Debbie-in-SD
Junior Member
I am in Los Angeles, California. I bought my house about 15 years ago. My backyard is very shallow and we have always wished it was bigger. My house backs up to another residential property that is significantly larger - about 1 acre. At the front of that property is the main house and at the very rear of the property is a guest house. Recently while driving through the neighborhood we saw that the house had signs up for an "estate sale". We decided to go in and see what they were selling. My wife ended up talking to the woman who lived there. She said they were pulling up stakes and moving to Texas. They got to talking about the two properties and she said, "Yeah, you know, many years ago we hooked up to your septic tank back there. We knew you guys weren't using it and it was too expensive for us to go all the way to the street so we hooked up to it."
My wife came home and told me what the woman said and I thought, "That's curious, I didn't know there was a septic tank there." I ended up looking at the LA City Planning's ZIMA website which has aerial photos of parcels with the property boundaries drawn. I cross referenced this to the title policy I received when I bought the house. It turns out we have a wall that is about 10 feet inside our property line for all 150 of the backyard width. In looking over the wall I can see the guest house's septic lines with a cleanout cap are on my property.
I don't believe he'd be able to claim adverse possession because though he has used it "open & hostile" he couldn't prove he paid taxes on it.
The property is currently on the market for sale. The other day I sent a certified letter to the owner and his real estate agent advising him of the issue and requested that he contact me to resolve it. The realtor picked up the letter. The property owner has not.
I don't know what to do at this point. I don't want to be a jerk but I also want my property. We are not far from the beach, the land is valuable so I don't want to just say, "Oh well, he's been using it all these years so he gets to keep it." It will be expensive for him to pull the septic lines and hook to the sewer, maybe north of 10 grand. I imagine that is why he hasn't contacted me.
Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated.
My wife came home and told me what the woman said and I thought, "That's curious, I didn't know there was a septic tank there." I ended up looking at the LA City Planning's ZIMA website which has aerial photos of parcels with the property boundaries drawn. I cross referenced this to the title policy I received when I bought the house. It turns out we have a wall that is about 10 feet inside our property line for all 150 of the backyard width. In looking over the wall I can see the guest house's septic lines with a cleanout cap are on my property.
I don't believe he'd be able to claim adverse possession because though he has used it "open & hostile" he couldn't prove he paid taxes on it.
The property is currently on the market for sale. The other day I sent a certified letter to the owner and his real estate agent advising him of the issue and requested that he contact me to resolve it. The realtor picked up the letter. The property owner has not.
I don't know what to do at this point. I don't want to be a jerk but I also want my property. We are not far from the beach, the land is valuable so I don't want to just say, "Oh well, he's been using it all these years so he gets to keep it." It will be expensive for him to pull the septic lines and hook to the sewer, maybe north of 10 grand. I imagine that is why he hasn't contacted me.
Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated.
