View Full Version : What are my rights concerning the existing chain link fence line?
Murdoch
May 1, 2011, 06:41 PM
About 30 years ago (1983), my father purchased a town property. It was my understanding that he and the neighbour, John, agreed to place a chain link fence along the old fence line that existed for at least the last 60 years. John died about 2001. Since then Johns lot has had two owners: Tom and Mike; and both my parents had passed away by 2002. Tom had a 20 by 30 shed built four feet out from the existing chain link fence line. In our neighbourhood, the property lines are out as much as two feet. Tom realized this; and started to cut the grass two to four feet over on my side at the front of my property where there is no fence (about 20 feet). I had the property surveyed and discovered that the property line between Tom and me was off by one foot starting two thirds up a 165 foot property line. It seems that the property line is out the last 55 feet from 0 to 1 foot in a 55 foot pie. Tom passed away about 2004. Then, Mike purchased the property. Mike built another wooden privacy fence along the existing chain link fence that I had believed was the property line.
AK lawyer
May 2, 2011, 06:13 AM
About 30 years ago (1983), my father... and the neighbour, John, agreed to place a chain link fence along the old fence line that existed for at least the last 60 years.
...
I had the property surveyed and discovered that the property line between Tom and me was off by one foot starting two thirds up a 165 foot property line. ...
If you are asking whether you have the right to ask Mike to move the fence, no, I don't think so. He has a good adverse possession claim to the pie-shaped piece, including up to the extension of the fence-line in front.
... Tom had a 20' by 30' shed built four feet out from the existing chain link fence line.
...
property lines are out as much as two feet.
...
... It seems that the property line is out ...
...
It's not clear what you mean by "out" (where I have emphisized the word in bold above). Do you mean on your neighbor's side of the property line?
The shed that Tom built is on your side of the line? Do you have any clue as to why he figured he had the right to do that? Depending on where you are, the adverse possession SOL may not have tolled in the shed, so you should see an attorney to determine what can be done about it.
ballengerb1
May 2, 2011, 07:21 AM
What country and state is this property? Laws vary and this could be governed by adverse possession but the clock may not start running until a time when you knew or should have known there was encroachment
AK lawyer
May 2, 2011, 09:17 AM
... the clock may not start running until a time when you knew or should have known there was encroachment
Or when your predecessors in title knew. In this case, your father presumably knew the fence was there when it was built.
And you knew, or should have known, that Tom built the shed when he built the shed.
To the extent that ballengerb1 is suggesting that the clock didn't start running until Murdoch got a survey (or "should have" gotten one), I respectfully disagree. That is simply incorrect. The only situation in which such a "knew or should have known" rule would be applicable, that I can think of, would be if the encroaching person dug a tunnel, or some such hidden construction.
ballengerb1
May 2, 2011, 10:00 AM
It is not clear to me when "Tom realized this; and started to cut the grass two to four feet over on my side at the front of my property where there is no fence (about 20 feet). " this happened. Also waiting to hear where you are located.
Murdoch
May 2, 2011, 10:38 AM
In the summer of 2002 Tom built the shed four to the east of the chain link fence believing that the chain link fence was the actual property line. In reality the property line is out the last 55 feet (of the 165 foot chain link fence) from 0” to 1 foot in a 55 foot pie to the west of the chain link fence. The fence was definitely built on Tom's side of the chain link fence in 1983. Through a survey, I discovered that my fence was placed on Tom's property in a 2003 survey in the Province of Ontario..
AK lawyer
May 2, 2011, 11:02 AM
In the summer of 2002 Tom built the shed four to the east of the chain link fence believing that the chain link fence was the actual property line. In reality the property line is out the last 55 feet (of the 165 foot chain link fence) from 0€ to 1 foot in a 55 foot pie to the west of the chain link fence. The fence was definitely built on Tom€™s side of the chain link fence in 1983. Through a survey, I discovered that my fence was placed on Tom€™s property in a 2003 survey in the Province of Ontario.
So your land is to the West and Mike's (previously Tom's) land is to the East?
What is the problem? Both the fence and the shed are, as I understand it, on Mike's land.
http://images3a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp733%3C4%3Enu%3D5%3B5%3A%3E74%3B%3E25 7%3EWSNRCG%3D3393%3B77636348nu0mrj
It appears that you arguably have a claim up to the fence-line. Is Mike suggesting that you don't?
joypulv
May 2, 2011, 08:16 PM
Look up adverse occupation, Ontario. They don't like the term adverse possession, which is used in the US.
10 years is correct.
But your story is a bit muddled and uses vague terms like 'out' which doesn't tell us on whose land. There's the chain link fence, the privacy fence, the shed, and the mowing.
Try to sit down with the statutes and negotiate.
ScottGem
May 3, 2011, 04:02 AM
I agree, you are not giving us the info we need. It would also help if you explain either what you want to do or what your neighbor wants to do. Do you believe the property line is on the neighbor's side of the fence, meaning you have less property than you should? Or vice versa.
And frankly, we seem to be talking about maybe a foot at most. So why is this a big deal? What about the other sides, are there boundaries there that are not correct?