Bay Area Real Estate Lawyer Says, “Bad Fences Make Bad Neighbors”

As a Bay Area real estate lawyer, I often get calls from clients who have just discovered that the fence they thought was the border between them and their neighbor is not, in fact, on the property line.  This can often lead to a very tense situation with the neighbor.

Most of the houses in our area are in subdivided, suburban lots, and very few people who buy these houses have a professional surveyor come out as part of their purchase.  Typically, these issues remain undiscovered until someone decides to remodel.

When a fence isn’t on the property line, that means that one neighbor is essentially using the other neighbor’s land.  In most cases in California, the legal situation is pretty straightforward: the property line is where the surveyor says it is.  Unless there is an error in the survey (and each neighbor is free to hire their own engineer), the neighbor who was shorted is entitled to get their land back.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be some argument, or even a lawsuit along the way.  But in the end, the owner of the land is entitled to it.

However, that leaves some important issues to be dealt with.  For example, who will pay to have the fence moved or reconstructed?  In fact, whose fence is it to begin with?  When you moved in, did you find out whether the fence belonged to you, to your neighbor, or to both of you together?  Again, not an issue that most people think about until a problem arises.

And what about any landscaping–or worse, structure–that is between the property line and the fence?  This is the area where neighbors can get most upset, but which also provides the most opportunity for compromise.

Disputes between neighbors can be amongst the most emotionally difficult, especially since you know they’ll still be your neighbors after the dispute flares up.

At the same time, you need to be careful not to give up any valuable rights just to keep your neighbor happy.  If you have a potential neighbor dispute, call our office and we can let you know what your rights are, but also discuss how best to approach protecting them.