Neighbor disputes my property line location

[MiamiCuse]

Just bought a property in Miami-Dade County, Florida and want to build a fence along the property line on my side.

The neighbor has parked a vehicle on the grass with half the car over on my side. The hood is up and the engine is out and he is apparently fixing it in his garage. He has a few other cars parked on his property that are partially disassembled.

I recently had the survey done during the purchase and the surveyor sprayed painted the iron pin locations and one of them is right at a power pole. The survey shows the line is 25 feet from the exterior wall of my house, which is about 7 feet from the exterior wall of his house.

When I mentioned to my new neighbor that I am going to build a fence and whether he mind moving his disassembled vehicle out of the way he said yes no problem. Then later he came back and seemed upset and says he disagrees with where the property line is.

I showed him the spray painted iron pins. I showed him the power pole from the utility company, I showed him my survey and measured from my wall to the spray painted location - 25 feet. He disagrees. He says it should be half way between the two houses. I stated to hiim this is not the case as the property line is defined in the legal description and this is what the survey is going by, and that if he has a survey of his house he should be able to confirm this. He says he does not have a survey.

I said to him he is welcome to hire his own surveyor to check this. I also said when I build the fence, I will be getting a permit and the county will have to approve it and they will not approve it if the fence is on his side. He walked away angry and says he is not going to move the car.

Now I pissed off a new neighbor and have a mess in my hand.

Any advise?

MC

[Edwin Pawlowski]

He should have a deed and the country records will have a deed. That will give a description of the property, possible enough to make a good determination.

While you don't want to piss off a neighbor, the law is the law and there is a legal description of the property. What is a PITA is that you may end up on court over what is probably a bad attitude. Yes, most property lines probably are in the center, but it does n ot have to be.

If he is not interested in helping, you can probably get the deed information from public records.

[jimmy]

Build a high fence.

[Goedjn]

Decide which you value more, a happy neighbor, or your property. You're not going to get both.

[Goedjn]

This is only true if the minimum setbacks pretty much force it. If there's room to offset the house, people frequently do, because a seven-foot yard on one side and a 21 foot yard on the other is a lot more useful than two 14 foot yards.

[badgolferman]

Go to the county office together (or alone) and look at the plans they have there. That should clear up any misunderstandings, although not hurt feelings.

[jimmy]

That is NUTS. Would you give away 9 feet of your property to your neighbor? I doubt it. I say build the fence, 6 feet high, move his car yourself, and if the neighbor wants to sue let him.

Once he realizes he can't intimidate you he will cool off.

[dadiOH]

You're going to build a fence so it doesn't matter if he is pissed or not. Tell him to move the car or lose the half on your side. Probably not legal to have disabled vehicles sitting around anyway.

[m Ransley]

How long has he lived there, has he been cutting the grass, does he have a fence on the line, look up the law Adverse Possession, it could be his land now if he did things right, his car is showing open possession. Go to the city records office you might find his survey there, get a copy and try to be friends and explain it. Some states you need only 5 years , some 20 or 25 to adversly possess land. Did you ever hear of the Hatfields and Mccoys, it happens every day. You should start by cutting your lawn on your land. As far as the car and fence, try to work it out as friends, you will know soon enough his position. Adverse Possession is common. If he wants to steal your land put in some fencing and push his car off, keep your video camera handy you never know what will happen

[Greg M]

My thoughts exactly. Look into the zoning and see if there's something about disabled vehicles. Also, if you're part of some kind of homeowners association, I'd be surprised if there wasn't rules against that.

Greg M

[Andy Asberry]

If someone gets killed using an engine hoist to repair the vehicle, he'll, then, happily point out that it is on your property.

--Andy Asberry recommends NewsGuy--

[Cheri]

Yes, perhaps something involving electricity. ;-) Seriously, it sounds like you tried to be reasonable with your neighbor, but sometimes the "new kid on the block" gets kicked around by the "territorial old heads," unless you stand your ground, which I would. Just because his car is parked there, doesn't mean it should be, it just means nobody has challenged it until now. Good luck.

Cheri

Cheri

[Oren]

Quote:

"The Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser uses the "My Home" Geographic Information System application to provide Real Property information on individual parcels of land. Through the use of up-to-date technology and the Internet, you are now able to search our database and find information on almost any parcel of land in Miami-Dade County. You can view a detailed map of the parcel area and print property information. A text only version is available for a faster response time. Click the button below to begin.''

Link:

I suspect you will be able to view most all you need here to clarify the property bounders. Our local government allows me to see measurements, etc. Let the guy look at his own property on-line.

The guy has to get over it. Do not put your fence or construction debris very (too) close to his property.

BTW, the cars in some neck-of-the-woods are considered "yard ornaments".....

Oren

[Goedjn]

I might, depending on the property in question, and whether the neighbor in question pisses me off.

[Tom G]

My county in N. Illinois, also has on line aerial views of all properties with property lines superimposed. However they point out that the lines are for reference only and not a legal survey. In my case, the lines are a good

20 to 30 feet to the South of where the actual survey that I just had done, shows the real line to be. So I would suspect that Miami/Dade may have a similar warning on their website. In fact in my case, the surveyor pointed out that the hand drawn picture of a circular drive separating my property from my neighbor to the North had been misinterpreted as a full circle coming back toward my house (it leads down to the river) but in reality only circles until it is headed directly towards the river and then from there on is straight. Mute point as it was never actually put in.

Tom G.

[Abe]

Just go to the Miami-Dade property records Web site and look up the parcel maps for you and your neighbors house. You'll be able to determine right quick what the property boundaries are.

[Abe]

Not necessary, all the info is available online:

[Kurt Ullman]

FL appears to be 7 years. Also, interestingly, it may be that he has to pay the taxes on the disputed part during the time of notorious, etc. possession.

In addition, law says the land has to be "protected by substantial enclosure" -- such as a fence -- or "usually cultivated or improved." Putting the car on the area would not be enclosing it.

[zapalac]

"MiamiCuse" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Put up the highest fence premitted. Do it fast. This guy is a jerk. Ask the town what to do about him not moving his car.

[MiamiCuse]

I did that, the aerial maps are not very precise, with tree covering and low resolution, I am only able to tell that there is more room on my side then his side, but nothing that I can use definitively to scale off some distances.

MC