Ideally, you hope to get along well with your neighbor. But there’s always a chance that you’re going to run into some issues. This could include a boundary dispute, which can become very serious because both of you are invested in the way land that you own.
The first step toward learning how to resolve these disputes is considering how they may happen. Below are three potential reasons for boundary disputes.
Putting up a new fence
Boundaries often come into question when someone is putting up a new fence on their property. Perhaps your neighbor believes that it is right on the property line, but you believe that they’ve come a few feet onto your side of the line, essentially taking your land and making it part of their own yard. It may be best at this time to have a survey done.
Using older surveys
Speaking of surveys, issues can sometimes arise when the surveys were done many years ago and these old instructions are not clear. They could refer to specific landmarks on the property, for instance, which have changed over time. It’s important to update these every now and then to make sure that everyone is clear on where the current boundaries lie.
Building too close
Even if your neighbor does know where the boundary line is, you could run into an issue if they’re building too close to that line. What is the offset supposed to be? If you know that your neighbor’s new garage is supposed to be three feet from the boundary line and they’ve built it right on that line, this could be an issue even if they are correct about where the line is. Different localities have different rules regarding offsets and things of this nature.
If you do run into any one of these disputes or another type of a boundary dispute, it’s very important to start looking into your legal options. You may need to consider things like having a survey done or talking to your neighbor about where you can agree that the line will be moving forward.