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ggrose

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Our home has a very small backyard, which leads into a wooded area bordering a highway. We would like to extend our yard 20-30 feet back into this wooded area, clear the brush and plant some grass. We have no plans to build on it, just add to the yard and limit falling branches and general debris caused by the woods. We are not sure who actually owns this property (I assume the town, but since it borders a highway, I'm not too sure). How would we go about doing this legally and what are the ramifications if we just go ahead and do it? Thanks.
 


Happy Trails

Senior Member
ggrose said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Our home has a very small backyard, which leads into a wooded area bordering a highway. We would like to extend our yard 20-30 feet back into this wooded area, clear the brush and plant some grass. We have no plans to build on it, just add to the yard and limit falling branches and general debris caused by the woods. We are not sure who actually owns this property (I assume the town, but since it borders a highway, I'm not too sure). How would we go about doing this legally and what are the ramifications if we just go ahead and do it? Thanks.
You need to find out who owns it. (you can check with the city, county, plat books.....)

You should NOT go onto someone else's property and clear cut it. You can get fined a lot of money and/or jail time.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
If you just 'go ahead and do it' the owner can demand you pay to return the land to it's original form, including any underlying damage to plants and drainage. Have a few thousand laying around?

And who owns it depends entirely on the title search you are going to conduct. You might also want to call the state highway department to find out what their ROW width is.
 

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