Shadowbunny
Queen of the Not-Rights
We purchased our current home (that sits on an acre) in late 2011 from ING bank, as the property had been foreclosed. There was a 6' block wall in place surrounding the backyard when we bought it. The previous owner (who lost it to the bank) is the one who had the wall built on the West and North boundaries of the property. To the West side of wall is an overflow ditch. The ditch was eroded due to years of neglect, so we set out to find the owner. To that end, we called the local utility (Salt River Project) that owns the canal to the West of the ditch, thinking that they were the owner of the ditch.
They sent some folks out to survey, and that's when we discovered that the block wall was outside of our property line. So, in essence, we didn't own the wall.
The SRP surveyors subsequently tried to find the owner of the property/wall, but could not.
We also called the city, state, county, Roosevelt Water Conservation District (RWCD) and Maricopa Flood Control District to no avail. No one claimed ownership of the ditch or wall.
At one point, SRP explained to us that the land had been quit-claimed to RWCD (they provide irrigation). I contacted them, and RWCD gave me a subsequent quitclaim giving the land back to SRP. Sent that document to SRP, who said that the land was abandoned by SRP, and that the city might have some jurisdiction. The city again disclaimed any ownership. Since no one was claiming ownership, we put up a chainlink fence, attached it to the wall, as well as 10 bougainvillea. We also brought in dirt to shore up the wall, as a 2014 flood eroded it enough to be dangerous.
Now, here we are 8 years later, and another division in SRP is coming back to us saying "oh, by the way, your wall is on federal property, which we manage for the feds. You'll have to take it down."
Here's the question: while we don't want the wall to come down, we understand that it may have to. But is it our responsibility to pay for the wall removal? It's not on our property, we didn't build it, and although we've maintained it, we haven't done as much as we would have if it were actually ours.
Thoughts?
They sent some folks out to survey, and that's when we discovered that the block wall was outside of our property line. So, in essence, we didn't own the wall.
The SRP surveyors subsequently tried to find the owner of the property/wall, but could not.
We also called the city, state, county, Roosevelt Water Conservation District (RWCD) and Maricopa Flood Control District to no avail. No one claimed ownership of the ditch or wall.
At one point, SRP explained to us that the land had been quit-claimed to RWCD (they provide irrigation). I contacted them, and RWCD gave me a subsequent quitclaim giving the land back to SRP. Sent that document to SRP, who said that the land was abandoned by SRP, and that the city might have some jurisdiction. The city again disclaimed any ownership. Since no one was claiming ownership, we put up a chainlink fence, attached it to the wall, as well as 10 bougainvillea. We also brought in dirt to shore up the wall, as a 2014 flood eroded it enough to be dangerous.
Now, here we are 8 years later, and another division in SRP is coming back to us saying "oh, by the way, your wall is on federal property, which we manage for the feds. You'll have to take it down."
Here's the question: while we don't want the wall to come down, we understand that it may have to. But is it our responsibility to pay for the wall removal? It's not on our property, we didn't build it, and although we've maintained it, we haven't done as much as we would have if it were actually ours.
Thoughts?
