Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland
Three months ago I started building a 16x12 shed which I have recently discovered that actually crosses my property line by about one and a half foot. My neighbor and I are in very good terms. But I had to apply for a variance with the county. I have a hearing scheduled in about a month. In addition, right behind my construction (where it crosses the property line) there is a storm ditch, maintained by the county (rarely). Neither me or my neighbor are sure if this is an easement in his property or it is a strip of land owned by the county itself. My questions are:
1. Who do I have to contact in order to find out the status of the ditch?
2. If the ditch is a utility easement owned by my neighbor, what do we need to do in order to have the Board of Zoning Appeals legalize the situation? What documents are needed?
3 What if the ditch is owned by the county? What do I need to do in order to be completely prepared and have the BZA legalize the current location of my shed.
Before we found out that I am involuntarily encroaching, all of my immediate neighbors signed a petition to the BZA that they do not object to the current location of the shed. And yes, moving the shed is practically an extremely difficult option.
1 Answer from Attorneys
To find out if there is a utility easement for the storm ditch, both you and your neighbor should check your owner's title insurance policies that you should have received when you bought the property. It would be listed as an exception to the coverage on Schedule B. If this ditch is on your neighbor's property and there is no utility easement, you should ask your neighbor to convey an easement to you for both the ditch and the encroaching shed, and then have that easement recorded in the county land records so that it will convey with the property when you sell or transfer it. As far as preparing for the hearing, if you are planning on doing this on your own I suggest you check the BZA regs for variances. Since you already have your neighbors' consent, they will want to know its intended use, the size of the respective lots, and possibly whether its presence will cause any drainage or erosion problems.
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