If a neighbor is building a structure, such as a garage, you might be concerned if it seems to be too close to your property. If you are right, they may be committing encroachment and impacting your real estate rights.

How Is Encroachment Defined?

Is building a garage close to your property line considered encroachment? That will depend on your local ordinances defining encroachment. For example, some cities will force you to be as far as 25 feet away from a person's property when building something like a garage. Failure to do so is likely a case of encroachment.

However, encroachment isn't limited to literally building on your property. If a part of the garage hangs over your property (such as a wide roof), that can also be considered encroachment. Talk to your neighbor immediately about your concerns when they start the project. If they won't listen, a survey needs to be done immediately.

Get A Survey Done

If you suspect that your neighbor has encroached on your land with their garage, you will need to get a survey done to prove it. Surveys done at the beginning of a property's life are usually not considered binding in a case like this, as a new survey needs to be done to confirm that the property lines were accurately done.

If the survey shows that your neighbor's garage has encroached on your land, you are well within your rights to pursue some form of legal action. The type you take will vary depending on your relationship with your neighbor and whether you want to preserve said relationship.

Find A Remedy

If your survey finds that your neighbor's garage is encroaching on your land, even a little, there are a few different legal remedies you can pursue. You are fully within your legal rights to demand them to tear down the garage, but this approach is likely a little too strong. It should only be done if your neighbor won't listen to reason or accept any other remedy.

Another legal remedy is to simply grant them permission to use the land in a legally-binding document. This is often the best solution for protecting your relationship with your neighbor. However, you can also offer to sell the strip of land to them. This will make the land legally theirs and remove any encroachment problems.

These simple legal remedies are designed to grant your neighbor permission to use the land and to save their garage from destruction. They are the best route to take if you care about your neighbor at all. Unfortunately, a real estate lawyer from a firm like Zane Law may be necessary if they refuse any of these simple remedies and force you to pursue a lawsuit to get their garage torn down.