Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Connecticut

I came home to find 2 property stakes in my front yard with a red ribbon on top and writing on it "PROPERTY LINE". I discovered 2 more in back yard. I removed them and laid them down on grass. I called neighbor who said he had survey done and it's illegal for me to remove those stakes. He came over and put them back in the ground. I took out my plot plan which states my lot as 60 feet wide. I measured from the opposite neighbors property line and found these new stakes to be about 10 to 15 feet on my line (according to my plot plan). Am I obligated to leave them in ground? Should I contact my title insurance company? What is controlling, a recent survey or the Plot Plan recorded in the town hall?


Asked on 5/02/14, 3:43 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Heffernan Heffernan Legal Group, LLP

It is illegal to remove the stakes. Contact your title company at once. I have seen plot plans be in error (once had a big case in Wethersfield, no less, where the builder was off by 30 feet in the first lot he put a house on, so that every house from there on was off by 30 feet,) On the other hand, the surveyor may have started at an incorrect place, or the points he used as a starting place may have been moved. An expert can give you an answer. Check your title policy. Not all include survey coverage. With luck, you bought the expanded policy. As is the case usually, the problem that arises is not that you don't own the property, it's that the problem can be solved but somebody has to pay a lawyer to address the problem. If you're covered, the title company pays the lawyer.

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Answered on 5/02/14, 3:59 pm


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