Fence Encroachment--Ideas?

**Bappel** · 04-25-2009, 02:18 PM

Hi all,

I work for a builder selling new homes in Georgia, and a home owner in one of our neighborhoods has encountered an issue with his fence being over the property line by mere inches.

The lot on which the fence is encroaching is pending, with a home being built on it, so we have to have a solution before the buyers close on that home. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with this type of problem, and if there is a solution that doesn't involve a skil saw and a back hoe (for example, would the new owner or even the builder be able to quitclaim the land to these home owners?). Any suggestions or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian

Some extra details: The fence is only over on the one side of the lot. It was installed by a third party fencing contractor who insures his fences, but refuses to move the fence saying that he installed the fence according to the home owners' requests.

**Craig Artzner** · 04-27-2009, 06:04 PM

How far of an encroachment are we talking about? If it's not much, maybe a simple easement agreement is all that's necessary. The neighbor with the fence could offer the new residents a reasonable sum to grant the easement and the fence can stay put.

My father-in-law had this same problem about ten years ago, his neighbor (by mistake) built a garage about 20-30 feet into his property. But ironically, my father-in-law dug his pool about 10-20 feet into the same neighbor's backyard! They were good friends so they just had the property lines re-drawn and called it a day. I don't know if they could have gotten away with a mutual easement agreement or not.

**Greg** · 04-28-2009, 04:51 AM

We have strict regulations on lot size here, so reworking the lot lines most likely would not work here, unless both lots were over sized.

If the pending lot is big enough, give some of it to the neighbor, if the lot is not big enough tell the neighbor he has x many days to fix it before your backhoe takes it down.

**Bappel** · 05-02-2009, 10:30 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys. The encroachment really is only a couple of inches. It took surveyors to even notice it. We should have enough room with the side setbacks to give it to them. I'll see if we can get the builder to do that.