My Neighbors Fence is Partly on My Property. What Can I Do?

There is an old saying, “fences make good neighbors,” and this is true, but only if their fence is not on your property. While most people tend not to pay much attention to their neighbors or their fences, if your neighbor has a fence on your property, you may need to do something about it. So, what can you do? Keep reading to find out.

Talk to Your Neighbor

The first and perhaps best way to handle the situation is to talk to your neighbor. There is always a chance they simply did not know that they are on your property line. If they are not aware, they may be willing to move the fence over to their own property line. If you have a good relationship with your neighbor, you may even talk to them and allow the fence to stay in place.

Property Line Surveys

If talking to your neighbor is not an option, or they are being unreasonable, you may have to take matters into your own hands and get a survey and see where your property line is. If you do have a professional survey company come out, they will refer to your property agreement, look at the deed for your property, and put up stakes and lines that will tell you and the neighbor exactly where the line is.

Property Line Disputes

The next thing that you can do after you have gotten a survey of the property line is, give the neighbor a chance to move their fence based on the survey. If your neighbor still refuses to move the fence or take any action to rectify the situation, you need to consider taking legal action.

If you have a survey that has been professionally done, and you can prove that you have talked to your neighbor about where the fence is, you can then take it to court if you feel that is the right option. With property line disputes that go to court, you may have to take in proof that you are in the right, and you may not be able to get your neighbor to go into court.

This is a huge issue that many people deal with. For those that see that someone is building a fence in a place that is not their own, it is always best to take the time to stop them before they get too far into the project so that you can make sure that they are going to be more willing to move the fence or to stop building it where they are.

This can be a very difficult topic for people to talk to their neighbors about, but if you are looking to sell your home in the future, it is always best to make sure that nothing has been built where it does not belong and where it infringes on anyone’s rights.