The state of Texas details its no trespassing laws in its Penal Code in Title 7 Chapter 30. I've included the most important sections of the document below. In short, a fence on rural property alone is notice that the land should not be entered. However, you can deter further and avoid any confusion by placing signs on your property.
Trespassing is a Class B offense unless a firearm is involved and then it is a Class A misdemeanor. The lowest misdemeanor is a C which is just punished by a $500 fine. The highest is an A which can carry a $4,000 fine and jail time. The full breakdown is included at the end of this post.
Penal Code Detail
A person commits an offense if the person enters or remains on or in property of another, including residential land, agricultural land, a recreational vehicle park, a building, or an aircraft or other vehicle, without effective consent and the person:
(1) had notice that the entry was forbidden; or
(2) received notice to depart but failed to do so.
2) "Notice" means:
(A) oral or written communication by the owner or someone with apparent authority to act for the owner;
(B) fencing or other enclosure obviously designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock;
(C) a sign or signs posted on the property or at the entrance to the building, reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders, indicating that entry is forbidden;
(D) the placement of identifying purple paint marks on trees or posts on the property, provided that the marks are:
(i) vertical lines of not less than eight inches in length and not less than one inch in width;
(ii) placed so that the bottom of the mark is not less than three feet from the ground or more than five feet from the ground; and
(iii) placed at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching the property and no more than:
(a) 100 feet apart on forest land; or
(b) 1,000 feet apart on land other than forest land; or
(E) the visible presence on the property of a crop grown for human consumption that is under cultivation, in the process of being harvested, or marketable if harvested at the time of entry.
Class of Crime
An offense under this section is:
(1) a Class B misdemeanor, except as provided by Subdivisions (2) and (3);
(2) a Class C misdemeanor, except as provided by Subdivision (3), if the offense is committed:
(A) on agricultural land and within 100 feet of the boundary of the land; or
(B) on residential land and within 100 feet of a protected freshwater area; and
(3) a Class A misdemeanor if:
(A) the offense is committed:
(i) in a habitation or a shelter center;
(ii) on a Superfund site; or
(iii) on or in a critical infrastructure facility; or
(B) the person carries a deadly weapon during the commission of the offense.
Punishment
Sec. 12.21. CLASS A MISDEMEANOR. An individual adjudged guilty of a Class A misdemeanor shall be punished by:
(1) a fine not to exceed $4,000;
(2) confinement in jail for a term not to exceed one year; or
(3) both such fine and confinement.
Sec. 12.22. CLASS B MISDEMEANOR. An individual adjudged guilty of a Class B misdemeanor shall be punished by:
(1) a fine not to exceed $2,000;
(2) confinement in jail for a term not to exceed 180 days; or
(3) both such fine and confinement.
Sec. 12.23. CLASS C MISDEMEANOR. An individual adjudged guilty of a Class C misdemeanor shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500.
While driving out to our property today, we found a snake in the road. The snake looked to have had its head run over by a passing car. From what I can tell from this website, it is just a rat snake.
According to Wikipedia, these snakes can get up to 5 foot long and longer. They have quite a bit of variation in their color and pattern but always have a solid gray head. Unfortunately, my picture of the head of this one is not that great but it does appear to be gray.
The rate snake can be appear rather aggressive approaching humans with their mouth open. The also hit their tail against rocks and trees when encountered to make a rattle type sounds.
This is the first rat snake I've seen before. I figure I'll track the types of snakes I encounter here for future reference.
We received the completed survey back on the property yesterday morning. The property is technically two tracts which are 9.849 and 20.780 acres for a total of 30.629 acres. What does not make sense is the surveyor says the total land area is 30.70 acres. We questioned it but he confirmed it is correct even though the two tracts don't add up to the total.
We were not required to obtain a survey but decided to do so and split the cost with the seller. The seller had a plat from 1974 which showed the original division of 200 acres into smaller tracts. The bank would have used this but we wanted to make sure everything was correct and have markers placed everywhere. We figured we would want it done at some point and right now could negotiate the buyer paying half.
We made a quick stop by the land today as we were in the area. We obviously could not enter but I wanted to see the survey markers. The surveyor added a couple of new markers and they look like the following:
He found existing markers in locations which look like the following. They are a little small and look like he had to dig them up. He put a T post at each spot so they would be easier to see.
The survey indicates he put a few markers with his surveyor code on them along the back side. We don't have access to the land yet so I can see those.
I've heard of people putting the survey markers in concrete so they are not easily moved. I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not. I'd hate to cause a problem by tampering with the surveyor's work and have a good survey to handle any dispute. However, putting them in cement would not be all the difficult.
At this point, we have almost everything we need to close. The title company is just getting some final details from the bank. We will then be able to set a closing date but unfortunately it will not be 5/31/16 as originally expected.
The land we are contracted to buy has a small pond. I'm quite happy that there is surface water but the pond is one of the few shortcomings with the property.
The following is a picture of the pond from the property listing.
As I said, its nice to have the pond but...
1) The pond is a little on the small side to hold fish.
2) The pond seems a constant tan color from the sandy soil in the area.
3) The water level seems to stay at the height show above even after getting about eight inches of rain.
After we close on the property, I'd like to put some form of measuring stick in the middle to see how deep it is and how much water is lost through the hot summer. Until then, I'mtrying to learn what I can about making the pond a little better. A few of the resources I'm looking through are:
USDA Pond Planning and Design
Pond Boss Forum
