Do neighbors really make good fences?
First, let me preface this post with the fact that I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV or in real life. The following are comments of mine based on several client experiences.
The title of the post is a little twist on the usual saying of, “good fences make good neighbors” but from a real estate perspective it all depends on whether or not the neighbor (or you) put the fence up where it ought to be. Many people buy a house without checking the fenceline to be sure that it really is at the appropriate boundary, part of this is due, I think, to the fact that most people don’t want to pay the extra cost of a survey. In the Seattle and general King County area it is common to see pricing for a survey run around $1200-1500 so it’s certainly not what most people want to pay out of pocket on top of the cost of a new fence, which can be thousands of dollars.
Depending on the size of your fence, and style, a fence can be a pricey addition. Most people appreciate a fenced yard, and particularly those with dogs and/or children that they want to keep free from roaming.
Rarely does a fence actually go along the exact boundary line of a property. So, as a buyer of a home you have to decide if you want to pay for that survey or extended title policy where a look at the fence will bring up the details. From what I’ve seen, the title company, once a fence-line mistake has been discovered, will make that an exception of the policy coverage because the buyer is now aware of the mistake. If a fence has been in place for many years without an agreement between the seller and his/her neighbor, there is a chance that the encroachment could create a situation of what is called adverse possession. Each state has its own rules around how this works so you need to consult local attorneys and law if you need help in a situation where you think this may have occurred, or it is in the process of being done.
A former neighbor of mine in Seattle had a crazy case of this and it created a long term boundary dispute between him and his neighbor for years. The ante seemed to be upped each time it came to the surface resulting eventually in a court hearing, and it is still unresolved. In some cases, the encroachment does end up causing land to be lost - as in a case of where I showed a property to a buyer client of mine in Snohomish County where the tax info showed that 5.2 acres were on site but the agent only noted 4.7-ish on the listing details. The explanation I received when I asked about the discrepancy was that an adverse possession claim had successfully taken .4 acres of land from this owner. All I could think and hope was that someone had told that homeowner to file a petition with the county to have their taxes reduced since they weren’t officially the owners of that portion of land any longer. I have no idea if that happened or not since the people weren’t my clients.
Are there lessons learned here via these few examples? I hope so, and they are numerous. If you didn’t get them the first time reading through this post, email or call me and I’ll be happy to discuss them with you.
So, be a good neighbor and happy fence building!
