Buying a portion of my neighbor's yard?

[UnionAMG]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

Hi all... I'm interested in buying only a portion of my neighbor's parcel of land. It borders my parcel. Essentially, I would like to move the boundary of where our parcels meet, shifting it to give me more space.

In order to offer him a price, I need to understand the process and additional fees associated with changing our parcel boundaries (i.e. If it's worth $2500 to me to get the extra yard, and the fees are 500, then I can offer him as much as 2000 before it becomes too expensive for me).

Does anybody know anything about this process? I've tried searching for information on lot-line adjustments on the City of Buffalo's website, but can't find anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[justalayman]

the neighbor will accept what he will accept, that is it and I (if I were the neighbor) would expect you to pay all associated costs since it is to benefit you.


You would have a deed, title transfer fees, recording fees, (should have) a surveyor, and should have a lawyer to make sure everything is done correctly.

You might want to consider title insurance on the parcel you are buying.

all of those costs are locally determined. You would have better access to discovering them than I.

[HomeGuru]

I would say the associated fees would be around $10K not including the cost of the the land.

[VictorD]

Since you live in a city, zoning may be an issue. If your neighbor reduces the size of his lot, will he still meet all the requirements for lot size, frontage, setbacks, lot coverage, etc?

Where I live (in MA) any subdivision of land (such as your neighbor subdividing his lot into two pieces, one for him and one for you) must go through the city's planning board, an extra step with associated costs.

There could also be an issue if your neighbor has a mortgage. He can't just sell off part of the mortgaged property without making special arrangements with the bank.

Why not just try to work out a rental/lease deal?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by VictorD

Since you live in a city, zoning may be an issue. If your neighbor reduces the size of his lot, will he still meet all the requirements for lot size, frontage, setbacks, lot coverage, etc?

Where I live (in MA) any subdivision of land (such as your neighbor subdividing his lot into two pieces, one for him and one for you) must go through the city's planning board, an extra step with associated costs.

There could also be an issue if your neighbor has a mortgage. He can't just sell off part of the mortgaged property without making special arrangements with the bank.

Why not just try to work out a rental/lease deal?

**A: a rental/lease deal would not solve the OP's request.

[UnionAMG]

I wouldn't be interested in a rent/lease. My house sits on a 24x46 foot lot with a house footprint of 22x40 (built in 1900 they really squeezed them in on this block). I literally have zero yard, and hope to add about 15x20 feet of sideyard with this. This would really help the value of my home, as well as give us some outdoor space to enjoy.

I'm just not sure where to really start. I suppose consulting with an attorney in my area with some knowledge of the local codes would be the best way. Thanks for all the input!

[nextwife]

In addition to issues related to minimum lot size requirements to meet conforming vs non conforming, compliance with set back requirements, the other concern (besides title, easements and right of ways that may be impacted by moving the lot line) the other issue is that, if there is a mortgage, the lender likely must agree to any change that affects the legal description of their collateral and be agreeable to issuance of a partial release.