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lllsmilelll · Mar 25, 2007, 11:10 PM

I recently bought a house and was told that there was an agreement with the
Next door neighbor about the land that they made years ago.

They(neighbor) have part of their patio deck on my land. About 3 feet into our land.
We have signed an agreement when we bought the house.

I just wanted to know if there is any way we can have our land back?
Have our land back would mean have them take the deck out or rebuild it.
We want to build a fence and building around the deck would look very awkward.

Thank you and warm regards

kp2171 · Mar 25, 2007, 11:31 PM

Not an expert here so wait for others to chime in.

Certainly the best thing would be to come to an agreement with the neighbors.

If that won't work, and you are willing to put up with pi$$ed off neighbors, you can do a little investigating. Look up your local county assessors office... for ex Google or Yahoo "xxxxx county assessor"... for whatever county you are in.

You should be able to search for their address. On the assessors page it should list when the deck was built and if there was a permit involved. I'm hoping that they just built the deck without a permit. If so, then you could complain to the assessors office and get a hearing. Getting a hearing alone doesn't mean the deck will be forced to be torn down, but its one avenue I suppose.

If nothing else, look at the site and see if they did the proper paperwork for building the deck. Then maybe you can use that leverage in talking to the neighbors.

Again, there are people here at AMHD who might have better answers. That's as good as I have at this point.

LisaB4657 · Mar 26, 2007, 05:39 AM

You said you signed an agreement when you bought the house. What does the agreement say? If the agreement gives the neighbor permission to use that piece of land then you cannot take back your land unless the neighbor violates the agreement in some way.

ScottGem · Mar 26, 2007, 05:48 AM

What we have here is called an easement. It is permission for one party to use land owned by another party under certain conditions.

As Lisa pointed out, you were aware of the easement when you contracted to buy the house. You signed an agreement acknowledging the existence of the easement and continuing to allow it.

So why would you think you can back out of that agreement now? Depending on how long that deck has been in place, its possible that, under the doctrine of adverse possession, they actually own that part of the property.

If you want the property back, you will probably have to pay them for it or at least pay for altering the deck. Even then, they would have to agree to it.

LisaB4657 · Mar 26, 2007, 05:57 AM

I agree with ScottGem, except that if there is an easement or other written agreement then adverse possession would not apply. One of the required elements of adverse possession is that the possession must be "hostile" and without the owner's permission. An easement explicitly grants permission.

lllsmilelll · Mar 28, 2007, 09:11 PM

Thank you all for your answers.
I guess I would have to talk to the owner about the fence.

It's just he's not living in the house right now and the house is out for sale.
So maybe I should talk to the next owner instead when the owner actually lives in
The house.
Thank you

ScottGem · Mar 29, 2007, 05:33 AM

Check the agreement you signed. It may extend automatically to any new buyer. If it doesn't, you need to contact the CURRENT owner and tell him that you will NOT honor the agreement with a new owner. They will need to make any prospective buyer aware of this.

But you really need to consult a real estate attorney as to your rights here. I'm not 100% sure you will be able to rescind the easement with change of ownership. You probably will have to either pay for the remodeling of the deck or some other compensation.

LisaB4657 · Mar 29, 2007, 05:36 AM

Don't wait! Talk to the current owner before the house is sold. If there is any chance of revising the agreement you will have more luck doing it with someone who is selling the house then trying to do it with someone who has just bought the house and is unaware of what you want to do.