We have had a shed built on the property line for over 7 years. We decided to take down the shed and put up a metal building in its place. Now the owner of the land wants us to move the building 5 feet away from the property line even though they never complained about the previous building. The building backs up to farmland and there is about 10 feet between our building and where they farm (the owner leases the land to farm). We cannot move the building because there is no room and it is concreted into the foundation. We tried to find the boundary markers with a metal detector but cannot. Is there any way I can win this?

Contact the city planning department and find out what the zoning laws are regarding out buildings or sheds. Where I live, if the building is under 120 square feet, you can put it anywhere you want to. But, each city is different.

Since the farmer is only renting the land you could also contact the owner of the land and ask him/her what he thinks.

Most towns would have required you to have a permit to even tear down the old shed and put up a new one, plus they don't 'grandfather' in new structures if zoning laws have changed. So you could possibly be ordered to move the building. It doesn't matter if the slab is the same one. It might be in your interest to pay for a survey. Or if you have a GPS and your deed is marked in latitude and longitude degrees, that will help you find your property line.

Once you tore down the old one, the new one has to meet zoning rules, so if there is a set back from properly line you have to follow it. If you don't know where the property line is, you will need to have a survey done.

Did the same owners own the land when the original shed was erected? Have you checked the local laws on how much setback from the property line any structure needs to be? Did you build on the same concrete foundation that previously existed?

Win what? Has the neighboring owner filed anything in court yet?

... Or if you have a GPS and your deed is marked in latitude and longitude degrees, that will help you find your property line.

GPS devices are not accurate enough to locate the line to that precision.

Is the neighbor hanging his hat on the zoning setback, or is he saying that your shed is encroaching upon the land he is renting? If if it's the zoning code, contact the code enforcement officer and find out what you need to do to comply with the code. If, on the other hand, you are encroaching on the neighboring property, you are obviously going to have to re-build the shed on your own property.

Also, in our city, some of the set back laws have the "daylight plane" as part of their requirements. It's basically how the sun is obstructed by your building from the neighbors land. If the neighbors land is just a field then you might be in luck!