Property lines

Reply to
Goedjn
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Just remember that the stakes aren't always exactly on the property line, so you have to be able to read the survey well enough to tell.

Reply to
Goedjn

Every property I've ever owned has had at least one fence right on the property line -- that's where side and back fences usually go, at least around here. Code does prohibit extending fences *beyond* your own property lines, but fences are specifically *not* covered by the prohibition on structures in the required lot-line setbacks.

Do your neighborhoods really have 100-foot swaths of land between neighbor's back fences, 50 feet on each side of the line? That would make it hard to have a friendly conversation over the back fence, wouldn't it?

Reply to
<josh

Yup the real benchmarks usually follow section lines and such which may not exactly match parcel lines. I still wonder how many are just wrong. The tax map overlay on our property appraiser tax map web site is clearly not what out plats say by about 5&#39;. The road centerlines are accurate (probably how they set it up) but the lot lines on the aerial seem to be wrong.

Reply to
gfretwell

I live in the boonies, and I certainly wouldn&#39;t call it a "neighborhood. I have a couple of acres, but everyone else has at least

5 with most having 50 or more. I&#39;d have to use my car to go find the "neighbor" behind me, if there even is one on the other side of stream and up the huge hill. I can see my side neighbors&#39; houses and the house across the road, but we&#39;d have to walk quite a distance to be able to have a conversation without shouting. No one out here has fences, except around pools, which are not common around here.

I realize it&#39;s much different in the &#39;burbs where land is divided into "lots". However, according to the town building inspector, you&#39;re never allowed to build a fence right on the property line no matter how you&#39;re zoned here. When I was re-building an ancient stone retaining wall I was told to make sure it was at least 10 feet from the side line. Fortunately, it was not even close, which was good because they said they would not "grandfather" it in, even though it&#39;s been there since at least 1895, which we know because we have old photographs of the house when it was a gigantic farm. I&#39;m REALLY glad I didn&#39;t have to move that thing!

Hilary

Reply to
hilary

Things are different when you move into town.

Reply to
gfretwell

Whereas, where I&#39;m from, stone walls are frequently *ON* the property line, and mentioned as boundaries in deeds, and it is therefore illegal to move or destroy them....

Reply to
Goedjn

Reply to
hilary

Guess that&#39;s why I never did :)

Reply to
hilary

Agreed, but I was told that if my was over the 10&#39; line I was only allowed to let it slowly disintegrate, or move it within 10" of my line if I wanted to retain it.

Hilary

Reply to
hilary

I have no direct experience with this, but I think you should put the surveys side-by-side, along with both deeds, and maybe you will find that one survey of the two doesn&#39;t reflect either deed.

I think it unlikely that your deeds are in conflict, and unlikely that both surveys conflict with the boundary line between the two of you, which should be specified in both deeds.

I think it more likely that one surveyor failed to match the deed he was surveying.

However, as unlikely as it is, if it turns out that the deeds are in conflict, that there is land that is included in both of your deeds, that&#39;s what title insurance is for. I hope you both bought some. Then, or perhaps a bit earlier but not yet, you could contact your title insurance company, explain the problem, and get some good advice from them. In addition, the title company is obligated to pay the one who loses land the fair value of the land he loses.

BTW, are your lots unusually shaped? Where I lived when I was born, all the lots were rectangular and the same size. I don&#39;t know that everyone knew exactly where their property line was, but they could easily figure out the width of their lots, even without looking at the deed. If even one person on the whole block knew where the property line was, everyone else could have figured it out from that. I don&#39;t suppose your case is like that, or you wouldn&#39;t be posting.

You must mean property law. I don&#39;t think they have a contract.

Reply to
mm

That will still leave the fence 1 foot into someone&#39;s property. And when the fence rots and falls down, if they build a new fence on the line you proposed, someone will have lost a foot he was entitled to.

What they could do is agree in writing on where the line is, and allow the fence to stand until it does rot, or is torn down for some other reason, or say 5 or 10 years, whichever comes first**, time enough for the one who paid for it to feel he got almost his money&#39;s worth out of the fence, and rebuild the fence at the right place afterwards.

In my world, I usually wouldn&#39;t mind waiting 5 or 10 years for my land, but I wouldn&#39;t want to give it up entirely.

**Yes, I know, 5 years will come first, compared to 10.
Reply to
mm

Do they still do this?

Do they do it all across the country?

I&#39;ve never seen anything like that.

Don&#39;t they use GPSes these days to know where they are, where in the yard corresponds to locations in the survey or on the deed?

Reply to
mm

Get a metal detector & look for the property line stakes.

thehip wrote:

Reply to
JP

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