Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arizona
Real property line or the one we've been using since the houses were built?
I live in AZ in a ''cookie cutter'' with an HOA. My neighbors house IS most of my backyard wall, the remainder is a ''party wall''. It is cramped and small. Recently, in the front yard, we had a dispute over ownership. Up until the new neighbor moved in, my front yard has always been ''driveway to driveway''. So, has my next door neighbor, and so on. 100+ houses in a gated community have lived this way in peace for years.
My new neighbor, called out a surveyor, staked (what has always been) my front yard, and is trying to dictate landscaping. The true property line runs directly between our houses, including 2 feet on my back yard, and half of my meager front yard. The new neighbor doesn't want to listen to how 100+ houses in this HOA have been doing it for 8 years. He is only interested in true property lines.
I need to know what to do. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars to have the other side of my (legally owned I suppose) yard staked and shift this crazy problem downstream to my innocent neighbor, nor do I want to ''give up'' what has been ''mine'' for the past 8 years.
Thank you
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Real property line or the one we've been using since the houses were built?
Your new neighbor is what I call a "Lotliner." Lotliner's are mean cannot be reasoned with. There may be a legal solution, but it's going to take a careful review of the CC&Rs and plat maps. "Careful review" of course, means expensive.
Before you spend any money though, go to the HOA and ask them to have their lawyers look at this mess. Remind them that if Lotliner is successful in messing up your yard, you will shift this problem down the line and they'll have 100+ homeowners in the same boat (and that means the homes that the board members live in too).
The best solution for this whole subdivision might be to redraw the lots. That would require unanimous consent from every homeowner though. It would also require a ton of surveying and legal work.
Anyway, start with the HOA and their attorneys and see where you get. Good luck.
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