Encroachment Question

[Philzzz]

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

I live in a subdivided neighborhood in a suburban setting. My location is in Pensacola, Florida. Two and a half years ago my wife and I purchased a house that adjoins our property to our rear. We had a survey conducted and found that a previous owner of this property encroached on our property and also his neighbor’s property when he installed his swimming pool in approximately 1991. The encroachment on our property is less than a foot, but it is close to 2-feet in one spot on the neighbor’s property. The encroachment on the neighbor’s property is triangular in shape and ranges from 1 to 2 wide feet along its length (roughly 10 feet). The encroachment is roughly 10-15 sq. feet of the neighbor’s property and perhaps 4-5 sq. feet of our back yard. A fence line has always divided the encroached properties. We rebuilt the fence during a renovation we conducted in 2013 after we purchased the property.

We are on good terms with the neighbor, who is not bothered by the encroachment. However, we want to do the correct legal thing in case he decides to sell his property one day. We have told the neighbor we would like to purchase the encroached segment of his property outright, or otherwise gain the legal right to use it, and we will compensate him fairly for this. I would like to know how to go about arranging this and what ordered steps should we follow?

Thanks!

 

[TheGeekess]

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

I live in a subdivided neighborhood in a suburban setting. My location is in Pensacola, Florida. Two and a half years ago my wife and I purchased a house that adjoins our property to our rear. We had a survey conducted and found that a previous owner of this property encroached on our property and also his neighbor’s property when he installed his swimming pool in approximately 1991. The encroachment on our property is less than a foot, but it is close to 2-feet in one spot on the neighbor’s property. The encroachment on the neighbor’s property is triangular in shape and ranges from 1 to 2 wide feet along its length (roughly 10 feet). The encroachment is roughly 10-15 sq. feet of the neighbor’s property and perhaps 4-5 sq. feet of our back yard. A fence line has always divided the encroached properties. We rebuilt the fence during a renovation we conducted in 2013 after we purchased the property.

We are on good terms with the neighbor, who is not bothered by the encroachment. However, we want to do the correct legal thing in case he decides to sell his property one day. We have told the neighbor we would like to purchase the encroached segment of his property outright, or otherwise gain the legal right to use it, and we will compensate him fairly for this. I would like to know how to go about arranging this and what ordered steps should we follow?

Thanks!

You contact a real estate attorney in Pensacola and tell him/her/it what you want to do.

 

[154NH773]

You will need a survey and legal description of the encroachment.

You will have to decide with your neighbor what he is willing to do.

If he will sell you the property, you will have to do a "lot line adjustment". It is likely that you will have to get planning board approval, and then you will file a deed, from your neighbor to you, and also file a copy of the survey, which should be referenced in the deed, at the Recorder of Deeds. To write the deed I would highly advise getting a lawyer, although you could do it yourself.

If your neighbor simply wants to grant you an easement, your neighbor would simply file a deed granting you whatever rights you have been given. Your neighbor may want to put an end date or condition on such an easement; perhaps if the swimming pool is abandoned or replaced you might be required to move it. That would be up to whatever agreement you decide between the two of you.

Your neighbor could simply give you permission to encroach on his property, for what ever time he wants. I would also suggest such permission be granted in writing. If he sells his property, the "permission" would probably be revoked. For that reason, an easement or purchase would be preferable.

 

[alligatorob]

It is a good idea to get this taken care of. I purchased a house in Florida in 1993, the neighbor's house encroached onto my property by a foot or two. The realtor made me aware of the encroachment and gave me a copy of a letter written by the seller to the encroacher giving permission for the encroachment and requesting that when the house was rebuilt or otherwise redone that the encroachment be removed. All went fine, I got a mortgage and had a lawyer write a similar letter.

However when I went to sell in 2003 the buyer's mortgage company would not agree to the loan with the encroachment. The deal almost fell apart and in the end I had to have the encroachment surveyed and deeded to the encroacher, and lower the sales price a little. I learned that you need to fix things like this or they may come back to bite you when it comes time to sell.

 

[Philzzz]

It is a good idea to get this taken care of. I purchased a house in Florida in 1993, the neighbor's house encroached onto my property by a foot or two. The realtor made me aware of the encroachment and gave me a copy of a letter written by the seller to the encroacher giving permission for the encroachment and requesting that when the house was rebuilt or otherwise redone that the encroachment be removed. All went fine, I got a mortgage and had a lawyer write a similar letter.

However when I went to sell in 2003 the buyer's mortgage company would not agree to the loan with the encroachment. The deal almost fell apart and in the end I had to have the encroachment surveyed and deeded to the encroacher, and lower the sales price a little. I learned that you need to fix things like this or they may come back to bite you when it comes time to sell.

Thank you for your response. The neighbor isn't even worried about it; however, we told him we are following through with this. We have already contacted a surveyor to get a new survey, and once we have that, we will see a lawyer about taking care of this issue legally. It may cost us a little money on the front end, but we think it will save many headaches on the back end.