Fence Issue: Neighbor Moving; fence attached (for sale, HOA, how much) - Palm Beach County - City-Data Forum

Buildscharacter · 02-13-2012, 03:19 PM

Hello All,

I have a little issue that I would like to get some opinions on regarding a little bit of a fence issue that has come up.

We just purchased our first home (a real fixer-upper in an HOA) in September, and have been slowly doing work on the house over the past 4 months.

After living in the house for two weeks, one of my neighbors approached us and informed us that she was putting in a fence along the road-facing side of her property. She too had just moved into her house about 5 months prior to us, so she asked if she could attach her fence to mine to close off her yard. The problem was that my fence sits about 3' back from my property line (there's a row of trees that the previous owner didn't bother to cut down to put up the fence on the property line) and the piece of fence that my neighbor needed to put up would be completely on my property. I agreed that she could put the fence up, as I knew she had young children and an elderly dog that was prone to wandering (found him in my back yard).

About two weeks ago, I was searching around houses in the area (old habits die hard...) to see what was for sale and I saw my neighbor's house up for sale. Seeing as how she had only been in the house for a period of 7-8 months and is asking $75k higher than she paid, it became apparent that she was attempting to flip the house for a profit.

Here is where I stand. I stopped over there to talk to her, rung her doorbell and she answered. She was very pleasant until I mentioned to her that I saw her house was for sale (she never posted a sign out front)...she immediatly turned to a frown. I explained to her that I was okay with having the fence piece up because it was her and her family living there, but with a potential move pending, I wasn't comfortable allowing someone else to move in with their property attached in the way that it is, as it could lead to some property line disputes in the future. She informed me that she already had a buyer and had told them that the piece of fence was approved by the neighbor (me). She was very curt, agreed to remove it and closed the door. She obviously wasn't pleased.

My ideal resolution is that the fence comes down in the next 2 weeks and prior to the final sale of the house.

I have some questions:

1. From the research that I have done, I know it's very difficult for someone else to claim property, especially since everything is laid out and documented in the survey and initial plot plans filed with the city...that being said, do you think I have anything to even be concerned about? Or am I more pissed that I agreed to do something nice and neighborly and it turned out she was just sprucing it up to flip?

2. Since I've already gone over there and talked to her about it, I am going to send her a certified letter reiterating the conversation that we had. I'm going to copy the HOA as well. The way that I figure it, if this becomes and issue later on, it's best that I've documented it. Should I be bringing in the HOA? Is this even an issue they would be concerned about?

3. What other options do I have? I know that she filed a permit with the city to get the fence, got the thing inspected and then had the fence guys come out and do the last bit to attach to mine because she didn't want to have to get the plans re-written. Is that just incredibly horrible to potentially stall the sale of her house by contacting the city on a permit violation?

4. Seeing as how the piece of fence is on my yard, do I have the right to remove it? I've read in places that you must ask to remove something like that and give them time (a year?!?!) to remove it.

At the end of the day, I don't have a problem with my neighbor and I don't have a problem with her trying to sell her house. What I do have a problem with is being straight up lied to about the reasons for putting up the fence and then trying to profit from it. I just want to know what I should be doing to a) get the fence removed b) not get into any type of confrontation because well....it's just a fence.

Snowbird100 · 02-14-2012, 06:09 AM

Big mistake right from day one !

Different municipalities have different by laws so you might want to check it with your own city/county.

In some municipality, there's a 10 year period after which you can't claim your own property anymore even your neighbour's fence is on your property.

If I were you I would send her a registered mail requesting she remove part of her fence that's on your property, copy it to the city and HOA.

What a mess you created for yourself !

Good luck !

Buildscharacter · 02-14-2012, 08:10 AM

Ha! Thanks. Yeah, I guess that's the price of being a good neighbor...or at least an accommodating one.

I spoke to the president of the HOA and learned some more about their timeline. Apparently they are waiting for the school year to end before the sale goes through, so we have some time.

I'll be sending out that letter today to make sure this gets corrected ASAP.

The way I figure it, the worst case scenario is that, prior to June, I end up having to go and remove the fence myself if the neighbor doesn't decide to act. Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I doubt it'll come to that.

One of the funnier aspects to all this is that the selling agent for my neighbor was the selling agent for our house. I don't think I could even describe how unprofessional she is. We were so happy to finish the purchase of our house so we wouldn't ever have to deal with her again...and now it's looking like I may have to call her. Good times.

Anyone else have any heads up on the legality of my going out there and removing the fence myself (if it were to come to that)?

Oleg Bach · 02-14-2012, 08:16 AM

Sounds like a shifty weasil...be bold and mention that the fence was put up in bad faith - The neighbour allowed you to think that they were a "neighbour" and that YOU in good faith only complied because you wished to get along with a neighbour...and have a good and civil relationship with them - NOW that you know this person is NOT a neighbour - but a slick and shifty buisness person - all agreements are off - do as you please and do not respect this person - because they did not respect you...It has to go two ways - sounds like a user to me..

TriMT7 · 02-14-2012, 08:38 AM

To avoid this mistake in the future, next time a neighbor wants to encroach on your property for any reason, I'd probably get some sort of easement agreement with either an expiration clause, or a cancellation with notice clause.

flguy123 · 02-14-2012, 03:09 PM

It sounds like you just want to do it out of spite, but honestly, if she's going to get more $ for the house then that probably helps your house value so I would be happy. Maybe you will like the next family better anyway!

luciano navarro · 02-17-2012, 10:34 PM

hi same thing happend to me...time ago...since there was not any written agreement...u can remove the fence anytime u like...write a registered letter stating your intention and motive... keep a sealed copy dated for ur self ..then act and remove the encroachment. the law is on ur side !

dive77mmwet · 02-19-2012, 07:50 AM

Id leave a dead dog lay, the sale as said will only help your value, a un done fence may look bad?

boxus · 02-19-2012, 08:43 PM

Goodness, do not ever let someone encroach on your property.

Now, get that darn claim to your property removed, immediately. It was done in bad faith in my opinion, she wants to get $75k extra on $10k worth of improvements (sounds familiar, housing crisis cause?)

Part of that improvement is making the yard look bigger. Eventually if left long enough, the owners will have a good claim for the extra property, I do not know the specific laws in FL, but they do exist.

For perspective, price out your land per square foot, now how much did you just give her?

Snowbird100 · 02-20-2012, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxus

Goodness, do not ever let someone encroach on your property.

Now, get that darn claim to your property removed, immediately. It was done in bad faith in my opinion, she wants to get $75k extra on $10k worth of improvements (sounds familiar, housing crisis cause?)

Part of that improvement is making the yard look bigger. Eventually if left long enough, the owners will have a good claim for the extra property, I do not know the specific laws in FL, but they do exist.

For perspective, price out your land per square foot, now how much did you just give her?

Consequences:

(1) If the land was left unclaimed for too long, the owner would lose the right to claim it back. The laws exist ...
(2) Once the owner lost the land, it would create another nightmare: It would be difficult to sell the property in the future because part of the land was claimed by or lost to the neighbour. The buyers would not even bother to put an offer on your property or LOW BALL it.
(3) The property would depreciate by a lot because of all the trouble it has.

I think there's nothing wrong for the OP to claim it back by requesting the fence be removed. It's her property and she (the OP) wants it back, I don't see anything wrong with that at all !