What if the property lines are off?

So I am looking into a house and based upon the survey and the nassaucountyny.gov website, it seems like the driveway may be about 3 feet on the next door neighbor's property. It seems like it has been this way for years, but what can I do to protect myself down the road?

I spoke to the seller and he said that he is 100% sure that it is his land. He showed me all the paperwork/applications for the permits to put in the driveway as well as a fence around his property, but I still don't feel good about it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: What if the property lines are off?

You can have a new survey done and check that the lines are correct.

Its good to check this all out now...it would be a pain if it ended up being wrong and you lose some property.

Good Luck!

Re: What if the property lines are off?

Definitely get your own survey done to confirm that your driveway is 3 feet on his property. If it is in fact on his property then your lawyer may be able to draft something stating that your driveway is on the neighbor's property but that your neighbor is allowing this. That way the neighbor can't sue or force you to move the driveway.

Something similar happened to us. We had a survey done and our fence is 3 feet off our property line (our neighbor has been using 3 feet of our property as a "walk through"). Our lawyer (or maybe the seller's lawyer) drafted something they had to sign stating that they will not fight/sue us when we take it back. When we have a new fence done we'll be taking that 3 feet back!

Re: What if the property lines are off?

I've heard that if it's been that way for a long enough time, the property is now yours. Our fence is a few feet in on our property, so technically our neighbor has some of our property. But we were told he gets to keep it b/c it's been this way for so long.

Re: What if the property lines are off?

Re: What if the property lines are off?

How do I go about geting the neighbor to sign something if he's not part of the transaction?

And, would that even matter because what about someone who later buys the neighbor's property? They wouldn't be bound to a friendly arrangement.

Re: What if the property lines are off?

It's called something in real estate there is a term for it. the name escapes me but I think if it has been that way for 20 yrs you are fine-it actually became the property of your house. Check with your attorney.

Re: What if the property lines are off?

Its an encroachment, technically if the previous owners had it like that for a certain amount of time, they are entitled to it through the laches law. However, this does not carry over for new owners.

Re: What if the property lines are off?

It's called Adverse Possession and it has to be judicially determined. The use has to be open and notorious and the other party has to believe that the land is theirs. If it can be proved that they knew it was the other parties land, then the Court may not rule that there is adverse possession. This can be a costly and drawn out process.

If there is an encroachment, then the attorney may draft a boundary line affidavit. This would be signed by both neighbors and sometimes the title company will record it. This is a good idea because it puts future parties on notice and then it is unlikely that anyone will be able to make a claim of adverse possession. (An example of an encroachment would be a fence a foot or more inside your property line that where the neighbor is maintaining up to the fence.)

It is hard to determine from an old survey and a visual inspection whether a driveway may be encroaching or not. Surveyors use special equitment to make their measurements. If there is any question that the driveway is not within the property lines, definately get a new one. You can also have the property staked. This will be more expensive, but you will also get to see where the property lines actually are.

What part of the nassaucountyny.gov website are you looking at? Is it an areal view? If it is, don't rely on that. The lines are approximate. The only thing I would rely on is a guaranteed survey that was completed after the driveway was installed.

Re: What if the property lines are off?

I was looking at the aerial view, but the survey shows the same thing.

My attorney spoke to the seller's attorney today and got the feeling that he won't recommend that the seller cooperate with me to get this straightened out unless they get desperate (i.e., it's been on the market too long or they just want to sell) because they feel someone may come along that is less diligent that I am that won't even raise the issue.

This stinks cause I really love the house, but I guess things happen for a reason.

I'll keep you posted.

Re: What if the property lines are off?

I wouldn't go by the property lines on the county website. I use their data for work and the property lines are not 100% accurate on all the maps.

The best way to find out is to go to your town or village hall - either the clerk's office or the tax office and ask to see the file for the section, block and lot numbers of your property and your neighbor's. There may be a small fee to do this. There may be a survey in their records that will show exactly where the property lines are. If not, you might have to hire someone to do a new survey for you, and they will stake out the property lines as part of the survey.

Re: What if the property lines are off?