Posted by DoubleJ on July 06, 2006 at 14:42:26:
Buyer beware. Tough lesson learned hear I’m afraid.
change of property line - Posted by Matt
Posted by Matt on July 05, 2006 at 08:36:59:
I recently purchased a property, and shortly thereafter was told by my neighbor they owned the gravel driveway/shrubs that are adjacent to my paved drive (and appear to go along with the house I bought) and plan on putting a fence up along the property line. Do I have any recourse against the party who sold me the property for not telling me a portion of the drive was actually on my neighbor’s property?
thanks
Re: change of property line - Posted by Sailor
Posted by Sailor on July 06, 2006 at 20:39:22:
You may actually have rights to the rest of the driveway, so you need to check w/a RE attny (a specialist). However, that route w/not make you any friends in the neighborhood. This is a big Oops, & a good example of why we need our own survey when buying property. Check your legal description on your contract to see if it matches the sale offering. Try to keep things friendly w/neighbor & see if you can work out, maybe for a price, a suitable resolution. You’re going to need to discern the neighbor’s motive before deciding on which option is best. If he is just holding your feet to the fire it is a different matter than if he is acting to protect his property. [Caveat: anthropologist & attorney both start w/“a” but that’s the only similarity & I’m not the latter.]
Good luck!
Tye
Re: change of property line - Posted by BTI
Posted by BTI on July 05, 2006 at 11:16:23:
Matt
I would tell this neighbor thanks for letting me know of your plans, now I’m going to let you know mine, I’m going to tear down anything you put up unless you can prove to me you own that land, as far as I’m concerned it is mine. You can prove it to me with a survey from a licensed surveyor, until then I can’t just take your word for it.
I had this happen once and then found out when the neighbor dropped the subject from another neighbor a survey was done while I was on vacation. The survey showed half of his garage was on my land.
Plus I’ve had neighbors try takeovers of land they maybe planted on etc. but with the permission of the previous owners. Once I had a neighbor claim the fence was on his property and was his, then a big storm hit and blew it down. The next day he asked when was I going to fix my fence, ownership changed quickly.
BTI
Re: change of property line-talk softly - Posted by dealmaker
Posted by dealmaker on July 05, 2006 at 13:52:14:
BTI would be right, except for one thing. Matt said, “that appear to be mine” or words to that effect. Matt, do you have a SURVEY that shows what you own? Or are you assuming based on what something appears to be?
dealmaker
Re: change of property line-talk softly - Posted by Matt
Posted by Matt on July 05, 2006 at 15:05:47:
Yes, the plot plan shows that I do not own the driveway piece, but this was not pointed out to me when I was shown the property, shame on me then for not doing research? Or is this something that should have legally been disclosed? thanks