Legal Advice - Need help w/property line problem

[Wingman]

Sounds to me like your neighbor owns a fence.

[Hambone]

If the fence has been there more than ten years, you probably have a decent adverse possession claim. But the cost of proving that you are right may wind up more than moving the fence.

[Dux Be Us]

Sounds to me like your neighbor owns a fence.

Ditto

Build your own fence in front of theirs....ifn you want too

[Wingman]

So what if the guy who owned your house built the fence across the line by accident. Your neighbor, not wanting to be a jerk, says hey, no problem, don't move it but we both know it's on my property. You buy the place and they politely let you know the fence is on them. How can you legally and morally claim that fence by adverse possession?

If it was gonna come down to that and I was the neighbor, a chronic case of termites and lightning strikes would magically happen.

[DUCKAHOLIC]

If the fence has been there more than ten years, you probably have a decent adverse possession claim. But the cost of proving that you are right may wind up more than moving the fence.

Actually he has to prove that giving the property back to the rightful owner would cause him a finanical hardship.......dont matter if its been there 50 years

[Hambone]

If the fence has been there more than ten years, you probably have a decent adverse possession claim. But the cost of proving that you are right may wind up more than moving the fence.

Actually he has to prove that giving the property back to the rightful owner would cause him a finanical hardship.......dont matter if its been there 50 years

Wrong.

[Hambone]

So what if the guy who owned your house built the fence across the line by accident. Your neighbor, not wanting to be a jerk, says hey, no problem, don't move it but we both know it's on my property. You buy the place and they politely let you know the fence is on them. How can you legally and morally claim that fence by adverse possession?

If it was gonna come down to that and I was the neighbor, a chronic case of termites and lightning strikes would magically happen.

The neighbor's permission would certainly negate the "adverse" aspect of adverse possession.

[LODI QUACKER]

I dont understand the issue. Is it a privacy fence or a chain link? Why does the neighbor care at this point. Do thay want to utilize that 6 inches? Do they want the fence torn down? Are they just being an ash?

I am with wingman on this, if its on their property and was when you bought the house, its their fence. If the person who sold you the house knew this THEY owe you another fence if they represented it as theirs.

[ducman77]

Adverse Possession will not come into play on this deal..

[timbertalk]

In order for adverse posessiont to take affect, the property being adversly possessed must have been that way for 10 years without any party giving notice to the other. Since both of you are aware of the encroachment, adverse possession is not a possibility. If your neighbor had never mentioned it, and it was never disclosed to you or her, then you may have a case, but it seems by what you explained that they are aware and have been previously. The best thing for you would be to have it recorded as a temporary encroachment. As long as they are ok with it being on their property, the fence could stay and the recorded encroachment lets all parties future buyers included, know of the situation. Of course the easy thing (less headache and attorney fees) would be to move the fence as it seems you don't own the property. Or just put in a notorized agreement between the nboth of you that the neighbor is ok with the fence at the present time until further notice from them.

[Seymore]

Just because the neighbor "told" him don't mean squat. Did the neighbor send him a certified letter notifying him that the fence was on their property? I've said it before and I'll say it again, the "truth" doesn't have anything to do with what happens in a court room. It's what you can prove and you can't prove you "told" a neighbor anything. I personally couldn't do that having been verbally told by the neighbor but if the neighbor can't demonstrate that they notified him then they might have a problem. I had an issue with a neighbor doing drainage work on their property that was going to adversely affect my property and my attorney told me to send them a certified letter and copy him as "talking" doesn't mean a thing when it gets to brass tacks.

All that said I morally couldn't do an adverse possession claim. I went through one when I handled ORE once and it wasn't fun. It sounds like they just politely let you know and that's the end of it because I imagine if it really bothered them they would have already done something about it. If you really can't sleep at night because of this go over and talk with them about it. Again, I don't think you really have a problem because it's been there 10 years and they haven't demanded it be moved. Relax.

[Hambone]

In order for adverse posessiont to take affect, the property being adversly possessed must have been that way for 10 years without any party giving notice to the other.

The first two elements of an adverse possession claim are "open" and "notorious."

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Just because the neighbor "told" him don't mean squat. Did the neighbor send him a certified letter notifying him that the fence was on their property? I've said it before and I'll say it again, the "truth" doesn't have anything to do with what happens in a court room. It's what you can prove and you can't prove you "told" a neighbor anything. I personally couldn't do that having been verbally told by the neighbor but if the neighbor can't demonstrate that they notified him then they might have a problem.

It's called perjury. Risking a few hundred dollars on a fence for a felony if proven wrong is not worth it. Timberjack is correct, if the parties involved recognize the encroachment then AP cannot be applied. The whole point of AP is to protect an individual from financial hardship; in the case that an adjoining landowner, etc makes a claim years down the road that said landowner has encroached onto their property. The reason AP cannot be applied here is because the encroaching landowner is aware of the fact and can be held liable if the neighbor decides to take action. Basically AP takes into account that ignorance is bliss, not that this guy is, but it protects individuals from unknown future events that they have no idea about. Of course, even then AP is not set in stone.

[Seymore]

Here's a big question that hasn't been addressed. Is it a party fence? In other words is your neighbor using it to close one side of their fenced in back yard. I assume your fence was there first. If they came back and built a fence with three sides and used your side already there did they compensate the previous owner for use of that fence. There's some law on the books regarding party fences that could relate to this if it is a party fence.

I am just stating what my lawyer told me when I went through something similar. Yes, if there are witnesses to him having been told then he could be held for perjury. I'm not advocating he take this course of action.

[greenheadgrimreaper]

If I remember correctly (it has been while since my land law classes), but the "open and notorious" part only applies to the person complaining of encroachment. If both parties involved are unaware then other actions can be taken other than AP. Like I said it has been awhile so don't quote me on it.