The neighbor put up a fence 6in in on my prorperty and was suspose to be 6in in on theirs. what can be done?

Question

the neighbor put up a fence 6in on my property several years ago and have mentioned it several times that the fence is 6in on them. they said the people that lived here at the time later paid for half to join on. i had my property surveyed this spring and the fence is 6in in on me. since they added on to their house coming within 4ft of the property line it realy makes me mad. the city code says they can come within 5ft but they will wave it..so they really came 3ft 9in because 6in is my property of the 4ft.

Answer 1

You have the right to make him move it, and I would do just that if I were you. If you want to sell your house, it will show up on the survey and cause problems with any sale.

Answer 2

Let it go and be a good neighbor..it's just 6 inches, or take measurements, pics and land survey to city hall and have someone come out and investigate, and potentially have your neighbor to knock down the fence.

Answer 3

It definitely should be moved. Fences are used to determine property lines and it is "assumed" they are on the owners property. Trying to prove otherwise can get costly.

The previous poster suggested you charge rent because paying rent is acknowledgment of property rights. I won a court case against adverse possession because of a rent payment by a previous owner of the neighboring property. (They were using part of my driveway on a commercial property).

Adverse possession means if you allow them to use it long enough eventually you can't make them stop. In other words you can not force them to remove it if you need to do so if they have used your property for enough years.

If it were me, I would take photographs, then I would write them a letter, keep copies, telling them to remove it off your property. I would tell them you will remove it and will sue them for the cost of removal.

If you are sure it is on your property, then if they don't act I would pick a time they weren't home and knock it down. After all it is on your property.

I might hire somebody to remove it, then you have a financial cost for which you can sue in small claims court. You can't really sue for your own time. That gets it in to court.

If they try to stop you call the police. That makes a legal record. I am looking this for a way to force them to act, sue, or call the police. Taking action by starting to remove it sounds like a good way to me.

But you are at risk of losing control of that 6" of property if you let it stay. And such things show up with a home sale and could slow or kill a home a deal. You can't let it ride.

Good Luck.

  

Answer 4

USA    If you are asolutely positive the fence is on your property, you can do whatever you want with it - since it is on your property, YOU own it.  You can tear it down.  You can leave it there.  You can paint it.  Cut holes in it.  It is yours; do what you want.

If you want to be a nice person, tell the neighbor it is on your property, and ask them to move it, and give them a reasonable time limit - a month or two.

Anything on your property is yours - but you cannot take down any fence on their property.

Just to make sure, ask your local town if they have any fence regulations.  You don't want to paint graffitti on the fence if your town does not allow it.

If you do not want the fence there, and it definitely is on your property, tear it out.  It is yours to do with as you please.

Answer 5

Charge them rent for using your land.

2nd choice would be to have a conversation with them about it. If it bothers you, let them know about it. If you have a lot of acreage, don't sweat it. Conversation fails, go to town hall and get some guidance. Your town might do the survey for you versus you having to pay for it.  

Answer 6

You can make him move it, but you won't be very good friends after.

Answer 7

You can make them move it. Of course, you might have to take them to court to do it, and you might want to have a survey done to be sure it really is on your property. That will cost you, but it comes down to how badly you want it moved.

Answer 8

Before you spend money for a survey check on the law in your state. I seem to remember someone saying a fence could be on either side of the property line by a certain amount. I'm not sure about this but would suggest you check it out. I lived in Georgia when the subject came up.  I can't think of a good reason for such a law but strange things happen when politicians are involved.

Answer 9

Before making a decision on what to say to your neighbor.  Confirm the location of the SIB-Standard Iron Bar that are located on all corners of you lot.  Once you have confirm this make you neighbor aware that he/she has unintentionally located they fabulous fence on your property which you'll like to have back since you are paying property tax for it.

If you neighbor refuse to do this pay a visit to your local building department and report the issue.  More than likely the fence was built or replace without a permit, therefore a survey plan wasn't issued resulting in the incorrect location of there fence.

This matter will take a while to be resolved so be patient and remember they are your neighbors, so be as nice as possible unless you enjoy having enemies living next door.

Have the City deal with this matter if they won't compromise

Answer 10

I would defiantly have it moved so the neighbor don't continue to take charge of you land. It may have a bit of cost though unless you have had your property surveyed and are sure exactly where the property line is.You may have to see a law er and go to small claims to solve the problem. Most the time when someone erects a fence they stay 6 inches to a foot on their side of the line to avoid this situation. It sounds to me your neighbor is a jerk and don't realize the ramifications of doing thing wrong.