I live in Washington State. We bought a 2 acre lot in 2001 and started construction in Feb 2002. The neighbor on one side was a couple months ahead of us on construction and finished his house and landscaping before we did. The realtor had rebar stakes on the lot lines with a little white board with arrows showing Lot 3 on one side and Lot 4 to the other side. The neighbor put in his sprinklers and shrubs a bed with fairly close adherence to this property line. I did the same and life's been good.

Now I have built a shop. The builder, wanting to comply with the county requirement of 15' layback, placed the building 25+ feet from this line. Well the neighbor does not like my shop and says that it "looks" right into his backyard, where he happened to put a swimming pool last summer. Because they are ticked off they had a survey done, and lo and behold the pin for our property line is about 20 feet in my direction. It seems there was a curvature pin for the road that the realtor assumed was the property line pin. Even the power company missed it because they placed the service box straddling the line. Mysteriously no one can find the original pin and the surveyor just drove in a new one.

My question is what legal grounds do I have to claim this property? The adverse possession statute for Washington State requires continuous and notorious possession for 7 years, for which I am a half year short. It's also questionable who has been paying the taxes on it. The assessor I'm sure is looking at the physical boundaries when he comes out, and does not reconcile that to the legal description. I've mowed it watered it, part of my driveway is on it, my utilities trench is on it, and now my shop is too close to the line. Oddly enough they said nothing till the shop was completed. How would a judge/arbitrator view this property line dispute?

Bildad

You will have to go back to the original survey of the property and start there. Lots of times the pins are either moved or removed as time goes by. Check with the county to see what the original survey said and then you'll have to get the property resurveyed and see if everything matches now. If not, please consult a real estate attorney about this problem.

Adverse possession probably won't apply here. Usually Adverse Possession requires that the original owner be aware that the property was being used.

So I don't think you have any claim on the property. In new construction one should make sure they are aware of the exact lines. Stakes and pins are frequently moved while construction is going on.

I agree - adverse possession is difficult and complicated and this looks like human error.

You obviously need a definitive survey before you decide how to proceed -