mhav
09-21-2007, 05:03 PM
Hello,
I am having a new house built by a developer - this transaction includes the lot as well as the new home being erected by them, in an established neighborhood. Early on in the process, their survey revealed that the builder (another developer that builds in that neighborhood) of the adjacent house encroached on the lot that we have selected. It's actually fairly minor - one corner of our property extends into their front lawn, plus the bottom end of their driveway cuts through the front corner of our lot by about 3 feet.
I feel bad for the neighbor - a nice retired couple that we've already met and and are looking forward to having as neighbors. At the time, our builder told us that they were going to talk to the other builder and that they would have to alter the drive way so it doesn't encroach on our lot. I mentioned to them at the time that we didn't mind just selling a strip of the land on that side to them so they wouldn't have to do that. Our builder told us it would be a big legal hassle and not a viable option. We took that and said okay.
A while later, the neighbor talked to us while we were visiting the building site and they told us that they talked to a lawyer and they would like to do just what I had proposed to our builder - buy a strip of land off that edge so they wouldn't have to redo their driveway. We thought that sounded good and that we could take care of it after closing, so we wouldn't have to get our builder involved, since they seemed reluctant.
Now we are getting about 30-40 days out from closing on our new home/lot. My mother, who used to sell real estate in Oklahoma, called me and told me about hostile encroachment and adverse possession, and she strongly recommends getting this all taken care of now rather than later, and she suggested that I contact our builder's closing company and ask them to take care of it all at once, and that this might even save money on the part of the neighbor. I haven't acted on this yet, though, because I don't want to "spring" this on the neighbor, who we expect to be living adjacent to for many years.
What is my best course of action at this point? My initial thought is to drive up there this weekend and talk to the neighbor and make sure we are on the same page, and ask if they are ready for me to try getting this taken care of at closing, and if they are ready at this time to pay any/all additional legal fees for the title company to take care of this -- I've heard from more than one place that city hall or the courthouse needs to have records updated, etc. with all kinds of fees attached to these actions, etc.
My concern is, I don't actually own this property yet and I don't know what kind of cooperation -- or interference -- I'll get from the builder, since their previous conversation on the subject sounded like they didn't want to deal with it.
Since I don't own the land yet, can I pursue this option right now? What if my builder opposes it because they don't want the hassle of being involved in the re-plat (sp?)? My wife wonders what if we just tell the builder: take care of this before closing or we aren't buying it... but if the builder wants to be an ***, he can just turn around and tell the neighbor they have 30 days to destroy the bottom end of their driveway and uproot the tree on our side of the property line, which isn't what we're after here. Should we just wait till after closing and deal with it, as we originally planned?
Thoughts and comments appreciated!
Thanks,
Mike
I am having a new house built by a developer - this transaction includes the lot as well as the new home being erected by them, in an established neighborhood. Early on in the process, their survey revealed that the builder (another developer that builds in that neighborhood) of the adjacent house encroached on the lot that we have selected. It's actually fairly minor - one corner of our property extends into their front lawn, plus the bottom end of their driveway cuts through the front corner of our lot by about 3 feet.
I feel bad for the neighbor - a nice retired couple that we've already met and and are looking forward to having as neighbors. At the time, our builder told us that they were going to talk to the other builder and that they would have to alter the drive way so it doesn't encroach on our lot. I mentioned to them at the time that we didn't mind just selling a strip of the land on that side to them so they wouldn't have to do that. Our builder told us it would be a big legal hassle and not a viable option. We took that and said okay.
A while later, the neighbor talked to us while we were visiting the building site and they told us that they talked to a lawyer and they would like to do just what I had proposed to our builder - buy a strip of land off that edge so they wouldn't have to redo their driveway. We thought that sounded good and that we could take care of it after closing, so we wouldn't have to get our builder involved, since they seemed reluctant.
Now we are getting about 30-40 days out from closing on our new home/lot. My mother, who used to sell real estate in Oklahoma, called me and told me about hostile encroachment and adverse possession, and she strongly recommends getting this all taken care of now rather than later, and she suggested that I contact our builder's closing company and ask them to take care of it all at once, and that this might even save money on the part of the neighbor. I haven't acted on this yet, though, because I don't want to "spring" this on the neighbor, who we expect to be living adjacent to for many years.
What is my best course of action at this point? My initial thought is to drive up there this weekend and talk to the neighbor and make sure we are on the same page, and ask if they are ready for me to try getting this taken care of at closing, and if they are ready at this time to pay any/all additional legal fees for the title company to take care of this -- I've heard from more than one place that city hall or the courthouse needs to have records updated, etc. with all kinds of fees attached to these actions, etc.
My concern is, I don't actually own this property yet and I don't know what kind of cooperation -- or interference -- I'll get from the builder, since their previous conversation on the subject sounded like they didn't want to deal with it.
Since I don't own the land yet, can I pursue this option right now? What if my builder opposes it because they don't want the hassle of being involved in the re-plat (sp?)? My wife wonders what if we just tell the builder: take care of this before closing or we aren't buying it... but if the builder wants to be an ***, he can just turn around and tell the neighbor they have 30 days to destroy the bottom end of their driveway and uproot the tree on our side of the property line, which isn't what we're after here. Should we just wait till after closing and deal with it, as we originally planned?
Thoughts and comments appreciated!
Thanks,
Mike
