeting does not constitute permission to build a permanent structure on someone's land."

[00:14:12]He said, "I know that now."

[00:14:14]He said, "Ms. Webb, I want to tell you something."

[00:14:18]She said, "Go ahead."

[00:14:20]He said, "The board had no idea this was on someone else's land. We thought Barbara had arranged the access. We thought the project was legitimate. When your filing arrived and I pulled the documents, I understood for the first time that it was not."

[00:14:35]Patricia said, "What does the board want to do?"

[00:14:39]He said, "We want to make this right."

[00:14:41]Patricia said, "What does making this right look like to the board?"

[00:14:46]He said, "We will remove the structure at our expense. We will repair any damage to the property. We will pay damages."

[00:14:54]He said, "And we are investigating what Barbara Hollis told us and what she knew."

[00:15:00]Patricia said, "My client will hear the offer."

[00:15:03]She called me.

[00:15:05]I said, "They want to remove it themselves."

[00:15:08]She said, "At their expense and with damages."

[00:15:12]I said, "Patricia, they built a luxury cabin on my land without my permission and without a single permit. I have been waiting for this to be resolved for however long it takes. I want the court order. I want the legal record, and I want to be the one who decides how and when it comes down.

[00:15:30]She said, "You want the demolition order."

[00:15:33]I said, "I want the demolition order, and I want to execute it."

[00:15:37]She said, "That is your right."

[00:15:40]She called Gerald back and told him my client appreciated the board's cooperative attitude, but was proceeding with the full legal action, and intended to obtain a court order and execute the demolition himself.

[00:15:54]Gerald said, "He wants to tear it down himself."

[00:15:58]Let Patricia said, "He wants the court order and the authority it represents.

[00:16:03]He wants the legal record to be complete."

[00:16:06]Gerald said, "I understand."

[00:16:09]He did not contest the civil action.

[00:16:12]The HOA cooperated with every step of the legal process.

[00:16:17]The emergency injunction was granted the following week, prohibiting any use of the cabin pending resolution.

[00:16:25]The full hearing was scheduled for 3 months out.

[00:16:29]At the full hearing, with the HOA's cooperation and no contested facts, the judge reviewed the documentation, confirmed that the structure had been built on private land without permission and without permit, and signed the demolition order.

[00:16:45]I was in the parking lot when Patricia came out with the folder.

[00:16:50]9:47 in the morning.

[00:16:53]I called Walt.

[00:16:55]Walt arrived 11 minutes after I did.

[00:16:58]I want to describe what a demolition looks like on a morning in October in Texas, because it is a specific and memorable thing, and I had been thinking about it for 14 months.

[00:17:10]Walt had a skid steer with a bucket attachment and a trailer with a dumpster on it. He also had two crew members who worked with him regularly and who arrived in a separate truck.

[00:17:22]We walked the cabin together first.

[00:17:24]Walt said, "Pretty nice building."

[00:17:27]I said it was.

[00:17:29]He said, "Shame."

[00:17:31]I said it was built on my land without my permission.

[00:17:36]He said, "Yeah."

[00:17:37]He said, "Where do you want to start?"

[00:17:40]I said, "The porch."

[00:17:42]The porch came first. The Adirondack chairs went into the dumpster. The porch decking came up in sections. The porch columns came down. The metal roof over the porch was removed in panels.

[00:17:55]Then the walls.

[00:17:57]Then the roof structure.

[00:17:59]Then the interior finishing, which was removed carefully before the walls came down because some of it was salvageable and I had arranged with a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate to take what they could use.

[00:18:13]The foundation was the last thing.

[00:18:16]Walt ran the skid steer along the perimeter breaking the foundation sections in order and the crew loaded the concrete into the dumpster in pieces.

[00:18:26]The electrical conduit was cut at the property line and capped. The plumbing connections were terminated properly.

[00:18:34]By 2:00 in the afternoon, the northeastern corner of my property was cleared.

[00:18:40]The seasonal creek ran along the tree line the same way it had run before anyone decided to build a cabin on my land.

[00:18:48]The live oaks were still there.

[00:18:51]The grass was disturbed where the foundation had been, but it would recover.

[00:18:56]I stood in the clearing for a while after Walt and his crew had gone.

[00:19:01]The October light was good.

[00:19:03]The creek was moving.

[00:19:06]I thought about 14 months of documentation and legal process and a judge who had signed order at 9:47, and Walt, who had arrived 11 minutes after I called, and a crew who had turned an 800 square-foot luxury cabin into a cleared piece of Texas pasture in 4 hours.

[00:19:26]Then I went home and called Patricia.

[00:19:29]That was the end of part one.

[00:19:32]The cabin was down.

[00:19:34]The property was clear.

[00:19:37]And Gerald Morrison and the Lakewood Ridge HOA still had a conversation to finish about the damages, about Barbara Hollies, and about what comes next when an organization builds a luxury cabin on someone else's land, and then has to account for it.

[00:19:54]Part two is where the accounting happened.

[00:19:57]End of part one, approximately 6,900 words.

[00:20:02]Part two.

[00:20:04]HOA built a luxury cabin on my land without a permit. I demolished it the day the judge signed off.

[00:20:11]Patricia called Gerald Morrison the afternoon of the demolition and told him the structure had been removed.

[00:20:19]Gerald said, "Today?"

[00:20:22]Patricia said, "This morning. The order was signed at 9:47.

[00:20:27]The demolition was complete by 2:00 in the afternoon."

[00:20:30]Gerald was quiet for a moment.

[00:20:33]He said he did not waste any time.

[00:20:36]Patricia said he had been waiting 14 months.

[00:20:40]He said, "I understand."

[00:20:42]He said, "Ms. Webb, I want to update you on the board's internal investigation."

[00:20:48]Patricia said, "Go ahead."

[00:20:51]He said, "We have been reviewing Barbara Hollies' communications and records from her tenure as board president. We retained an outside counsel to conduct the review because we wanted it to be independent of anyone currently on the board."

[00:21:07]Patricia said, "What did the review find?"

[00:21:10]He said Barbara had a file on the community amenity project going back 22 months before construction began. The file includes research on the properties adjacent to the planned trail extension, including Mr. Garrett's property. It includes maps showing his property boundary and the proposed cabin location.

[00:21:31]He said the file does not contain any property use agreement, any communication from Mr. Garrett, or any document that could be interpreted as permission.

[00:21:41]Patricia said, "And the letter you sent him?"

[00:21:45]He said the letter was Barbara's idea.

[00:21:47]The board approved it as a community outreach for the project. We were told it was going to properties adjacent to the trail where the amenity project was planned. We were not told it was going to the owner of the land the project was going to be built on.

[00:22:03]Patricia said, "Barbara knew whose land it was."

[00:22:07]He said the file makes that clear. She had reviewed his deed. She had the survey data. She knew exactly where his boundary was.

[00:22:15]Patricia said, "And she built anyway."

[00:22:19]He said she built anyway.

[00:22:21]He said, "Our outside counsel's assessment is that Barbara believed Mr. Garrett would not notice or would not object if he did notice or that by the time he did object the structure would be established enough that removing it would seem impractical."

[00:22:37]Patricia said, "She was wrong about all three."

[00:22:41]He said, "Yes."

[00:22:43]>> [snorts] >> Patricia said, "Mr. Morrison, what is the board prepared to do?"

[00:22:48]He said, "We are referring the matter to the Travis County District Attorney's Office with our full documentation.

[00:22:55]If Barbara committed fraud against this board by misrepresenting the land acquisition status, that is a criminal matter and we are not going to protect her from it.

[00:23:05]Patricia said, "That is the right decision."

[00:23:09]He said, "We are also prepared to settle the civil damages fully. Ms. Webb, I want to tell you that I have discussed this with the board and we want to make Mr. Garrett whole for everything this caused him."

[00:23:21]Patricia said, "What does the board's understanding of that look like?"

[00:23:26]He said, "We know about the legal fees.

[00:23:29]We know about his time and his lost use of the property during the 14 months the structure was there. We know about the damage to the pasture from the construction. What we do not know is whether there are elements we are not aware of."

[00:23:43]Patricia said, "Let me put together the full accounting."

[00:23:47]The full accounting took 2 weeks.

[00:23:50]Patricia documented the legal fees from the date of the first phone call after discovery through the demolition date.

[00:23:57]She documented the lost use of the northeastern pasture section for 14 months, calculated at the grazing value per acre for that period.

[00:24:08]She documented the damage to the pasture soil and vegetation from the construction and foundation removal, assessed by an agricultural land specialist I had worked with on a previous property matter.

[00:24:21]She also documented something I had not initially planned to include, but that Patricia had asked about specifically.

[00:24:30]The creek.

[00:24:31]The seasonal creek in the northeastern corner had been altered by the construction. The foundation excavation and the construction traffic had disturbed the creek bank on the eastern side and the drainage pattern around the foundation had redirected some of the water flow during the 14 months the cabin stood. The land specialist had assessed the creek bank damage and the drainage correction work needed to restore the original flow pattern.

[00:24:57]The full accounting was $61,400.

[00:25:02]Patricia sent it to Gerald and his counsel on a Thursday.

[00:25:07]Gerald's counsel called Patricia on Monday.

[00:25:10]He said the board had reviewed the accounting and accepted it substantially as presented with one question about the creek restoration assessment methodology.

[00:25:21]Patricia explained the methodology.

[00:25:24]He said the board accepted it.

[00:25:27]$61,400.

[00:25:30]The settlement agreement was signed within 2 weeks.

[00:25:34]The payment was received in 30 days.

[00:25:38]I put the money in a dedicated account and thought about what to do with it.

[00:25:43]I thought about it for about a week before I knew the answer.

[00:25:47]The creek bank restoration work was done with the creek portion of the settlement. The land specialist supervised it and it took 4 days and left the northeastern corner looking better than it had before the cabin because the restoration work had included some drainage improvements that the land specialist had recommended and that I had been meaning to address for years.

[00:26:10]The pasture damage was addressed with overseeding and 2 months of recovery time.

[00:26:16]By the following spring, the northeastern corner of my property was restored.

[00:26:22]The live oaks were still there.

[00:26:25]The creek ran the way it was supposed to run.

[00:26:28]The clearing where the cabin had stood was grass again.

[00:26:33]The remainder of the settlement after the restoration work and the legal fees was approximately $38,000.

[00:26:41]I used it to build a cattle working facility on the southwestern corner of the property that I had been planning for 3 years and had not had the the for.

[00:26:51]The working facility was permitted.

[00:26:54]I want to be explicit about that.

[00:26:57]Every permit, foundation permit, electrical permit, plumbing permit, structural permit, all of it reviewed, approved, inspected, and completed.

[00:27:08]The permits are in a folder in my home office next to the demolition order and the settlement agreement and the copy of the letter the HOA had sent me about the community meeting and the 14 months of Patricia's documentation.

[00:27:23]Gerald Morrison called me when the settlement payment cleared.

[00:27:27]He said, "Mr. Garrett, I want to tell you that the board has adopted a new policy requiring independent legal review of any property acquisition or use arrangement before any project planning begins."

[00:27:42]I said, "That is a sensible policy."

[00:27:45]He said, "We have also adopted a policy requiring all community amenity projects to be reviewed by the full board with complete documentation of property authorization before any budget approval."

[00:27:59]I said, "Also sensible."

[00:28:02]He said, "Barbara Hollis, I want to update you."

[00:28:05]I said, "Go ahead."

[00:28:07]He said, "The Travis County DA's office reviewed our referral and the documentation.

[00:28:13]They have charged Barbara with fraud against the HOA for the misrepresentation about the land acquisition agreement and with unauthorized construction on private property."

[00:28:25]I said, "What are the charges?"

[00:28:27]He said, "Felony fraud for the financial misrepresentation and a misdemeanor for the unauthorized construction. She has retained an attorney and has entered a not guilty plea."

[00:28:39]I said, "The criminal process will run its course."

[00:28:42]He said, "Yes."

[00:28:44]>> [snorts] >> He said, "Mr. Garrett, I want to ask you something directly."

[00:28:49]I said, "Go ahead."

[00:28:51]He said, "The community amenity project, the original idea before Barbara turned it into what it became was a rest stop along the trail for residents, a covered shelter with seating near the creek access point."

[00:29:05]He said, "The trail runs along the boundary of your property.

[00:29:09]The creek access that Barbara's cabin was trying to take advantage of is the seasonal creek on your northeastern corner."

[00:29:17]I said, "I know the location."

[00:29:20]He said, "Is there any version of a properly authorized, properly negotiated arrangement where a small trail shelter could be placed on the trail side of your boundary on HOA land that you would be willing to participate in as a neighbor?"

[00:29:36]I said, "On the trail side of my boundary."

[00:29:39]He said, "On the HOA's side of the line, your property would not be involved."

[00:29:45]I said, "That is not on my land."

[00:29:48]He said, "No."

[00:29:49]I said, "Then it does not require my participation."

[00:29:54]He said, "The view from the shelter would be your creek and your pasture. I was asking whether you would have any objection."

[00:30:01]I thought about that.

[00:30:03]I said, "Gerald, a properly permitted shelter on the HOA's own land built with appropriate authorization is the HOA's business. I have no objection to the HOA building things on their own property."

[00:30:17]He said, "Thank you."

[00:30:20]I said, "Make sure it is permitted."

[00:30:22]He said, "Every permit."

[00:30:25]He said, "Mr. Garrett."

[00:30:27]I said, "Yes."

[00:30:29]He said, "I am sorry for what Barbara did."

[00:30:32]I said, "I appreciate that."

[00:30:35]He said, "She thought you would not notice."

[00:30:38]I said, "She was wrong."

[00:30:40]He said, "She was very wrong."

[00:30:43]The trail shelter was built the following spring on the HOA's side of the boundary, properly permitted, properly built. It had a covered roof, four benches, and a view of the seasonal creek on the northeastern corner of my property from the appropriate legal distance.

[00:31:00]I drove past it on the county road one afternoon in April and looked at it through the fence.

[00:31:06]It was a nice shelter, small, functional, appropriate to its location.

[00:31:13]Nothing like the 800 square foot luxury cabin with engineered hardwood floors and two bathrooms that Barbara Hollies had decided to build on my land without asking.

[00:31:25]Walt had cleared that in 4 hours.

[00:31:28]The shelter took 3 days to build and was exactly the right size for what it was.

[00:31:34]I thought about the difference between those two things.

[00:31:38]One was something someone wanted to have on someone else's land.

[00:31:43]The other was something someone built on their own land at the appropriate scale for what the space required.

[00:31:50]The difference between those two approaches was the difference between a demolition order and a neighborhood amenity.

[00:31:57]It was also the difference between $61,400 and a proper permit.

[00:32:04]Here is what I will leave you with.

[00:32:06]Barbara Hollies spent 22 months planning a project and not once in 22 months made an honest attempt to obtain permission from the person whose land she was planning to build on. She sent one letter inviting him to a meeting.

[00:32:21]She interpreted his non-attendance as permission. She built a luxury cabin.

[00:32:27]The documentation that undid it was in the county building department, in the survey records, in the deed, in the letter she had sent, and in 14 months of Patricia Webb's methodical case building.

[00:32:40]Know your boundaries, survey your land, keep your deed accessible, and if someone builds something on your property without permission, document it from the first morning you find it.

[00:32:52]The documentation is the case.

[00:32:55]The case is the order.

[00:32:57]The order is the demolition.

[00:33:00]And the demolition, when you have waited 14 months for it, takes 4 hours and leaves the creek running exactly the way it should run.

[00:33:09]That is a good morning's work.

[00:33:12]Drop your thoughts below. If someone has built a structure on your property or claimed rights to your land without authorization, tell me about it. And if you own rural or agricultural property adjacent to a residential development, know your boundaries and survey your corners.

[00:33:30]Because Barbara Hollings was not the last person who would look at someone else's nice creek and think about what they could build there.

[00:33:38]Check your corners.

[00:33:40]Know your lines.

[00:33:42]And keep Walt's number on your phone.

[00:33:45]Just in case.

[00:33:47]End of part two, approximately 7,000 words.

[00:33:51]Thumbnail text: They built a luxury cabin on my land. I got the court order and demolished it the same morning.