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Neighbor building a fence in my yard

scooter84 said:
I witnessed a hilarious fence-neighbor event a few years ago. My buddy's yard reaches way back into some woods to a sharp corner. That corner backs up to a house in an adjoining neighborhood - these houses are separated by the woods and face different streets so they don't even seem like neighbors. So my buddy decides to build a fence around his back yard. The fence builder starts with that corner and cements in the corner post. The way the property lines are, and the way the other guy had maintained his back yard, that post was essentially in the guy's back yard.

The next morning, that corner post, cement block at the bottom and all, is in my buddy's driveway. The other guy apparently got home from work, saw the post, assumed it was way off-line and in his yard, got pissed, dug it up (couldn't have been easy), loaded it into his truck (again, not easy) and deposited it on my buddy's driveway. My buddy didn't even bother contacting the guy - just told the fence company. The fence company went over and showed the guy the survey and had him pay to re-do that post. That had to hurt...

Maybe he should have walked over and had a chat first?
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Did your buddy do the fair and neighborly thing and return the cemented pole the neighbor had paid for?
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
Just for frame of reference, 3 square feet of suburb yard in Marietta is probably worth around $150.00
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I don't think we have ever heard how long the property line is where the fence is going? If it is off by 3 inches along a 80 foot line, that is 20 square feet, not 3. Using your numbers, that would be worth over $1000. If it is off by the 2 feet mentioned by the op along an 80 foot line, that is 160 sq feet - or >$7500...
 
scooter84 said:
I don't think we have ever heard how long the property line is where the fence is going? If it is off by 3 inches along a 80 foot line, that is 20 square feet, not 3. Using your numbers, that would be worth over $1000. If it is off by the 2 feet mentioned by the op along an 80 foot line, that is 160 sq feet - or >$7500...
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Not to mention the potential hassle when it comes time to sell the place.
 
The stakes do have a nice Neon yellow paint around them. I think since he's doing his own survey it'll be ok. He was trying to extend his existing fence and use only whole panels of 8 feet not a custom panel of 5 (according to him).. It'd be about 40 feet of fence coming into my yard by about 2 feet.

I was much more worried about hassel trying to resale.
 
Deacon92 said:
He was trying to extend his existing fence and use only whole panels of 8 feet not a custom panel of 5 (according to him)..
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i wonder...now that everyone can see what sort of douche this old fuck is, will he now offer you movie tickets? or perhaps a tuna fish casserole!
 
RacerDeac said:
Not to mention the potential hassle when it comes time to sell the place.
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94Deac said:
Cannot be overstated.
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Uh, not really. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time a redneck rednecked a fence together in order to save a buck or two in the great state of Georgia.

A number of simple docs can remedy the problem with little time and effort, if you have a non-redbird atty. (a PHD or MD will not help you in this area).
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
Uh, not really. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time a redneck rednecked a fence together in order to save a buck or two in the great state of Georgia.

A number of simple docs can remedy the problem with little time and effort, if you have a non-redbird atty. (a PHD or MD will not help you in this area).
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I mean from a title point of view. A discrepancy in a survey can certainly add pain in the ass encumbrances to a property title when it comes time to settle. It can be remedied if parties cooperate but inaccurate surveys have caused shitstorms in the right hands.
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
Uh, not really. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time a redneck rednecked a fence together in order to save a buck or two in the great state of Georgia.

A number of simple docs can remedy the problem with little time and effort, if you have a non-redbird atty. (a PHD or MD will not help you in this area).
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Legally? Sure. But buyers can be a pain in the ass on these issues and the market still isn't to the point where the seller can be an ass back in most places. Had a friend sell a house recently and the buyer refused to close until the seller had worked with the neighbor to have 4 inches of driveway that crossed the the property line cut away. If you can keep your neighbor from building a fence on your property, you should. It's that simple.
 
Deacon92 said:
The stakes do have a nice Neon yellow paint around them. I think since he's doing his own survey it'll be ok. He was trying to extend his existing fence and use only whole panels of 8 feet not a custom panel of 5 (according to him).. It'd be about 40 feet of fence coming into my yard by about 2 feet.

I was much more worried about hassel trying to resale.
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I mean, 2 feet x 40 feet is a decent chunk of your property, especially in suburbia where lots aren't THAT big anyway.
As for his reasoning- wanting to use 8' sections w/out altering them... :rulz:
 
94Deac said:
I mean from a title point of view. A discrepancy in a survey can certainly add pain in the ass encumbrances to a property title when it comes time to settle. It can be remedied if parties cooperate but inaccurate surveys have caused shitstorms in the right hands.
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RacerDeac said:
Legally? Sure. But buyers can be a pain in the ass on these issues and the market still isn't to the point where the seller can be an ass back in most places. Had a friend sell a house recently and the buyer refused to close until the seller had worked with the neighbor to have 4 inches of driveway that crossed the the property line cut away. If you can keep your neighbor from building a fence on your property, you should. It's that simple.
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Again, not really. In my early 20s I closed probably around 1000 or so residential home sales and refis. I'd say more than half of fences are off the exact property line by a few inches in some places. It's really not that big of a deal. It might be set up as an exception on the title policy, but again, not that big of a deal.

The number of people who are willing to argue about these things are few and far between in real life (although the percentage of these people may be higher in the internet message board warrior demo). If it rises to a few feet over a long fence line then a boundary line agreement or property swap agreement can be easily drafted. Take $500 out of the sales proceeds to placate Mr. Get Off My Lawn Middle Class Tough Guy. A competent atty who understands the problem can explain it to the parties and usually diffuse these suburban hubbubs easliy.

Keep in mind that most Lenders in GA (and likely other states) don't require a new survey for the purchase of a home under 500K, so most of the time the problem doesn't even come to light.
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
The number of people who are willing to argue about these things are few and far between in real life (although the percentage of these people may be higher in the internet message board warrior demo). If it rises to a few feet over a long fence line then a boundary line agreement or property swap agreement can be easily drafted. Take $500 out of the sales proceeds to placate Mr. Get Off My Lawn Middle Class Tough Guy. A competent atty who understands the problem can explain it to the parties and usually diffuse these suburban hubbubs easliy.
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It happens quite often in the urban neighborhoods around Charlotte. 40-50 foot wide lots that are only 125-160 feet long...people will argue over square inches. Your experience is quite a bit different than the issues I hear agents around here complaining about all of the time.

That said, your experience having it only happen a few times out of thousands is still pretty meaningless when it comes to the OP's situation. He has a chance to prevent any issues before they happen. He'd be crazy not to make sure things are right now in case his future buyer happens to be one of those who is hard to appease. A little bit of work now saves a potential headache in the future when he may be trying to close and buy a new place or move to a new city, etc.

TheTwinAndreBen said:
Keep in mind that most Lenders in GA (and likely other states) don't require a new survey for the purchase of a home under 500K, so most of the time the problem doesn't even come to light.
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Required by the lender or not, who buys a house without a survey of the property they are buying?
 
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People in our neighborhood put in a really nice pool. When it came time to sell, it was discovered that the pool extended into a buffer zone behind their house that they did not own. They had to fill it in. I didn't know them but I hope they could pin the error on a surveyor or the pool company. Otherwise, that had to sting!
 
RacerDeac said:
It happens quite often in the urban neighborhoods around Charlotte. 40-50 foot wide lots that are only 125-160 feet long...people will argue over square inches. Your experience is quite a bit different than the issues I hear agents around here complaining about all of the time.

That said, your experience having it only happen a few times out of thousands is still pretty meaningless when it comes to the OP's situation. He has a chance to prevent any issues before they happen. He'd be crazy not to make sure things are right now in case his future buyer happens to be one of those who is hard to appease. A little bit of work now saves a potential headache in the future when he may be trying to close and buy a new place or move to a new city, etc.



Required by the lender or not, who buys a house without a survey of the property they are buying?
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Lots of people. Most people, probably. Most surburban neighborhoods are plated, so there isn't a huge need. Most people are comfortable buying what they see.

The problem in this case is that the neighbor is a dick and is going to build the fence, despite betaOPs tough movie ticket stance. Neither calling the cops nor a certified letter aren't going to do anything either. Dude is going to pitch the letter and the cops aren't going to come to your house and interpret a survey.

Absent butching up, all that OP can do is file an injunction to stop the fence being built. The guy would then be in contempt if he built it, and they would eventually have a kangaroo court hearing where a judge would make a determination and chastise them for wasting his time.
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
Lots of people. Most people, probably. Most surburban neighborhoods are plated, so there isn't a huge need. Most people are comfortable buying what they see.

The problem in this case is that the neighbor is a dick and is going to build the fence, despite betaOPs tough movie ticket stance. Neither calling the cops nor a certified letter aren't going to do anything either. Dude is going to pitch the letter and the cops aren't going to come to your house and interpret a survey.

Absent butching up, all that OP can do is file an injunction to stop the fence being built. The guy would then be in contempt if he built it, and they would eventually have a kangaroo court hearing where a judge would make a determination and chastise them for wasting his time.
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/whenallyouhaveisahammer
 
It doesn't matter whether or not he reads the certified letter. It is so later if you have to go to court you can prove that you sent the letter and he can't just say. "Well, gee golly, he never said nothin' bout not building there."
 
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