Moving UPDATE pg 4. Neighbors built a cement wall that's over our property line.

[Growin'upDisney]

It's called adverse possession not eminent domain. And it basically says if you let someone take/live on/inhabit your land for a certain period of time (different length of time depending on the state), and you do nothing about it but know its going on, then they will eventually be granted title to the land. You don't want this to happen.

There are many many different remedies - tear down the wall, have them pay you damages, nothing, etc. In my opinion, you need to take the surveyor report to them and show them that they have built on your land and see what they say. If they are argumentative then you will need to get the authorities involved. Pull the permit and see what it says. If their surveyor or the city/county screwed up then you and they have recourse against them.

This process isn't going to be easy - but don't just let it be. If you ever go to sell, and the wall is on your property, it could hold things up indefinitely. Do it soon because if you now know its on your property and you could preent the wall from being poured and you don't do it they could come to you for costs of tearing down what you could have prevented from going up.

I know its frustrating but you shouldn't have to have even an inch of yoru property taken away from you. You pay property taxes, you hve rights. You just need to enforce them.

 

[charlie,nj]

Without seeing any pictures… ..are you sure it is just a cement wall as in fence and not a cement foundation for a future house addition? Are they going to try and stick an addition on it? I would ask to see a permit…just to make sure.

And don’t think that is sounds crazy... someone I know had a neighbor build a wall..the next thing he knew the guy started building a huge outdoor storage hut on top of it. My friend got the building department after the guy and they made him stop construction.

Good luck.

 

[sorcerormickey]

Did the surveyor mark the area that is the property line? How much over is it? You need to nip this in the bud before the building goes any further. I would be livid!

 

[Tina]

I read the Real Estate Mailbag in the Washington Post every weekend and I've seen similar situations. The column always responds with the same answer. If they built a fence (or wall in your case) on your property, it is now your fence (or wall). You may do with it whatever you wish. You could even put a fence around the perimeter of your property, cutting them off from their new wall. If it was not just a simple mistake and they are not willing to rectify the problem, then I recommend you take sledge hammer to it. As for any damage done to your septic tank, I would go after them for that. It sounds to me like they were trying to pull a fast one between home owners.

 

[Hillbeans]

I live in NJ and i've never heard of anyone allowing a concrete wall to be built between properties. Talk about an eyesore.

I'd be very annoyed as well. I'd agree and nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand.

Edited to add that I remember a few years back when we had our home only for about 2 months, and our neighbor was putting up a new fence and cut down about 5 feet of shrubs/vines on shared property....it really takes gaul to cut down trees on "shared" property on someone's home. I remember my husband ran outside and asked him what the * he was doing to our bushes.

Still, i've never heard of a "cement" fence being allowed between properties.

 

[kidzmom3]

When the house next door to use was sold, the previous owners had the backyard beautifully fenced in. Unfortunately, it was over the property line of the left hand neighbor.(we are on the right), when the other owner made them take down the fence, it was awful. Here were these new people who were basically swindled to believe that they were buying something different than they got, plus they then hated the other neighbor for making them pull it down. So they would talk badly about him all th time. It was a relief when they had to move, husband was transfered.

 

[battricia]

I agree w/ everyone else, don't let up on this until it is resolved, or you might have even more problems down the road. I'd try to contact everyone, including the contractor, and tell them they built a wall on your property for someone else. Also, Like someone else mentioned, get a lawyer, they will definately know more about the laws and be able to be more effective.

tricia.

 

[Disney Doll]

First step...talk to the town. Second step...call a lawyer who specializes in real estate and zoning law, third step...prepare yourself for a long uphill battle.

My guess is that these folks decided to sneak the wall in between neighbors moving out and back in. You can try being nice, like "perhaps there's been an oversight, but your wall is x distance onto my property and that is not acceptable. We need to rectify this situation by either removing the offending wall or having you buy the amount of my property that your wall is now inhabiting and having the property lines reassessed".

I have a neighbor across the street who just went through this with her next-door neighbor and it took 1 1/2 years of ugliness to get it rectified.

 

[Lynn CC]

You may have to hire a lawyer, trust me I've been through this! Unfortunately our neighbors decided to cut down several of our trees on our property, install gas lines to their home on our property, and hard top a driveway on our property going right into our back yard.
They had to have the Gas Company disconnect the lines, they had the pavers remove the blacktop driveway and they had to take down over 8feet of their garage.

This however took 3 years, and 3 courtrooms all the way up to Superior, to solve...each time they lost and yes they did have a permit issued by the town, but it's the resposibility of the homeowner to know his own boundry lines.
Needless to say we are planting some Huge trees so we don't have to have them stare at us all the time, they are obsessed with us.
Good Luck! Hope you don't have to go through all the aggrivation DH and I have gone through, and money...over 5K in legal fees for something we didn't even do.

 

[RitaZ.]

In Massachusetts, if you have fenced in and "improved" (for at least 10 years) a piece of property abutting yours, you may make a legal claim that it is yours.

This is also true for FL, but I think it's 7 years here.

From what you've described, it sounds like these neighbors are having this work done illegally. A reputable company would never drive over anyone's property without getting written consent to do so, they don't want to be liable for possible damages. If you live in the area of Vero Beach that is near the ocean, I can't imagine the city allowing something like this to be built. A lot of cities have very strict rules on fences as far as heigth and what materials can be used. Also a permit must be acquired from the city, there is also the easement issue and it sounds like they have violated that. I don't really think that code enforcement will be able to do anything for you, they deal with aesthetic issues, but they will probably direct you to the right people. Try calling your city's Building Department.

Selling the neighbors that part of the property may be the best way to go about this, but find out how this will affect your property value, and possible future sale of this home.

We had a problem earlier this year with a neighbor that wanted "only 3" inches of our property" to build a fence on our property. All this because he didn't want to cut down his trees to provide access to the fence company and his trees were so overgrown and neglected that they destroyed OUR fence. What can I say? The joys of owning a home... Like I said contact the Building Dept., they were extremely helpful when we had our "problem".

Good luck to you getting this resolved.

 

[Shelby5514]

Gee, and I thought our neighbors dog pooping in our yard was a pain. I agree with everyone else...get legal advice.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I agree with everyone else. Get legal advice.

It is almost like your neighbor was trying to get everything done before you guys moved it and could stop it. I wonder if they have a permit for that fence. They could be getting it done without one from a friend or something.


The previous owner of our home put up a back to back fence to the neighbors. Well the neighbor went to have a new fence put up just last year and they were surprised when they found out their old fence was our property by 3 feet. That was really no big deal because it was not cement and we get along with those neighbors. But a concrete fence I would have a problem with.

 

[FayeW]

How far over the property line is the new construction?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You must address this immediately. You already are by what you are saying in talking to code enforcement, but you need to talk to your attorney too. You probably had one for closing - hopefully.

This is a major problem that if not rectified immediately will become even more major. They also tresspassed which you can then bring them to court about separately. They need to have an easement to bring trucks onto your property, which they didn't have.

This can be handled more ammicably, believe it or not, with an attorney as your go between. That way you aren't confronting them directly.

It is absolutely worth the expense of an attorney because when you go to sell, you will see huge expenses trying to rectify this then - it is your problem then and you will definately have to recitify it then. Do it now and save a lot of legal bills later.

I agree with this....get it over with now....

 

[missypie]

20 year real estate lawyer here. Growin Up Disney's answer is right on the mark.

But you should also consider it from the other homeowner's standpoint. Construction companies can be awfully careless....the homeowners may well have asked for a wall to be built "on the property line" and the constuction company may well have just guessed at where to put it. If it was the builder or the surveyor who made the mistake, they should fix it. Go to them with the survey in hand...I bet they will be livid-at their builder!

If it's only a few inches and you can live with it, you need to enter into a boundary line agreement, where they pay you for the inches; they should also pay for the surveyor's fees, your attorneys' fees and the recording costs.

(Disclaimer: This is general advice only; no attorney client relationship has been created.)

 

[airhead]

a foot????? an inch????

 

[missyc]

a foot????? an inch????

I think maybe since we still haven't heard how much over the line the wall is it must not be a significant amount.
I would be reluctant to cause legal trouble over a few inches, even if they were wrong. Just might not be worth it in the long run.
But I would have the septic tank checked.

 

[Beauty]

I agree totally with Missy.

I would not fight over a few inches, especially if your kids will be playing together and you will live be each other for a long time.

 

[froglady]

If it's a significant amount (and that would depend upon the width of the property, proximity to your house, or other permanent structures) you might also want to contact your title insurance company, although they're usually reluctant to get involved.

We encountered something similar, and ended up in court. I had to hire an attorney to force the tiltle insurance company to get involved, but after that it didn't cost me anything. It ended up being a survey problem, but we were able to keep most of the disputed land due to adverse possesion.

Are you sure that the neighbor's survey agrees with yours? That was the problem in our case. Our neighbor felt that he had every right to erect a 7 foot cement block wall down the middle of our driveway; his survey said so!

(BTW, he had to tear it down.)

 

[Laurabearz]

((((hugs)))) I guess this goes against the saying... good walls build good neighbors...

So sorry you have to deal with this....