She set the aggressive tone. You’d best get totally legal on her. She’s not going away. She’ll not stop.

if she puts anything on your property or has anything on your property, I would contact a lawyer and file to sue. It's your land, not hers. It's simple, "get off of my property."

I had a similar situation when I bought my home 20 yrs ago. My next-door neighbor was an elderly attorney who sent me letter after letter demanding I do what he wants along the property line, claiming I was encroaching on his property. I had the property surveyed (they had to survey the entire block as there were no survey stakes nearby). Turned out 6 inches of his driveway were on MY property. He saw the survey being done and survey stakes that were placed along the side of my property. I never heard another peep from him!! 😂

You should really get her to move those utilities they're on your property. At some point you're going to need to service that retaining wall and have to ask her for permission to move the utilities. In essence you're granting her an easement.

I'm a retired Licensed Land Surveyor and heavy construction survey engineer. You can stop adverse possession by sending a certified, notarized, receipt requested letter to the party in dispute granting them permission to use your property until such time as you tell them to cease and desist. Adverse possession is based on a number of years without interruption -- the clock must run continually. Granting permission stops the clock. Never, never purchase property without a legal survey.

She's the type of person who will sue you if something happen with that gas line, "because it was on your property". There are people who view a nice person as a target.

You should purge the wall on the other side and put in a drainage basin to the property line. It stops her from building on it and will eliminate the runoff issue. You don’t want to direct it to your residential wall or it will cause issues in the future. Why not take advantage of the excess land. And have her remove those utilities or you can be liable or loose your section of land where they are

If you let the utilities stay on your land, you are effectively granting a utility easement. Also, as a someone else commented what happens when you have to service or re-do the retaining wall.

You have to come hard at this woman! I had something like this happen to me. My new next door neighbor back hoed my whole front yard up thinking it was hers. She was going to remove my grass and replace it with a beautiful various color rock and boulder collage. I contacted an attorney and she advised me that I should stop her immediately and make restore the yard to it's previous grass or else after a few years she could attempt an 'adverse possession' claim on my yard because she made a substantial improvement to it. The earlier you fight the better for you! Don't wait until she is done then try to officially complain, because the judge may ask why didn't you say something when it first happened.

I always get a property survey. The house I currently live in was listed as being on about 2+ acres. The survey showed it is actually 3.75 acres

be a good person, but dont let bad people get away with doing wrong. the more you let it happen, the worse they do.

I understand this is an older post. But I still highly I recommend you research the water act and the watershed act in your local area. For anyone else dealing with such matters - If the property you purchased was recently built I would make the builder or contractor correct any watershed issues. Because it is illegal, in most if not all municipalities, to force rain run off onto someone else's property. It is why you see retaining pond(s), aka "retention pond" on some larger developed properties. Otherwise the property could not handle heavy rain run off now that it has been developed and it could cause problems and/or damage to neighboring properties. I personally had to deal with this when a builder was putting up a new house on the vacant property next door to us. They were forcing their rain run off on to our property and using our drainage system vs paying for and building their own drainage system on their property. Our drainage system could no longer handle the extra rain run off and with a heavy rain storm, it would flood over 10' of our yard along the full length, some 200 to 300 feet long, of the property. DID YOU KNOW? One inch of rain on 1,000Sq Ft roof can yield over 600 Gallons of water. Now think about an entire house, parking lot and sidewalk - any and all hard scape. Where is that rain run off to go - now. All this and more was an eye opener for me when I had to deal with this type of situation. Good Luck to everyone who has to deal with this kind of thing.

Agreed, she set the tone. I'd call the city and have them shut off any utilities on your property. She would have to pay to have those utilities rerun and reconnected which could easily be well over $6k. That would be a start of showing her that you are done with her Karen attitude.

You have to take extreme action against her. She's already been aggressive and set the stage for how she's going to approach it. Do not let anything slide.

Do not be “nice” that is how bigger problems arise. That Gas line is on your property and you have to be careful with someone using your property. Specially for utilities.

Report her to the department of buildings and tell the utilities they need to remove her gas lines from your property. Eventually she will encroach on your land and claim it as her own, adverse possession. Don't back down and play nice she definitely intends to take advantage of your kind nature.

This is why in my county of Texas… I don’t know if this is a state of Texas thing. But when we bought our home, which was already built, the previous owner had to have the property resurveyed. And it’s expensive. We were then notified through the process of purchasing it, that when we put in new fencing, because the fence is old… The county requires that the property line be surveyed again. Where I live in Texas a property survey is about two to $300, but they do this requirement, for this very reason… Because over the years property owners can sneak the line over and over… And if the other property owner doesn’t care, or they are elderly, these things can and will happen.

I had a similar problem. I finally paid good to have my property surveyed and found my neighbor was 12 inches into my property. Long story short, I demolished everything and made him move his car port over to his side.

Most builders and fence companies do not place them directly on the property line. They typically keep those onto the property to avoid any future issues like what you are experiencing.

*The easiest and quickest way to resolve the problem of her retaining wall is to offer for her to sign a lease for that particular section of the wall for a specific amount of years, if not, she must remove the encroached portion of the wall. This way the lease is a continuous acknowledgement that it's your property and you are not giving up any of your legal rights to that property. With a lease agreement, she can't ever claim Adverse Possession in the future because she had the wall on your property for a specific amount of continuous years (time varies by what state you're in) and therefore claims it as her own as the law allows. In the lease you can also add in that she is not to add anything else to your portion of the property*

I agree with some of the other viewers that the demarcations need to made clear. Before your neighbor goes too far with construction, have your attorney get a cease and desist order from the court, present it to her, and correct the encroachment on your land.

Just so you are aware, it's entirely possible that she has her own survey done with a different surveyor and that one may come to an alternate conclusion about where the property line is. Most of the time the difference may only be an inch or 2. However some times there can be a significant gap or overlap. It often depends on how accurate the original parcel was surveyed as well as when the subdivision happened. Many cities (Jersey City comes to mind) have terrible issues like this and it can lead to costly legal problems. Don't pay bottom dollar for your survey people. You get what you pay for.

The gasline running through your property could be a liability issue in future. Let's said that line leaked gas one day, cause fire damage her building, but the leak is on your land.

Makes sense that the wall would be on your property. it appears that it was built by the builder who build your property, and it primarily benefits your property (allows you to have a level walkway back to your pack yard) so under those circumstances such a retaining all would normally be built completely on your property.

😂😂😂!I believe you have handled this situation courteously! i have heard many situations like this!one story was about a woman that also tried to claim beyond a fence line only to discover from surveyors that she was wrong.. and had even built a driveway well beyond the real line! She continued to harass the true owner.. making complaints til he finally made an agreement for her to pay $20 a year to rent that tiny bit of land of which the lady couldn’t take it anymore and moved house!

Because of the adverse position law, I suggest you rebuild the wall on the boundary and remove her gas services from your land. If you don’t, she WILL claim the land as hers.

Exactly this issue in my mother’s house in Barbados. Wall was built inside boundary and when house next door was built, whoops they built against the wall. Luckily our lawyer sorted it out

my neighbor did the same thing, right after I bought my house he tried to build a fence that was 5 feet onto my property... not 6 inches... 5 feet! I had a surveyor come out and mark the land and sent him a letter from my lawyer and he removed his fence immediately...

This is a common issue that arises all the time between neighbors. Always get a survey if your land.

That is why a survey update is necessary when ever things change hands. People assume things without knowing I had an issue with a driveway the neighbor claimed a shared driveway was hers. The survey show it was not on her land and she had to have her driveway cut.

As you show your viewers, it’s always wise to be knowledgeable about Real Estate terminology & state property laws in order to deal with such issues. Time is money, the headache she brings, that lady would definitely have to use your Attorney as point of contact. It’s way too much to deal with.

As other person said if that line needs to be serviced and if there's a problem you become involved and if you ever do sell won't that be a problem for buyer.

Before anyone demands someone move any utilities you might want to check the dead for the property. Most properties have a five foot utility easement on all sides of the property.

Deserve what's coming to her. Sue and win, making her fit your lawyer expense.

You’re absolutely correct you should always get a survey. I don’t know what state you live in though in any state I’ve ever done any work in the property owner is responsible for any damaging drainage issues. Once you direct that water to the street, it becomes the cities problem but water drainage issue on private property is the property owners problem, and they can be held liable for damages. It’s a good thing you’re taking care of that. I’ve seen many cases were just putting a fence in, a vinyl fence, especially, can interrupt the flow of normal drainage and cause peoples yards to be completely flooded. All the damages are the responsibility of whomever built the fence. So I would definitely continue with the drainage you’re doing.

Great to see you back. I just heard about adverse possession in my city as well. It's a very interesting real estate law.

Hell, Karen came in swinging before the ink was dry on your closing papers. Good luck having her as the neighbor.

My neighbor pulled up bushes and grass on my property because he thought it was his land. I told him that mistakes happen and just to restore it. He did. She doesn't seem reasonable, so don't give an inch.

Dont let her walk over you, take her to court

Whenever a property is built there is always a survey done to define where the property lines are. There are people who will buy a house then have a new survey done trying to get parts of the land bordering their property. I had been living in my home since I graduated from college and I had ne neighbor who moved into the home in back of my house about 10 years later. they had their home renovated and added on some rooms and a second floor. I built a fence around my back yard because I had a pool put in and required a fence by law. I gave the fence guy my survey to work with in order to install the fence. The new neighbor came to my front door to tell me it's not a big deal but my fence was a foot into his property after they had a survey done. I looked at my original survey which was 30 years old and the fence was exactly within my property. I don't know where these people get off having a survey done when there are existing surveys telling them exactly what property they own. They try to steal your land if you don't have paper work to back it up

usually, in most municipalities, if you put a wall or fence up, it's suppose to be within a certain amount of inches or feet of the propety line. it may vary from place to place.

this is happening to me as we speak . Alot of headaches with lawyers etc.... and worse part is neighbor has not touched his land in over 15 years and this year he decided to extend drive way which encroached on my properety over six inches plus contaminated my land with crushed stone 3 feet into my side of the land

In California a perscriotive easement is only for shared use. So my neighbor can travel over the 6 inches on her side of my fence because it has been that way for over 90 years. She may not put any structure on my property as it is no longer shared. She did this to establish a gate post on my property. Even if the gate post was placed on my property 80 years ago I could remove it. This is different from most other states. Another example is that my childhood friend's house was built on orchard land and the horse stable behind had built stables on my friends parents land. His parents wanted to put in a swimming pool and had a survey run. The survey showed that barns were about 20 feet on his parents land!. The Barns were removed and the required fence for the pool wentvon the property line. In that same neighborhood we lived on a 3 acre Orchard. A driveway went between the two roads without a gate. Thus people had gained a prescriptive right to travel over the driveway.

I was a survey’s assistant. It was fairly common for a neighbor to get mad, start a dispute, causing a surveyor to clarify the property line. It was common for the angry neighbor to end up with less land than they thought.

I wished we all could have respectable and good neighbours like you.

As a former lawyer in Ontario with tons of real estate experience, I can tell you off the cuff that if your neighbor paid for half the cost of the retaining wall but it is on your property, and the deal was made with the builder, this contract doesn't survive the closing of the transaction and bind you as the owner. So basically, you do not have to reimburse her for anything. There is no privity of contract either. Also, as for the chain link fence, if you wanted to you could take it down and install it on the 6 inches or so of your property which sits on the side of the retaining wall sitting beside your adjoining property line (the part she is using and believes is hers !) That way you get maximum use of your space. You'd have to deal with the utility lines which were improperly installed on YOUR property by contacting them to have them remove it. I think you don't want to leave this situation as it is because it might create problems when you go to sell if a buyer were to ask for a survey and find out this information. No one wants to buy a property and find out that half a foot is outside a retaining wall and for all intents and purposes being used by your neighbor who has installed utilities on it. You could negotiate to sell off the 6 inch strip to your neighbor as well. You'd need a real estate lawyer to handle all this and all your legal costs should be covered by your neighbor as part of this process. If you don't do anything about this situation, this creates a potential easement being created - yes adverse possession, over time. You did your research on this. You should not allow this to happen. You should keep in mind that your builder created this mess for you ... and screwed you up... so if you are in Ontario, you can bring a claim against him "Within" 2 years of discovering the facts of this situation . Different limitations acts apply in other provinces (or states). Go see a lawyer about this because this is a mess that you should deal with. I'd have a lawyer send a demand letter to her to have the utility lines removed from your property and I'd put the builder on notice. The builder sold you this property with the implied understanding that the retaining wall was on your property or shared equally with the neightour straddling yours and the neighbors' property. That would be a rational expectation. It is a breach to have a retaining wall built sloppily losing 6 inches of your property in the process. I'd make a deal with them that they have to rip the shit out including the fence and rebuild it with the fence on the extreme end of your property line and the retaining wall properly situated.

You are absolutely correct! I get that you want to get on with her well, but it seems from what your saying she isn't playing nice... and you are doing exactly what I would do! fight back, be kind, and take back ownership of your area... she could steal a portion of your property!

In regards to the gas lines, the utility companies are given easements to do that so not much to be done there. I would definitely watch her closely, I bet she tries to put that fence on your property.

Welcome back. I hope this gets sorted out soon!

Depends on where you live but in some states you can't go dumping flows onto an adjoiner and certainly not concentrated flow. With the paved areas and no mention of where you are or hydrology, I'd be careful following advice that it's legal to drain flows onto an adjoining property. In some places that is absolutely illegal.

Props to your for your patience and professionalism

IANAL, but you can also prevent adverse possession claims (and prescriptive easement claims) by expressly granting permission. "I assert that this property is mine, but I allow you to build your gas line on it.". This takes away the "adverse" component necessary for the neighbor to establish the claim.

A BIG THANKS FOR SHARING!!! I'VE LEARNED A LOT..😊

If someone puts anything on your side of the property line it is called encroachment which is illegal. In this guy's situation even though his next door neighbor started the bad relationship it would be "taking the high road" and let the gas line stay put. But he needs to have any wall or structure that extends beyond the property line removed or there could be issues in the future for him or the next owner if he should sell.

Around here (Western WA sate) the downhill neighbor has to accept the flow of water as it's travelling a natural course. But one cannot change the grade to redirect runoff. Lots of lawsuits anyway and I've seen million dollar homes under construction stopped cold due to neighbor lawsuits and investments written off and construction halted for years and eventually sold to highest unsuspecting next owner. It's sad people can't get along and find a workable solution with such limited time alive.

This guy is so spot on all his facts and approach 10 out 10.

Just make it right….you can’t go wrong when you are right.

She should realize it benefits her to let things lie the way they are and accept the fact that you own the land six inches beyond the footing of the wall and just enjoy the fact that she benefits from the wall and fence you have installed upon it. That wall is a construction necessity for your home given the terrain contours so it's not like she can have an existential issue with it since she bought her house knowing an adjacent house was either already there or would be there one day. She ought to just let things lie. Happily accept the fact that you own the wall and will have to maintain it out of your pocket. When the day comes for that wall to crack (and it will), she can send a letter to you advising you that it is in a state of disrepair and threatening her home. She holds the power here if only she'd open her eyes. She enjoys your features without any of the cost or liability. You may want to mention that to her.

Nice job man. True that!

She now has to get an easement for her gas lines .. thats on your property. And you owe her nothing. IF she did pay for half the wall. And the contractor didn't put it where the surveyor said too.,then she will have to sue her contractor, not you.

I am very thankful that easements here aren’t common and rarely handed out. Also the county I live in has every single property clearly defined and you cannot change them without jumping through massive hoops. You have an easier time splitting a property than changing a boundary.

I don’t get why folks argue against the clear documentation. Good for you for getting the survey. I would actually set posts at the ends of the property to set some visual lines. Then I would set up a fence from end to end and simply claim my property back. If you wait till you have to sue her it’s will be a waste of time and money, be practice.

Seen where water flows down hill and lower neighbors complained that his pond was flooding their yard when it rains. When in reality unless the pond is completely full to top it would actually reduce the water running downhill. And if the pond is completely full it still not going to increase the flow going downhill.

Go out on the other side of the fence and plant tall shrubs quickly

I would think the property lines as they are, so that someone, (you), would own the retaining wall outright. Eventually the wall will need to be replaced, so it's much easier for the one owner to do this. Just my common sense way of looking at things.

My two cents from being a similar situation - You're the one paying taxes on this piece of land, and yet have been deprived of its use. Not sure how long you plan on keeping the property, just a reminder that if you don't claim it, your neighbor can in 15 years.

4:05 The survey from the foundation corner is typically from the main structure not including a coating surface or siding. A way to check how this is being surveyed is to measure the total distance between the two neighboring foundations and compared that with the summed total on the plats of the foundations to the property line. Any difference will likely be a coasting thickness or siding. This is also a simple check for errors. When I was growing up my dad said it was typical when putting up a chain link fence to put it centered about a foot on to your own property to make it clear who owns the fence. That is likely a bit sloppy and you are still responsible officially for taking care of that land. In this case it was made very clear the masonry wall was part of the plat by having an additional half foot of property extending past it. I doubt the masonry wall is a structural retaining wall. It probably doesn't need to be. A typical masonry wall supports vertical and minimal horizontal loads. A retaining wall is made to resist hydrostatic horizontal pressure like a dam. Unlike a dam, retaining structures can make use of tie back structures.

In my area you have to build in 12 inches onto your own side so it makes sense you have 6 inches before the wall as yours.

Some surveys have measurements from roofline to property line, of course that is different from structure to property line. You can usually check this with the properly line to property line minus structure measurements to see if they add up. Los Angeles City Zimas often uses historical roofline to property line measurements (not saying it is relevant in this example)

You are right about Adverse Possession. However, she can still claim the part of your property that has the gas lines, unless you address the issue to her and ask for it to be corrected. You need to address it to her via text or email, or have a bailiff or sheriff deliver her a letter asking that she move her gas line onto her property, as well as any of her existing structures such as retaining walls. This needs to be in writing, so she cannot ignore it.

Screw her bro, teach her a lesson... 🤣🤣🤣

I had to deal with an issue like this with the federal government. They built something on my property without an easement. Luckily my cousin is an attorney and my hubby is a surveyor so we were able to prove they were trespassing and needed to move it off my property.

If you are in North West New Jersey best Professional Land Surveyor is Richard Smith PLS. In NJ every land transaction requires a new survey. Even a Refinance. It is not this way in every state. A lot of states will allow an existing survey. New Jersey is more particular on requirements.

Well said! My advice is to follow up any conversation with a certified letter confirming contents of conversation.

That's why it is paramount to do your home work. Woman just claimed what she sees rather than doing some proper investigation. But take my word, people like her will continue to fight just for the sake of saving face.

If she were to use that property without complaint from you, for a reasonable time, she would legally own and even sell that property. I was shocked to find this out from an attorney in California. You have to make it clear or lose your rights and property. You did the right thing by getting a survey. And by being nice.

In Victoria BC, when you do a property survey, the city steals your trees. Each tree is tagged and you can't cut them down. You don't own much of anything here when you "purchase" property.

You absolutely right...

Neighbour from hell! My Gramps had his place surveyed for development, and his property also extended 1 foot pass the dividing fence. When confronted with city survey papers, the Neighbours also disputed, denied and counter blamed my Gramps. He finally moved!

Call/report to the City By-Law Enforcement office and have them come out to the property. Do NOT compromise.

The sad part is that some towns will not allow you to put the fence on your line. It has to be X amount of feet away from it. Yet, some states have laws where if you care for property (cut grass for example) then after so many years that piece becomes yours. Luckily, I knew about this so any time I buy property, I ask the neighbors ahead of time if they are okay with a fence directly on the property line that has been legally surveyed and marked. Never had one say no. The fence off the property line is really dumb and most notable in NC with HOAs. I saw so many new homes with fences and a 3-6 foot gap between them with trees, high weeds, trash all kinds of nasty things growing in there because it was a space sandwiched between two privacy fences.

It sounds to me the surveyors and the builders are responsible. First, the ladies property should have an ingress and egress, not exactly sure what the code is in your area, but just say 3 feet on minimum. If your property line is even 6 inches more on her side, wouldn’t that decrease her ingress and egress even further? I think you both should fight the city / county for this F-up. They should remedy this and have to pay for the correction.

8:09 as i understand if someone encroachment on your land, you can tear it out. Lets say someone put up a fence over the property line, its on your land you can take it down youve got the document with proof its yours. But her adding a gas line under 6" of your land stops you from laying drainage tiles below the wall. Where they should be.

This sounds like an easy conflict to end. If her utilities are on your property, have them turned off until she gets them off your property.

😄 "illegal stop the rain"🤣

So, how did her backyard turn out?

Should have a full meet and bounds performed in advance of purchase. See if it is already on file in the records department. Buyer beware, many properties are not oriented to the property but sometimes to the street or surrounding structures. Be informed before you purchase. Especially if in a flag lot or there are utility boxes on the land.

I just won an adverse possession against a neighbor, and it was a fascinating process. My advice is get a surveyor and the utilities to mark exactly where everything is. There's no sense getting angry over details without knowing the facts. Measuring off the finished wall is not accurate as it is originally for the bare foundation. Also, the neighbor is right regarding rainwater flowing onto her property. The builder was required to design and manage runoff from your property. Now it's your responsibility. When you buy a property like this, you must always do your due diligence. In this case, you bought the problems as well. Good luck!

I would contact your local building inspector or approval authority, give them the survey, so they can help you. Fight this before the work is done if possible. Aside, my survey showed there was 2 feet of unclaimed land between our properties. Unfortunately, the cost to correct was 20K so I did nothing.

Thank you for sharing. This is extremely informative to me! Question for you, could you technically lease that section of the land, where her gas meters is installed? charging her a monthly or yearly lease ?

FYI, if you have an Android phone, there is a setting you can use that will "unreverse" the image or recording when using the front-facing camera. (it will still be reversed on your screen when you are making the recording, but the actual footage will be "normal") I would think that Apple phones can do this as well, but seeing as 99% of TikToks and other selfie recordings seem to be reversed, perhaps not?

Absolutely, have the property surveyed

I don't know where you live but where I live the banks require a new survey every time

This was a well explained video. How did the story end? What ended up happening with your neighbor and the water drainage?

Adverse possession is real. Thats why you need to defend every inch. As for your run off issue, i probably consider adding long aluminum L channels to help divert the water spill towards the street. The cost is reasonable ( they come in 8ft lengths, easy to screw down, and sealable with clear or black silicone.) it should cut your liabilities should your fights escalate. Some mitigation is the bare minimum you need to do.

You're not going to get along with this neighbor unless you completely give in to her and allow her to dominate you. It takes two to get along and in this case it sounds like you're the only one truly interested in doing so.

She has to pay full cost to remove the wall and any utilities. Than she owes 1/2 the cost of the new wall! Get a lawyer now.

You should check the issues that gas pipes can potentially have and its relation with insured damages, etc. Its always best for her to have it on her property not yours.

The property line is typically where the power pole is located. However, the city provides free access to the real property lines which is typically located on the city tax assessor website via an online map.

In our area, you cannot build fence on the property line unless both the owners agree. If they don’t agree, we have to build the fence one foot into your own property- essentially giving away 1 foot of your property to your neighbors! It is weird rule!