Any legal eagles with real estate knowledge around? Non-eagles are welcome to pipe in.
Posted by
Covington (aka CovingtonCat)
Apr 14 '15, 16:04
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My house is on a lot that originally had a duplex on it. There was a fire on my side and it was torn down, a new wall was built on the surviving residence, and a new house (mine) was built. When the new wall was built on the old house it actually went up on my side. 18 inches of that house encroach on my lot. Behind that wall are fireplaces that were in the original house on my side. There's an easement on my deed. I don't have a copy of it but I will be going to the county clerk's office this Friday to get one. My understanding from the closing is that if the house next door goes down then I get my 18 inches back.
My neighbor has just told me he plans on taking down that wall & rebuilding it (the house goes back to the late 1800s and is basically a generic shotgun probably built by the people who lived in it). The neighbor will be rebuilding the wall from the inside out. After taking out the fireplaces he will be putting up studs inside, then insulation, then he'll take down & rebuild the outside wall.
Seems to me that if he's rebuilding then that could violate (if that's the right term) the easement. And I'd get my 18 inches back. Is there any possibility of that happening? (I know, I know, I need to read the language in the deed.)
While I'm all for a person's right to renovate their home so they don't have a $400 heating bill (he said he had a couple of them this winter) I do have an issue with him doing major construction on my property. I'm having some landscaping done that will put in new plantings along most of the wall. I also have a tall wrought iron gate between the two houses that closes off the back of my house that would probably be affected by construction.
In addition, there's a really nice cypress tree at the front, on my 18 inches but in front of his house, that's causing issues with his foundation. He says the previous owner planned on taking it down. I just spoke with the previous owner and he said, yes, he had wanted to take it down because he didn't like it but it's my problem now. I've contacted my landscaper to get costs for taking it down and putting in another tree farther from his house. I need to do this now before she rips out my front yard and puts in new ground cover.
The re-construction probably won't happen for 3-4 years, the neighbor says, but I am (understandably, I think) upset about this development. I don't want a war with my next door neighbor - he's a nice guy. But I also don't feel I should just roll over.
Advice, please?
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