Boundary Line and Encroachment Disputes Between Property Owners

Intro

Boundary disputes often surface quietly—during a survey, a renovation, or a pending sale—before escalating into high-stakes litigation that affects ownership, use, and value of real property. Encroachments involving fences, driveways, structures, landscaping, or improvements can raise difficult questions about title, historic use, and equitable remedies. Presidio Law Firm LLP represents property owners in boundary and encroachment disputes where precision, evidence, and long-term land rights are central.

Why Boundary Disputes Are So Disruptive

Unlike many real estate conflicts, boundary disputes challenge the fundamental question of where ownership begins and ends. Even small discrepancies can have outsized consequences, particularly in developed or high-value areas.

What may appear to be a minor encroachment can affect setbacks, development potential, financing, and marketability. Once a dispute arises, informal resolution becomes difficult without clear legal grounding.

Surveys, Deeds, and Competing Descriptions

Boundary disputes frequently begin with conflicting surveys. Different surveyors may interpret legal descriptions, monuments, or historic records differently, leading to competing conclusions about the true boundary line.

Courts examine deeds, subdivision maps, field notes, monuments, and surrounding circumstances. No single document is always controlling. Resolution often requires reconstruction of historic intent combined with present-day physical evidence.

Encroachments: Structures, Improvements, and Use

Encroachments can take many forms—buildings, retaining walls, fences, driveways, utilities, or landscaping that cross a boundary line. Some encroachments are recent; others have existed for decades.

Disputes often turn on whether the encroachment was intentional, negligent, or innocent, and whether it materially interferes with the neighboring owner’s use or rights.

Prescriptive Rights and Acquiescence

Long-standing encroachments raise questions about prescriptive rights or boundary by acquiescence. A property owner may argue that continuous, open, and adverse use over time has altered rights or fixed a boundary.

These claims are highly fact-specific. Courts scrutinize whether use was truly adverse or merely tolerated, and whether both parties treated a particular line as the boundary over time.

Equitable Considerations and Relative Hardship

Boundary and encroachment cases often invoke equitable principles. Courts may consider the relative hardship of removal versus the harm caused by the encroachment, particularly where structures are involved.

While intentional encroachments are rarely excused, courts may weigh equities differently where improvements were made in good faith and removal would be disproportionate. These analyses require careful factual development.

Remedies: Removal, Damages, or Adjustment

Available remedies vary depending on circumstances. Courts may order removal of encroachments, award damages, declare boundary lines, or in some cases fashion equitable solutions that preserve improvements while compensating the affected owner.

Because remedies affect long-term property rights, courts aim for outcomes that minimize future conflict while respecting legal ownership.

Impact on Development, Financing, and Sale

Unresolved boundary or encroachment disputes can derail transactions. Lenders, buyers, and insurers are often unwilling to proceed where boundaries are uncertain or improvements are disputed.

Litigation is sometimes necessary not to escalate conflict, but to obtain clarity required for development, refinancing, or sale.

The Risk of Self-Help

Property owners sometimes respond to perceived encroachments by removing improvements, erecting barriers, or asserting unilateral control. These actions can escalate disputes and expose owners to liability if boundaries are later determined differently.

Early legal analysis can prevent costly missteps that complicate resolution.

Evidentiary Challenges and Expert Testimony

Boundary disputes are evidence-intensive. Surveys, historical aerials, expert testimony, and witness accounts often play a central role. Credibility and consistency matter.

Preserving physical evidence and retaining qualified experts early can materially affect outcomes.

Why Timing and Strategy Matter

Delay can entrench positions or allow reliance interests to grow. Conversely, premature action without adequate evidence can weaken a strong claim.

Strategic evaluation early in the dispute allows property owners to assess risk, clarify objectives, and pursue resolution that aligns with long-term interests.

Closing

Boundary and encroachment disputes are not minor disagreements—they involve enduring property rights that affect use, value, and transferability. Presidio Law Firm LLP works with property owners to resolve these disputes through careful analysis, strategic litigation, and remedies designed to protect long-term land interests. When boundaries are uncertain or encroachments threaten property rights, clarity is essential.