if someone has insight here i'd greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance...i'm in kentucky...anyway, after my neighbor completed the construction of a privacy fence, it came to my attention that the corner post of my neighbor's fence was on my property about 3.5 inches (a survey of my lot and placement of steel pin confirmed this). i asked him to move his fence, but he insists that his fence was built within the boudaries of his property and refuses to move it. even after seeing the pin, he just plain ignores everyone. but i'm inclined to think that i can (legally) and should just remove the portion that encroaches my property. i can do this right? it may be his fence, but the part on my property i can remove. am i right?

second issue...he put his house up for sale and when he did this, i told his real estate agent that his fence was on my property. he ignored me too. simply telling me that the issue was resolved in district court (fyi, i sued my neighbor for refund of the survey done since he pulled out my first survey pin when he built his fence) now his house is "pending sale." can a real estate agent sell his property to someone even thought there is an encroachment on my property. there are no easements or any other land transfers, titles or deeds that have given him permission to use my land. just his fence on my property that my neighbor won't move. i tried to call the broker of the real estate agent and it turns out, the the agent is the broker. this seems crooked to me. any thoughts? who do i voice my concern to next? the real estate company itself?

it seems petty, but this guy was a total jerk and other neighbors for the 10 years that he lived beside me.

if someone has insight here i'd greatly appreciate it. thanks in advance...i'm in kentucky...anyway, after my neighbor completed the construction of a privacy fence, it came to my attention that the corner post of my neighbor's fence was on my property about 3.5 inches (a survey of my lot and placement of steel pin confirmed this). i asked him to move his fence, but he insists that his fence was built within the boudaries of his property and refuses to move it. even after seeing the pin, he just plain ignores everyone. but i'm inclined to think that i can (legally) and should just remove the portion that encroaches my property. i can do this right? it may be his fence, but the part on my property i can remove. am i right?

second issue...he put his house up for sale and when he did this, i told his real estate agent that his fence was on my property. he ignored me too. simply telling me that the issue was resolved in district court (fyi, i sued my neighbor for refund of the survey done since he pulled out my first survey pin when he built his fence) now his house is "pending sale." can a real estate agent sell his property to someone even thought there is an encroachment on my property. there are no easements or any other land transfers, titles or deeds that have given him permission to use my land. just his fence on my property that my neighbor won't move. i tried to call the broker of the real estate agent and it turns out, the the agent is the broker. this seems crooked to me. any thoughts? who do i voice my concern to next? the real estate company itself?

it seems petty, but this guy was a total jerk and other neighbors for the 10 years that he lived beside me.

Don't touch the fence, take him AND the real estate agency to small claims court, show them the paperwork where the judge agreed with the findings of the survey, and have the judge order the neighbor to fix it, and the real estate to correct the missinformation given to any potential buyer so you don't have to fight with them on this issue. Good luck!

thanks to the above poster who replied to my inquiry. however, putting the judges and the courts aside, am i not entitled to remove something on my property (i.e., neighbors fence) and not have to courts intercede? after all, his fence is on my property, i should be allowed to remove the part that lies on my property without anyone's permission. isn't this right? thanks:)

You could end up making more of a mess dothing that. While the fence is on your property, the fence is still his. How do you remove just 3" of the fence without either damaging it, or removing part that is on his property?

You could end up making more of a mess dothing that. While the fence is on your property, the fence is still his. How do you remove just 3" of the fence without either damaging it, or removing part that is on his property?

With a sawzall? Just kidding.

I've seen pins and surveys off by quite a but, so just to be on the safe side, I would go with the proper route for this.

Has he gotten his own survey and clear title to sell yet?

I've seen fewer and fewer mortgage surveys required over the past several years to the point that they are relatively uncommon. Of course this may vary by state. Mortgage survey's aren't real property surveys anyways and shouldn't be used as such.

-Tim

Did I read this right? 3 1/2 INCHES? Not FEET? You then wouldn't take too kindly to my predicament, if you were me, where I have a neighbor encroaching onto my property 16.87 FEET with his driveway (and it pies out to a larger wedge towards the back).
I honestly don't know why you have an issue with this. Maybe it's principle or bad feelings towards your neighbor or both. I personally don't think he intended to 'encroach' onto your line (but even if he did, so what?). The day you see me get red over the width of a 2x4's worth of property is the day I seek help from a professional. Life is just too short to bicker over a few inches of property. I'm living with an unresolved encroachment of 16 to 22 feet and I'm not losing any sleep over it, though it understandibly has to be rectified sooner or later (in progress and it's sloooooow going, too).

Also, I guess you know that surveys are only so accurate. Your neighbor could hire a surveyor and find that his fence is on his side of the line by 3 1/2 inches! I once owned a 2 acre parcel that when you surveyed from one section line, my property line was 6" to one side but when measured from the other section line, it was 6" the other way. A 12" discrepancy!

Judging by the size of the encroachment you write about, value your property with and without that tiny sliver and tell me if you think it's worth filing all these motions and crap to rectify it.

Also, I guess you know that surveys are only so accurate. Your neighbor could hire a surveyor and find that his fence is on his side of the line by 3 1/2 inches! I once owned a 2 acre parcel that when you surveyed from one section line, my property line was 6" to one side but when measured from the other section line, it was 6" the other way. A 12" discrepancy!

This sounds like the mess they made in my area. They didn't take the curvature of the earth into account when they did the original section line survey of my county. They started at opposite ends of the county and moved toward the center. The result is that every east-west street in my town has a jog in it of about 30 feet. But the jogs are not all along the same vertical line. Which set of lines they used depended on when the larger parcels of land were divided into city plots. So there is about a 12-block zone east-to-west in which all of the streets running east to west jog to the north as you travel west. But two streets jog south instead, because they went to a different property line when they jogged.

Also we have to take into account the fact that the units of measure were legally changed in 1901. The new inch is slightly shorter than the old inch. All of the US units of linear measure were redefined then to be exact conversions from metric units, all based on the inch becoming exactly 2.54 cm. All of the other units of measure were also changed by the same small amount. But this meant that surveys taken over many miles could be off a few inches, compared to those made using the old units.