Most of our readers have neighbors who live adjacent to their property. Let’s face it: South Florida isn’t exactly the type of wide-open country where you may not even be able to see your neighbor’s home. No, Southern Florida is a highly-developed metropolitan area and, as a result of the high-density population, there are bound to be real estate disputes between neighbors from time to time.
Property boundaries can play a large role in disputes between neighbors. For instance, what if your neighbor begins construction of an outbuilding, like a detached garage, and you think that the structure is overlapping onto your property? How would a South Florida resident be able to address this situation?
Well, the first option is probably to have a survey of the land conducted to clearly delineate the property boundaries. If a neighbor can be shown quite easily that they have gone over the proper land boundaries, there is a chance that the offending issue could be dealt with quickly and amicably. However, if the neighbor still isn’t convinced by the survey of boundary lines, litigation may become a real possibility.
The most common legal option when a boundary dispute pops up is what is known as a quiet title action. Put simply, this is a lawsuit in which the litigants ask a judge to make a determination of where the property boundaries actually are. But, when litigation looks inevitable, getting the right information about your options when you find yourself in a real estate dispute should probably be the first step.
Source: FindLaw.com, “Boundary Disputes,” Accessed May 20, 2015
