I have a friend (seriously, not me) that owns a home in which the side of the garage is his property line. He says that all the land to the right of the garage is the neighbors land. In fact, in order to get access to his side of the house, he would have to go through his neighbor's gate, into their backyard. Now he is getting his siding replaced and the neighbors have tree that is touching the siding. There may be a dispute over the tree and access to the area so that the siding can be put up. Isn't there a repair easement around a house?
even without utility or building easements properties usually have a setback set by the home owner's association or the city. In most areas it would be impossible to build a garage on your property line without violating these restrictions. I've never heard of a repair easement beyond the borders of a homeowner's property. When we go in to build we have to have an access agreement with the neighbor to encroach even a foot onto their property. Your friend is probably in violation of home owner's association rules or city building code. If he is outside of any city limits and doesn't have a home owner's association then this does not apply - however it still does not give him the right to access his neighbor's property. Cheers, Brock
This was actually a "That 70's Show" episode that was on recently. Turns out Bob was reading the map upside down.
My house is in a similar situation, my neighbor's house is right on the property line. The eve of his house is actually over my property. I've never had a problem with him going into my back yard to get to his house though, it'd be kind of a dick move to not let somebody do that in that situation. Has your friend talked to the neighbor about the situation?
Thanks. I figured that there has to be some kind of mistake with the garage being "the property line". I think the neighbor has actually fenced off part of my friends yard. Problem is that he is a new owner of an old house. I want to see the survey of the house to see where his land actually ends...
Apparently so. He was so worried about his tree that he called in a tree doctor. I don't have the whole story yet, but it sounds like the neighbor is acting like a beeotch. (that's a legal term, ya'll)
There are different ways to work around this. Have your friend and his neighbor sign a paper from a lawyer stating that the workers can have access to fix his property. Somewhere in there add, if anyone gets hurt, you will not sue the neighbor since someone got hurt on his property. If the tree is encroaching over to your friend's house, look up encroachment laws in your area and work it out with the neighbor.
Your friend can trim any part of a tree than extends over his property line as long as he does not do any permanent damage to the tree. In this case , I would guess he would have to climb up on his garage roof and just cut what was touching his garage. I know there are such things as zero lot line developments, they generally look like contiguous townhouses, but there should be something in the deed restrictions and covenents addressing acess. I would guess there would be a section even adressing the minimum upkeep for common surfaces.
