• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Neighbors encroachment

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

silverrae

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Hawaii

My husband and I closed on our house here on the Big Island in Hawaii a week ago. We had to wait until then to start work on building a rock wall along the east side of our property. While we were waiting to close the 4 corners of our property were staked but that was it. Our contractor who will be building our wall suggested we have a surveyor come out and put an additional couple of stakes along that lot line so that when our wall is built we would know we were not encroaching on our neighbors lot. The original surveyor who did the 4 corners came back out and staked 3 additional points. What he found out is that a small rock wall (it only goes down half of the lot line) that we knew was our neighbors starts squarely on his property but ends 18" into our property.

We have talked to the neighbor to see what they knew. At first he said the line was wrong and that the wall was all on his land but then admitted that it has been an on going dispute with the previous owners. The previous owners never disclosed this in any paperwork and in fact a document that specifically talks about any possible encroachment said there were none. We bought the house as a short sale with an As-Is clause. We were told the As-Is clause only pertains to the house/garage on the property so that means the previous owners could be held liable for not disclosing the encroachment.

To remove the wall so that we can put ours up and not lose any land is going to cost us money. The neighbor has made it clear he has no intentions of spending anything to remedy his encroachment and has said we can remove whatever portion is on our land.

What are our options? We feel going after the previous owners will not go anywhere as the house was bought in a short sale. We feel the title company should have seen the issue and we do have title insurance. Would something like this be covered in our title insurance? Can we get the neighbor to pay?
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
How much is it going to cost to remove 18" of a small stone wall? That may be the most expedient remedy, particularly since you already have the approval of the other party.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top