Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

My father built a bathroon on his house in 1973. ahe had verbal agreement and also a writtrn confirmaton to use 8 ft of driveway.Well, my father died in 1990 and my mother died 4 yrs ago. Wecannot sell the property because

the bathroom is 3 ft over the line. We have tried to address this issue for thirty years The neighbor will not aanswer our letters nor our attorney.We cannot sell the house, we feel like we are being held hostage. We cannot afford the taxes and my family is suffering financially.We can;t make repairs-we have no money.Our parents wanted us to sell the house when they died and they were sure the profits would help their children. There are seven of us and we are unable to financially care and upgrade the house even to rent. We must get this boundary settled so we can move on Please Advise


Asked on 2/20/12, 9:59 pm

4 Answers from Attorneys
Christopher Vaughn-Martel Charles River Law Partners, LLC

You absolutely must meet with an attorney who can assist you.

Verbal permission from the neighbors in a situation like this is a double-edged sword. Verbal permission is not sufficient to create substantive property ownership rights, and the fact that there was a discussion at all probably means that you do not meet the requirements for adverse possession.

You should speak with an attorney, but it may be that you must remove the encroaching addition.

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Answered on 2/21/12, 5:16 am

You need to consult an attorney as stated. You may need to file a Complaint for adverse possession, notwithstanding the discussion to get a response from your neighbor.

Is the current neighbor the same neighbor as lived there 30 years before? if not, when did the neighbors change?

If it comes down to it, you may have to remove the addition or at least part of it.

Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

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Answered on 2/21/12, 6:43 am
Craig J. Tiedemann Kajko, Weisman & Colasanti, LLP

While probably unlikely, you should have an attorney check the terms of applicable home insurance policies in place over the years to see if there is the possibility of coverage for this situation. Otherwise I tend to agree with the prior answers. Seeking counsel here is probably worthwhile in the situation you describe.

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Answered on 2/21/12, 2:12 pm
Craig J. Tiedemann Kajko, Weisman & Colasanti, LLP

You may also have problems under the statute of repose barring tort actions filed 6 years hence post-work completion, without application of usual discovery rule implications... Different from the adv poss analysis but still potentially relevant.

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Answered on 2/21/12, 5:12 pm


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