Fence on my property

[Singer]

I live in Kentucky, and we are in the process of building a house. The builder who owns the lot has discovered (after we signed the contract and upon setting up his stakes for the boundaries of our house and where to dig) that the next door neighbor has put his fence about a foot on our side of the property line as marked by the builder using the information he has.

I don't think his info is an official survey but it does have dimensions of all the properties which I suppose were taken from the original plat.

What are my legal options since I haven't yet closed on the property? What are we in for if the fence is not moved? Can this cause future title problems either for our closing or if we want to sell?

Should the builder handle this directly with the neighbor since he still owns the lot? I suppose we can tell him we won't close unless the fence is moved. The builder has been good to work with so I don't think he'll be a problem in this though I don't know if he'll want to deal with the guy.

What do you recommend?

 

[Attorney_Replogle]

I personally would not close on the property. I advise you to not assume or think or hope that the builder will take care of the problem. Don't close on it since you know of the problem. That may be in effect giving away that property to your neighbor. So the bottom line is that I would advise you to consult with a real estate attorney to get the boundary lines set straight. You can find one at attorneypages.com.

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Mark B. Replogle