Encroachments
By Jim Palmer Jr.

Do you know where your property boundaries are for sure? That is a question I ask most land owners as they begin the process to list and sell. Most are relatively certain they can show boundary markers, but when it comes time to do that they often fall short. Consequently there are frequently problems that develop at point of sale or shortly thereafter.

In a recent case, an excited new owner visited the property they had just purchased to dream of plans for building. When they arrived at the property they were surprised to see a drilling rig on their property. They confronted the driller and discovered they were drilling the well for the adjoining property owner. Since the property had been recently surveyed, this owner was able to quickly discern that the hole was on their side of the boundary line, but efforts to get the driller to cease and desist fell on deaf ears.

Since that confrontation, the adjoining property owner installed a pump, pipe and power to this new well, with plans to use it to provide domestic water for their own new home which is under construction nearby. This property owner is now in the process of seeking legal help to negotiate for a resolution of this blatant encroachment.

Evidently the well driller had already been paid a substantial amount of money or they might have closed down the operation. But instead of pausing to be sure, they ignored the warning and finished the project, which is now proven (by survey) to be encroaching by a dozen feet. The perpetrator is now facing the possibility of a lawsuit, which they will lose because of the physical facts.

One resolution might be to allow the real property owner to pay for the costs of the well and that adjoining owner could start over in a different location. However this owner doesn’t have money to spend now and shouldn’t have to spend money because of someone else’s mistake. The encroaching neighbor could agree to share the well or worst case scenario they could be forced to abandon that well entirely at a total loss to them.

Why does this type of encroachment happen so often? Simply because property owners do not know where their boundaries are! Possible reasons for that is ignorance and even misrepresentation by a previous owner. Great care should be taken when purchasing a property to positively identify boundary lines.

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