I need an answer but don't know where to look on the internet. Has anyone got any ideas about this?
There is about 800 feet of fence between us and a neighbor. The neighbor recently put up a new fence. When ever a tree had grown up on the lot line he put the fence on our side thus putting the trees on his side of the fence. In most cases this meant a foot or more of our property on his side of the fence.
I believe the law used to say if the fence remained there for 20 years, the land on his side was the neighbors.
This means that the neighbor took aboutg 800 square feet of land. That/'s a lot of land. Does anyone know where I can find out what we can do about this.
And you can seek out the low mortgage rates to have a reason for the survey. It may pay for itself in the long run by many, many dollars. That way there will only be hard feelings because the neighbor is not a nice person. I wouldn't lose one inch of property with the taxes we pay!
Have you talked to this neighbor? Not confrontationally, but just asking about his/her actions? I would, as a lay person, point out that the property line had been compromised, and even if you didn't care about those extra feet, later real estate transfers would turn into a tangle. You might be able to resolve this by agreeing to share the cost of cutting down the trees involved. He/she might even be trying to spare you maintenance of the trees. :-) The more peacefully this can be worked out, the less expensive it will be, IMHO.
As others have said, you need to get a survey. The survey will establish the lot line. Until you have the survey, you are just guessing where the line is. If you can establish that the fence was placed on your property, then you can talk to the neighbor and let him know what your feel is an acceptable solution -- move the fence, sell or lease him the property, etc. If you can't come to a satisfactory resolution, then I would get an attorney. In addition, I would check with the local building authority. Many jurisdictions have zoning resolutions that dictate the type of fence that is acceptable. There are generally set back requirements and often permits are required. In some cases a survey is required and the property corners and lot line must be marked and the marks must remain in place until the final inspection is done by the building inspector. If a permit is required, then your building department may take care of the problem without any effort or expense on your part. In our state, the county auditor's offices are placing real-estate records online. You can do a property search and then access an aerial photo of the property with the lot lines marked. If the old fence was in place when the picture was taken you can get an idea of where it was in relationship to the lot line. That would give you an idea of how likely it is that the new fence is on your property. You might check you county's website to see if that option is available to you.
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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.
I appreciate what your mother went through... I followed the thread here last month... but
#1 It cost $5000 and was not instantly thrown out, but did your mother actually lose the case? Did she have to relinquish the land?
#2 For every landowner who experiences the nightmare your mother did, there are 100 more who hear about it and are convinced they too will lose their land simply because their neighbor has a habit of mowing a 2 foot strip on the wrong side of the lot line.
Bottom line: the common law principle of adverse possession is mainly intended to allow squatters to obtain neglected or abandoned property simply by treating it as their own without being challenged. It is not intended to be used with owner-occupied property where there's an active dispute as to who owns what.
In the case of lot line encroachments... all you have to do to protect against adverse possession is to grant explicit permission for the neighbor to encroach. If you've done a survey and neighbor's fence is on your land, but you don't mind and don't need it removed, then get a survey copy showing lot lines & encroaching fence, add a statement granting neighbor permission to have a fence there, sign it and get neighbor to sign it.
Of course the neighbor can still take you to court if they don't agree with the survey and think there is no encroachment. But the document will prevent them from successfully claiming adverse possession.
It's kind of like common-law marriage. The court can't rule that two people are in a common-law marriage, against their will. Common-law marriage exists only when the spouses BOTH claim they are married and nobody disagrees with them. Likewise -- you can only claim land by adverse possession if you state that you've taken over the land as yours for 20 years, and *nobody disagrees with you* including the current owner if the owner can be located.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.
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