What is the name of your state? n.y. it will be ten years in august of this year that i purchased land , now the man i bought it off of says the line is wrong and wants me to move my fence. do i have squatters rights to this or will i need to move the fence ?? i wanted it surveyed when i bought it but he had his son mark it out , now he has had it surveyed , what is the law in reguards to this ?? do i have a leg to stand on ??
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mous931
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Question for lawyers out there: could this possibly qualify as an agreed boundary?
I recollect reading that if adjacent owners are uncertain as to where the correct property line is, and get together to specifically decide where it is, that it would become the new boundary line. Or are there other criteria, such as apparently it was possible to find the original property line by doing a survey?
Putting posts in the ground sounds more formal and significant that just saying let's put the fence here, it's about right.
Happy Trails
Senior Member
Because people tell other people what they think at the time is right. (That doesn't make it true though.) The only way to be certain is to have a survey and a certified copy of that survey.mous931 said:thats what i,m getting at how can they tell me the line is one place and then come along ten years later and say that its not in the right place when they are the ones who said where it was to begin with
We have some property and the line between us and the neighbors was in dispute. (They were told 25 years ago that the line was in a particular spot) They didn't have it surveyed.
We had a survey done, the day of the survey, they told the survey company that when they bought the property that they were told the line was here. The survey company responded by telling them that we are about to find that out. The information the previous owners gave them was incorrect. They still owned the amount of property that they had purchased, just not as far south as they were told. They felt they lost 210' by 1200'.
But their acreage was still the same.Fortunately for us they did not build on our land. But they did clear cut it 20 years ago, before we owned it.
Do as HG posted, that is the only way you will know for certain. Shop around the cost can vary greatly.
**A: simply because they are not state licensed surveyors. They are just landowner guesstimators.mous931 said:thats what i,m getting at how can they tell me the line is one place and then come along ten years later and say that its not in the right place when they are the ones who said where it was to begin with
I have seen "agreed boundary doctrine" mentioned several times while looking through CA case summaries (yes, I know he is talking about New York, but I think CA case summaries are not the same as comic books). I don't personally like the idea that anything could override a survey. I just would like to understand when it applies...if ever. Here is one example:
Armitage v. Decker (1990) 218 Cal.App.3d 887 , 267 Cal.Rptr. 399
From the discussion:
"The elements required to prove title by agreed boundary are: (1) uncertainty as to the true boundary line; (2) an express or implied agreement between adjoining owners to accept a line as the boundary; and (3) acceptance and acquiescence in the line for a period equal to the statute of limitations or until action is taken in reliance on the agreement which would result in substantial loss if the boundary were altered." (Humphrey v. Futter (1985) 169 Cal.App.3d 333, 338 [215 Cal.Rptr. 178]; Ernie v. Trinity Lutheran Church (1959) 51 Cal.2d 702, 707 [336 P.2d 525].) The party asserting the doctrine bears the burden of proving each required element. (Mesnick v. Caton (1986) 183 Cal.App.3d 1248, 1255 [228 Cal.Rptr. 779].)
Although I believe the court decided in this case that agreed boundary wasn't shown, and in fact the case seems to have been considered almost frivolous, this statement would seem to me to imply that it would be possible in some other case to show it.
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Happy Trails
Senior Member
(1) uncertainty as to the true boundary line.geryon said:
This isn't the case with mous931's property. The line CAN be established with a proper survey. If the adjoining neighbors had a survey that proves where the line is; then it is not uncertain.
Maybe the above would apply to someone in the ozarks where they can't get a proper survey.
Sounds good...I'd like to bank on it.
However, from the same case there is also this note, which sounds to me like in some obscure special cases, it doesn't matter if the boundary could be surveyed:
*FN 1. It has been stated in some cases that a boundary is considered definite and certain when it can be made certain from the deed. (E.g., Kraus v. Griswold (1965) 232 Cal.App.2d 698, 706-707 [43 Cal.Rptr. 139]; Meacci v. Kochergen (1956) 141 Cal.App.2d 207, 212 [296 P.2d 573]; Williams v. Barnett (1955) 135 Cal.App.2d 607, 612 [287 P.2d 789].) Since the decisions of the Supreme Court and a majority of the Courts of Appeal adhere to the rule that the possibility of accurately surveying the true line is immaterial, however, these cases have been regarded as departures from the established rule. (Humphrey v. Futter, supra, 169 Cal.App.3d at p. 340; 3 Miller & Starr, Current Law of Cal. Real Estate (1977) § 21.27, p. 557, fn. 11; Annot. (1989) 72 A.L.R.4th 132, § 13(b), p. 174, fn. 13, § 20, p. 182, fns. 16-18.)
i would like to thank you all for your input !!!! i guess i am sol !! will have to go by this survey that is being done . i don,t know if i need to start a new tread or if i can go on from here . please let me know . i looked up the ny state surveyors ass. , checked to see if this surveyor was listed as being certified surveyor , he was not . in n.y. state do they have to be licensed and or certified or can any idiot with a transit do a survey ????
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