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fence question

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freeze

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? WI

I bought my house about 1.5 years ago, it was for sale by owner. The owner had put up a fence back in 1997 for his dogs. When I bought the house he said nothing about being over a property line with his fence, or anything on the matter when asked. Recently a house was built on the lot behind us and the owner got a survey done, turns out the the fence is about 20ft over the property line at one corner. So instead of a being a diaganol on the backside the previous owner just decided to make two right angles, even though he didn't own the land.

Today I get a letter from the people behind me asking me what can be done about the fence. I've heard about the adverse possession but I'm not concerned about keeping the extra 20 ft, what I'm concerned about is whether or not its my responsibility. If the previous owner sold it to me on false pretense not letting me know the fence was over the prop line, shouldn't it be his responsiblity to fix it? Thanks for any input.
 


rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Did you consult the survey's at the time of the sale?
The easiest thing would be to move your fence, hopefully it's not a cinder block fence.
 

freeze

Junior Member
rmet4nzkx said:
Did you consult the survey's at the time of the sale?
The easiest thing would be to move your fence, hopefully it's not a cinder block fence.

This was my first home purchase and since the fence was there and he said there were property inssues I assumed everything was okay. Don't the lenders usually look at things like this before giving a loan to someone?

Thats fine that the fence has to be moved, but they would like it done within the next month and I just don't have the time. Besides my full time job I coach high school soccer so I really am busy from sun up to sun down, including the weekends. Thats why I'm wondering if there is some kind of rule/law to get the previous owner to fix the problem. By the way, the previous owner just lives across town about 2-3 miles away. So its not like he left the state or something. Thanks
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Well you could contact him and see what he will do.
Have a special training daycamp at your house/yard :) see how fast they can move your fence. Then lots of pizza.
 

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