Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Neighbors house sits on my property
In 1979 my wife purchassed our house and the problem then was that there was no fence between her and the house next door. Then in 1982 after a few Inquires she hired a surveyer and she found out that the house actually sits, 8 inches in the front and 13 inches in the rear, on our property hence no fences. we tried to work with owner but she was a rather bitter older lady that had several other houses in town and we made contact with her lawyer and he told us that evtually when her estate was divided up. the children would settle with us because she would not. well last year even though the house is in horrible shape, It has not been lived in in 7yrs, It was sold to a realators son. We assumed that now with the encrouchment documented they could not sell the house. the new owner has promessed to move the house over but this has yet to happen and he has stopped all work because it may be in to bad of shape to move. so after all that my question is what would be my best move in order to reaquire the property we were sold? and what,how and would Adverse Possession work in this situation for me or against me. Thank you for any advice anyone can give me. Thanks once again and have a nice day.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Neighbors house sits on my property
Your legal remedy is a rather simple one, an action for trespass (damages) and injunctive relief (asking the Court to remove the encroaching building and declare you the legal owner of the property in your survey). It is unlikely that the neighbors has acquired title by adverse possession, since they would have had to pay five years' worth of property taxes on the disputed land. You can check to see if they did in the county assessor's office. If you would like assistance with your lawsuit, our firm has considerable experience in such matters. To find out more, please visit our website @ www.labusinesslawyer.com
Re: Neighbors house sits on my property
Adverse possession would potentially work against you, but your question includes several facts which might be helpful in defense.
Adverse possession results in transfer of ownership from the owner of record to the person in possession, and requires five years of "open and notorious, continuous, exclusive and adverse possession" plus payment of taxes. Some of these terms have technical meanings, e.g., 'adverse' means in essence 'without permission.'
Your most serious problem is that the encroachment seems to go back many years, so the necessary five-year period may have run before you became aware of the encroachment and perhaps made the possession non-adverse by agreeing to work out a correction in the future.
The fact that there are real-estate professionals involved on the other side and yet no effort made by them to claim the strip officially suggests they may have a weak case. I recommend that for your peace of mind and for taking possible protective and preventive measures that you take your property records and the survey to a local real estate lawyer for at least an initial consultation.
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