Statue of Limitations - border issue

What is the name of your state? New York, Westchester County

My wife and I replaced an already existing fence in our backyard that sits on the property line dividing our yard from our neighbors. Because the new fence was erected in the same exact place where the old one sat, we did not require a permit. We will have lived in our house 3 years this July and our neighbor has been there 7 - 8 yrs. It is my understanding that original fence was erected prior to our neighbor taking ownership of her home. Because we replaced the fence w/out consulting her, our neighbor had a survey done. There is a marker 5 - 6 ft into her front lawn, and another along the edge of property line half way to the backyard. We do not see another marking the property edge at the rear and fear that it may be on our side of the fence. If this is the case, after all this time, can our neighbor have us move the fence or is there a statute of limitations regarding the use of the property, "sqatters rights" for lack of a better term? Is a copy of the permit for the original fence available to the public? Any insight / advice is greatly appreciated.

gekko003 said:

What is the name of your state? New York, Westchester County

My wife and I replaced an already existing fence in our backyard that sits on the property line dividing our yard from our neighbors. Because the new fence was erected in the same exact place where the old one sat, we did not require a permit. We will have lived in our house 3 years this July and our neighbor has been there 7 - 8 yrs. It is my understanding that original fence was erected prior to our neighbor taking ownership of her home. Because we replaced the fence w/out consulting her, our neighbor had a survey done. There is a marker 5 - 6 ft into her front lawn, and another along the edge of property line half way to the backyard. We do not see another marking the property edge at the rear and fear that it may be on our side of the fence. If this is the case, after all this time, can our neighbor have us move the fence or is there a statute of limitations regarding the use of the property, "sqatters rights" for lack of a better term? Is a copy of the permit for the original fence available to the public? Any insight / advice is greatly appreciated.

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Just my opinion, but an adverse possession lawsuit ("squatter's rights") is going to cost you a lot of money and time.

A survey (which you would need if you had such a lawsuit) would be a good idea. Get your own survey.

If the fence is totally on you, you should be fine.

However, replacing a boundary line fence without the permission of the adjoining landowner was not a good idea.

Contact your local Farm Bureau; they have tons of information on fence laws.

The original fence was wooden, old and rotting. About a year or so ago, the posts had rotted to the point where the fence started to lean into our property. We recv'd a note from our nieghbor stating it was our resposibility to fix it and so I did a temporary fix. Last summer we were having the landscaping done in the backyard and decided to replace the fence. The landscapers took down the fence and put up a rope to mark off where the the fence had been. Mind you, the fence had plants/shrubbery on either side, so to replace the fence further onto her propoerty would have meant damaging her plants. When she saw the landscapers putting up the rope she came out screaming the rope was too far on her property and she moved it towards our property, and that is where the fence was replaced. While the posts were being dug, our neighbor called the building inspector who came to our house, w/ the sheriff. He heard both sides and told her that we were replacing and existing fence so there was no issue. Now from what I have been reading, if she wanted to contest the property line, and the fence being replaced, she should have had the authorities stop the work, and had a survey done. Now by not doing so at that time, can that be interpretted as consent, or approval? Also, the original fence was there way before either of us moved into our respective homes and she never made an issue of if with us until recently. I'm sure a survey was done when she bought her home, or the prior owners supplied a copy of one.