Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If the OP did not have a survey done for HER, why would the title insurance intervene in an encroachment dispute?
Here no buyer survey would mean a clear title insurance exception to survey issues, but I am in NC, not AZ.
Often your the property extends to the center line of the road but there is a public easement for the road and the shoulder on your land. So technically you are paying a smidgeon of your tax dollars for the land the road is on, but that is just the way it is.
As far as the land on either side of your home, there just might be an infringement issue, but you will only know if a surveyor comes out and either finds or places the corner pipes and they end up being located on what your neighbors consider as their land. If so, you could ask for the fence to be moved, or you could sell the neighbors an easement, or sell them the strip of land, or give them revocable permission to use the strip. Or you could do like I did once, 'trade' for a small bit of land adjacent to yours. All of these except the permission will require involvement of the town/township.
The deed says the lot is 330 by 660. There is nothing on the deed about any easement of any kind. The road along side my property is not for my use but access for the 5 houses behind me and there is no other access.
There is a former survey attached to the property, it was done by my Mortgage company. I am going to call that survey company and ask them some questions. If it is indeed 330 by 660, then 2 different neighbors need to move their fence. The one directly Behind me and one of the one behind me on the far right corner of my property.
Have you seen the survey? Were you able to find stakes-in-the-ground which matched the survey? If not, from what points were you measuring?
As has been mentioned, property lines sometimes extend to the middle of the road (especially in more rural areas with larger lots). The drive on the side may also be on your property. You'd need to examine the survey to determine where your lots lines are supposed to be.
You probably should have gotten a survey at the time of purchase. You may need to get one done now to accurately determine the actual boundary lines of your property.
And if you have title insurance they should be able to get your fence problem fixed too if that is the case
I agree with Mike here. If there was no survey done, and the buyer/OP didn't pay the title company for expanded coverage, they likely have no liability. You have to get extra coverage if you want them to actually walk the lot and determine that there are no encroachments.
In my area, most people do not have a survey done at closing either, but if I was buying 5 acres and couldn't find the marker pins, I would have had one done, so I knew what I was buying.
As I read it the OP measured to the edge of the easement road. I believe the easement road is part of the lot thus should have been measured to the other side of the road.
What I like about this is you potentially have an extra water source.
If it's a drilled well, not a shallow well, all the better for both of you.
See if you can find locally what driller/well company put in the well and why they would locate it anywhere near a property line. They'll probably be a great source of information.
If that well encroaches you have a few choices: one would be to claim a share, and/or the other would be to locate your new pig pen at the edge of your property!!
just had a survey done to find the pins...cost zero
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lacerta
I agree with Mike here. If there was no survey done, and the buyer/OP didn't pay the title company for expanded coverage, they likely have no liability. You have to get extra coverage if you want them to actually walk the lot and determine that there are no encroachments.
In my area, most people do not have a survey done at closing either, but if I was buying 5 acres and couldn't find the marker pins, I would have had one done, so I knew what I was buying.
Back in the day in Washington State \I'd have a guy at least run survey lines to confirm...cost me I think forty bucks?? Not official, but it just confirmed what I already knew. What would be your local price today?? A couple hundred??
This month I grabbed a handheld from a local survey company to find pins for an elderly lady that was being geared by both the town and her alcohol infused neighbour about fence and property lines. While
the city wrote a letter accusing her of bylaw noncompliance and the neighbor insisted her slab was on their property, both parties just talked about a survey.
So I did one last week. The neighbours fence was very clearly on HER property. Both the neighbor and the bylaw department's paperwork was outright incomplete and wrong, which was suspected.
So, begrudgingly, the fence has now been moved by the alcohol infused neighbours, all the other neighbours have been informed as to their being the one that STARTED THE FIGHT, and the work for the city has now been done. Problem so lved in spite of, rather than because of, any effort by the perps.
The survey company charged me zero for using their handheld for a few hours.
It is common that in rural areas that the road runs to the center of the road. If the road is abandoned (all the adjoining land under one dead, plat vacated, etc) the land under the road would revert to the property owner. Seldom happens but it does.
Back in the day in Washington State \I'd have a guy at least run survey lines to confirm...cost me I think forty bucks?? Not official, but it just confirmed what I already knew. What would be your local price today?? A couple hundred??
Maybe if you live in rural India or are related to a surveyor. For acreage, you're going to be paying a good bit more. Add another 'good bit' if the acreage is raw and requires trailblazing.
To the OP. its entirely possible that the county records are inaccurate. Have a boundary survey done and let the county know that you'll need an adjustment. Its very common for lots to not be exact. As far as buying a lot that turns out to be smaller than advertised, that is part of your due diligence. You can decide to buy a boundary survey afterward but if your lot comes up short, its your problem. If it comes up short before the sale, you can use that to lower the price.
As far as the fence, that's tricky.
States all have different rules, the one you're up against there is called 'prescriptive easement' where someone who has been openly using a piece of land for a long period of time can actually claim it. Very dangerous situation if they've fenced off a large boundary deep into your property line since you could be losing a half acre, a whole acre or even more in net square footage.
Laws vary from state to state but you do have a tricky situation on your hands with that. Speaking only for my own state, one way to extinguish a claim is to issue permission (since a key element of an adverse possession claim is that it has to be hostile). Draft an affidavit that says you give your neighbor permission to keep his fence on that portion of the land, renewable every 2 years. Have it notarized and give the offending neighbor a copy. In most cases, this extinguishes the prescriptive easement claim and puts them on notice that their fence is on your property. At a later date, you can make them move it but if you don't first issue them permission, they might have legs on an adverse possession claim.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
just had a survey done to find the pins...cost zero
