REAL ESTATE: BOUNDARY LINE DISPUTE

By Rakesh Rampertab, Esq.

Imagine owning a house but not being able to sell it because of a boundary-line dispute with a neighbor? Or imagine paying property tax for your entire house lot, but not being able to use all of it, because of the placement of a neighbor’s fence causing a boundary-line dispute?

Boundary-line dispute or issue is quite common among owners of properties. When a homeowner discovers that there is a boundary-line dispute or issue, it should be addressed immediately. As expected, some homeowners with boundary-line issues are reluctant to litigate the issue in court and preserve their rights.

With land law as in life, failure to act in a timely manner often results in serious consequences. Later is simply not always the better option. Indeed, sometimes a neighbor does something in regards to our property and we make no meaningful objection, until when we do decide to act we are told that it is too late. By meaningful objection I mean at the very least, something in writing, and not idle or neighborly talk across the fence which occurs unrecorded.

When this happens, a trespassing neighbor is likely to stake a claim over what is your property. And although the law has been amended a few years ago by our legislatures, making it more difficult to take a neighbor’s property, this is not entirely impossible. The legal concept associated with this kind of activity is called adverse possession. It is a topic for another article.

Not to digress, to avoid boundary-line disputes, neighbors should have what is called a boundary line agreement. Simply put, it is a legal document which can help a homeowner avoid future problems regarding a house and its lot. There are some basic benefits one can get from having such an agreement.

The issue of ownership of a piece of land that may be or has the potential of creating a problem can be easily rectified. For example, say I own a house lot which has 15 inches outside a fence but which is still inside my boundary line. My neighbor has been using it for a number of years. I never did anything. Now, I want to rebuild my fence on the boundary line so I can use this piece of land. However, my neighbor objects and suddenly I have a boundary-line issue.

There is an issue of encroachment that may also occur. As a second example, a neighbor erects a fence on a house lot that belongs to someone else. Now that fence becomes an obstacle or encroachment to the owner of that house lot. If he or she politely ask the owner of the fence to remove it, and the request is refused, then he or she will be forced to seek a court’s assistance to get injunctive relief or have the fence removed.

Then there is the issue of defective title. If a homeowner decides to sell a house, there will be no problem finding a willing buyer if the seller can produce a boundary-line agreement to show he or she owns the entire lot associated with that house.  But if there is a boundary-line dispute, a buyer is not likely to purchase the house because a title company will inform the buyer that there is a defect in the homeowner’s title.

In other words, to speak in more personal terms, thehouse and land you claim is yours to sell is not really yours. There is no guarantee that the size of the lot you claim to have is really as big as you say it is. The buyer will be told that it is not likely for any insurance policy to be issued to protect the title that the buyer will get from the seller. This is because an insurance provider will not invest in a house that has a problem.

It is not a coincidence that we have as a famous novel, V. S. Naipaul’s “A House for Mr. Biswas.” Land, however small, is important. A house on it makes it a greater accomplishment. As such, some neighbors are quite willing to take any land they can get freely. Because of this, land should be defended and protected. In doing so, one is preserving their rights as well as their investment.

Unfortunately, laws dealing with land disputes in New York State are old and complex, and therefore if there is no boundary-line agreement to turn to, a homeowner has to go to court when a neighbor tries to take his or her land. This article is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. For land disputes and related questions, you may contact this attorney at (917) 943-1336 or rrampertabesq@gmail.com.