Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Property Line in housing tract
To Whom it May Concern,
We have lived in our home (a cul-de-sac location) for almost 15 years, which we purchased as new construction. We found out over the years that our neighbor's driveway crosses over our property line about six feet, which interferes with access to our sideyard. We spoke with the City's Civil Engineer several times with the following response, "We can't answer that, sir."
Can we legally do something about this issue? Our concern is when we sell the property - how to disclose this, and also our limits on what we can do with our own property. Thank you for your help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Property Line in housing tract
You can ask your neighbor to move his driveway. The neighbor will probably insist upon a survey to
evidence that it is in the wrong place.
Legally, the neighbor may have the upper hand. An easement has probably been acquired for him to continue to use
the driveway as a driveway.
You can ask that the easement be made express, in a grant, so that it appears in the public record: there would be nothing more to
disclose and it would not be ambiguous. You could ask to buy out his rights to his easement.
There is no easy solution.
Jed Somit
Jed Somit, Attorney at Law
1440 Broadway - Suite 910