property lines

[dave eastman]

State of Washington: I live in a residential development which contains building lots of prox. 10,000 sq.ft. The development was platted in prox. 1988. I obtained the property in 1994. At some time prior to that the two adjacent properties to the rear of mine constructed a fence prox. 8' inside their property line.This was done because of a elevation drop at that point of prox. 4'. The question is, now that this fence has been in place for a substancial amount of time, does that fence represent a revised property line, and should steps be taken to revise county records. The 8' by 80' parcel of land has become an integral portion of my yard and landscaping. Thankyou in advance for your reply

 

[HomeGuru]

Prox no.

 

[liquid]

My lawyer in Washington state said that there was a law regarding fences that have been up over 10 years creating a new property line.. Am confused over your statement about this? Is this just a Washington state law or is my lawyer who checked this for me wrong?

 

[HomeGuru]

Just putting up a fence on persons property for 10 years does not automatically give the fence owner ownership of the land that is fenced in. I believe your attorney was alluding to what is known as adverse possession. There are a number of issues that must be addressed to qualify for adverse possesion. Search this site using those search words for more info. This subject has been covered numerous times on this forum.