Schreiber High School Athletics: The boys won their golf conference, the 29th conference title in school history! The boys and girls swimming both won their conference championship, along with the county sportsmanship award! The gymnastics team won the county sportsmanship award! The girls’ soccer team are also conference champs! As of the submission of this article, the girls lacrosse team has made it to the County nals and boys lacrosse team has made it to the Class A seminals.
If you happened to listen in at a roundtable discussion with experienced real estate attorneys, a couple of title company attorneys and a few real estate brokers, before they put you to sleep, you would find out that they all agree on one thing. Boundary dispute issues rarely existed 30 years ago, and now they come up on every other real estate transaction.
In some cases, the natural topography of the land creates the issue because of how the land is situated and how it is laid out with natural-looking boundary lines, which are at odds with the actual legal boundary line. Neighbors can find themselves at odds over the proper location of a fence, or the shrubs, or a garage, or some other structure which has existed in a certain location for many years. For whatever reason, the layout does not follow the actual legal boundary description. This can happen with residential as well as commercial properties.
Sometimes the issue is simple to resolve. Other times, we end up in court. The thing about a boundary issue is that it’s small until it’s not. What I mean is people can live in harmony for 30 years with a mislocated boundary line which is not consistent with the actual legal boundary without a problem. Because they are neighbors and friends it’s not an issue. That’s what I mean when I say it’s a small issue.
However, when someone goes to sell their property, the problems arise. The non-selling neighbor does not have a relationship with the new purchaser and vice versa. I have seen cases where the non-selling neighbor seeks to obtain property back between the time when it’s listed and when the new buyer closes and moves in. This is when the issue becomes big.
To avoid facing unpleasant disagreements with your neighbor and possibly litigation, as soon as an issue is recognized, while everyone is still neighborly and agreeable, enter into a boundary line agreement that squares away the issue and prevents problems down the road. Even if people are not agreeable, this is the time to take care of it. You don’t want to address the boundary line issue after you sign a contract and are waiting to go to closing!
There have been many times when there are uses of the land where each party is using the neighboring property to some degree because it just works. I have drafted agreements for that specific scenario, which makes it clear that the use is permissive and no one is trying to claim adverse possession to their neighbor’s property. I have been able to speak with a neighbor and sensitized them to the fact that today we’re asking them for a favor, but next time they might be asking somebody else for a favor and we simply work it out.
On some occasions, a neighbor might make a small payment or receive a small payment to resolve the issue and restore the legal boundary line so that each neighbor can sell their property without an issue. Sometimes it’s just the cost of relocating a fence and the aggrieved party is happy to foot the bill for this minor cost to resolve the issue.
Richard H. Apat is a member of Vishnick McGovern Milizio LLP – Attorneys at Law, where he heads the Personal Injury and Real Estate Litigation practices. He can be reached at rapat@vmmlegal.com and 516.437.4385 x152.
