Property Line Issuses

[commish1]

We live in California.
We have lived in this house for 20 years. The house is 50 years old and has had the same fence-line, put in by the orginal developer. We replaced the fence 12 years ago, in the same position, splitting the expense with our neighbor. That neighbor is now selling a portion of his property to the neighbor on the other side of him. In doing so they had a survey done.
It turns out all the fence-lines (compared to property lines) are wrong on our street. Effecting 5 houses. Now our neighbor wants to move the fence-line 4 feet into our yard, on to the newly survey property line. He tells us we should do the same to our other neighbors, and so on dowm the street. With 20 years of landscaping, etc., this seems crazy. We have no intension of causing our other neighbor such grief. Do we have any recourse after all this time?

 

[John Se]

recourse is to negotiate

try negotiating, comprimising, also how much land are we talking about? 4 feet on an acre lot probably not a big deal, 4 feet on a 4000 foot lot different story.

 

[lwpat]

I agree, it is ridiculous. The propety is yours by adverse possession and agreed boundry line.

 

[jimmler]

We live in California.
We have lived in this house for 20 years. The house is 50 years old and has had the same fence-line, put in by the orginal developer. We replaced the fence 12 years ago, in the same position, splitting the expense with our neighbor. That neighbor is now selling a portion of his property to the neighbor on the other side of him. In doing so they had a survey done.
It turns out all the fence-lines (compared to property lines) are wrong on our street. Effecting 5 houses. Now our neighbor wants to move the fence-line 4 feet into our yard, on to the newly survey property line. He tells us we should do the same to our other neighbors, and so on dowm the street. With 20 years of landscaping, etc., this seems crazy. We have no intension of causing our other neighbor such grief. Do we have any recourse after all this time?

It is my understanding adverse possession has to go to court and be decided by a judge, and is not automatic.

For the agreed boundary line option, ask a local real estate attorney if boundary line agreements/adjustments can be done, and if they would comply with local subdivision/zoning/recording laws. You may want to discuss this with the surveyor also, to see what your options are to make the property boundaries match the long standing possession lines.

Good luck
jimmler
I am not a lawyer, I have been in surveying since 1989.