Builder mistakenly builds home over lot line | WSB-TV 

*That’s it. You’ve really crossed the line this time.*

We bought a non-HOA home on 4 acres over two years ago. A younger and apparently richer couple (judging from their entitlement) bought the nice home next door on 3 acres about 10 month after we bought ours. After a few months the couple started walking back and forth along the boundary line and in front of our house, checking their phones and looking at the homes across the street. They had a couple outdoor contractor types walking along the boundary one day pointing at our land and so I knew they were up to something. I knew the property line and corners but went ahead and had that line resurveyed and marked anyway then had some posts installed. The neighbors had a fit and came out and complained about me to the surveyor. Turns out they wanted to put up a fence on our property and figured they'd just do it because it's on their side of woods and a stream on my land (i.e. the property line is closer to their house than mine). So I disrupted their plan. Then they asked me if I'd mind if they could put their fence on our property. I said "Pfft..... do you mind if I park my car in your driveway?" We haven't spoken since. Having a boundary conflict with your neighbors is unacceptable in any form. It will serve as an irritant for you, they will abuse any easement or allowance you provide them and future buyers won't want to buy into it. Be rude, don't trust, and never allow an easement or encroachment of any kind.

There is something odd on this video. First of all the house is not over the property line @1:14 (yellow). The deck and stairs is over the property line, and an easement can fix this. One big concern is her backyard is cut in half.

I wonder how it turned out?

I know this is an old story now (7yrs at the time of posting this) but I see these stories quite often. While the builder is liable I have to point out that the buyer also shares some blame. I cannot stress enough if you are looking at buying a house hire your own inspection and survey! Always CYA!

NEVER rely on yourself (NOVICE) to walk the lot and look for pins. HIRE A SURVEY. If you love the property, put it in contract with a contingency. Hire a survey company. Go to the county clerk and find everything filed on your lot. Land records. Check for easements utility and permission easements. If you really want to protect your investment, HIRE A REAL ESTATE attorney and have him review the abstract. One more thing, HIRE A SURVEY.

What about eminent domain? I thought that after 7 years if take over a piece of property it then is absorbed into your land, like in this instance?

This builder should be held absolutely liable for all expenses incurred by his/her mistake. There is no excuse for a professional builder to make such mistakes.

I can't fart outside my house without code enforcement showing up in my driveway. How did they build a whole house with an inspector not finding something.

I noticed a pin along the road and asked the surveyor surveying the property next door what it was. He told me it was the edge of my property. I told him it wasn't and showed him my deed. He moved the pin. I think the neighbor wanted to steal a little of my property to make his lot large enough to build on. I would verify the survey is correct.

Several years ago someone built on my friends property. No problem. He was forced to buy my friends property at his asking price.

The builder is at fault and needs to be sued, pronto....

Why didn't the builder use the official survey instead of something manmade and easily movable like a fence?

Thats why you need permits and inspections.

The builders insurance during the time the building was built is still inforce.. For that time period... Sue the contractor.. And his insurance company..

As a builder I'm not sure how this happened. First and foremost to building a structure, you call for a survey to be flagged. Keep things moving after. I feel for the builder and the homeowner but in terms of liability the builder is definitely at fault....but at the same time, how did this get approved during the permit process?

I can relate to this lady. The builders of my house built the septic tank plumbing past the property lines and didn't tell us. Now we gotta pay to have it redone because somebody built a house on the side of the property that has the overlapping pipes.

We are the second owners of our house. So before we owned our house the house next door was built too close to the lot line. Both owners were forced to do an adjustment to the property line. Our property lost land in the front yard and gained property in the backyard. It’s definitely not a straight line between the two houses. I also know of a house that was built across the property line. Most of the garage with an apartment on the second floor and a corner of the house and deck were all built across the property line. It was a mess because it is in a rural area, riverfront property and valued at several hundred thousand dollars. The property adjoining the house is public property. Homeowners were trying to sell the house but had to get this cleared up on the title before they could sell. The public entity wanted to force the homeowners to move their home. It would have been extremely costly to move the house and garage. It would have been cheaper to just tear it down and rebuild. It went to court and the homeowners won the lawsuit which forced the public entity to make a boundary adjustment between the two properties. The house and been there for about 25 years and I think that was a major factor in the court’s decision. That and the county inspectors had signed off on the project when the house and garage had been built.

Get it surveyed before you build Stop trying to save money by leaving the surveyor out

My neighbor told me the property line had a bend to it, starting at a pin in front then passing 25 feet away from his detached garage. But my paperwork showed it was straight. So I hired a surveyor and the line was straight, passing just six feet from his garage. At least it does not go thru his garage.

There have been other situations like this over the years, but there was one in New York several years ago that was much worse. An elderly widow liked to drive around every one in a while and examine her various real estate properties. (Or rather, be driven around by her chauffeur). She arrived at one piece of property that was supposed to be empty, and found eight homes occupying the land. Apparently a builder had mixed up two pieces of land that were a couple of blocks apart, and accidentally built several homes on the wrong property. People had been living there for a couple of years. And the widow was not interested in exchanging property. She wanted her own property back, and she wanted the property as it was originally; in other words, without all those houses, and with the trees restored. I never did find out how it was resolved, but the builder had made a million dollar mistake.

Soooooooooo, where was the building department through all this? They want to know every little thing I do building my house, and I'm hundreds of feet from any property line. I guess a GC gets free rein when they build?

The builder's E&O liability should pick this up; she just needs to get a lawyer and file the claim or file a lawsuit and make the builder file the claim. Top tip: Always get a survey, never trust the builder.

Learn from other's mistakes, before buying, or building a house, you should do your research, survey, check for flood zones, public utilities availability, etc.

Why didn't the builder of the new house stop the work and ask some questions before tearing up this lady's yard? Pretty obvious something needed to be sorted out.

similar situation in my town, a man built his house over the line, two bedrooms. he was told his options were to either buy the land from the owner at the owners price or tear it down. case closed.

I hope everything works out for the home owner 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🇺🇸

hopefully the neighbor is an honest soul who'll work with her.

The city inspector should be at fault as well! Someone passed it!

Its times like this where I am glad I am poor so I cant afford to have a new house built and have to deal with these problems.

Welcome to GA. I don't need no survey, I can see where the property is and my memaw said if you stand on this stump and look at that tree.... Common story, and many "builders" back in 2005-2008 don't exist anymore so good luck there. Also when the lot next to people didn't get built, the owner starts to spread. Then they say they are sure the new surveyor is wrong as they have "the biggest parcel on the mountain" when in reality they often have the smallest. They then start sabotaging the new construction or blocking driveways. Bravado usually indicates they knew it all along and hope you back down. I've seen survey flags moved. Lot pins moved, benchmarks covered up by piles of earth and deadfall. "They can't do that it's illegal!" says the very people that did it. It is often like dealing with Irish Travellers. The funny thing is all the No Trespassing signs atop trash and unkempt properties, when the very posters trespass themselves on a daily basis. Sort of a one way glass.

This builder built a house without surveying the lot...

Anyone know how this ended?

I dont know where this happened, but where I am, in order to get a building permit, you must have 3 copies of your surveyed site plan to go along with architectural drawings.

The owner of the property is under no obligation to accept any "solution" that is offered. Bulldoze it all away and let the builder fix it the way it should have been done in the first place!

Just remember a city inspector signed off on house

Our neighbors had a nice split rail fence put up by a reputable fencing company . Only thing was, it was a good 6 inches on my property. Not wanting a nice fence to be torn down just after it was put up, I agreed in writing that the property is mine, as well as the fence, but it can remain where it is and the fencing company put in 2 nice gates for me at no charge. Win win....

Crazy being able to afford a home that large and want to be so close to other people like that

I have a house built next to me and they used our address. Our home has been built since 1967. This new house was built in 2009. The contractor hooked up to our electricity and even for the water etc. it still shows our address. How would you like that to happen to you!!!! There is a lot more to it. I had to hire a surveying firm and because of the crazy woman who is still trying to take some of my property it is going to court. I hope to take her for everything I can get.

Walk the property line yourself is terrible advice, unless you're a surveyor.

Encroachment!😥😥😥everywhere i look it something going on with real estate 😆

Having a surveyor is a great idea because they are accurate to a pencil line........ yeah right. When I built my house I knew where the property lines were. After I had dug and formed all my footings and was ready to pour concrete, I called for a inspection, the building inspector wanted to see a surveyors report to confirm I had the proper setbacks, the surveyor reported that my house was 20 feet over the property line and I would have to cover up and redig the house footings. Man, I about had a heart attack, I was 50 thousand into the project and had to restart, what a nightmare, i dealt with it for a couple of days in a panic state. I mean a surveyor is the most accurate guy out there, how could he be wrong. Turns out he made a mistake in his calculations and I was correct in my placement of the house after all, needless to say he wasn't paid...by his agreement.

She could of just looked online. They have sites that show the property lines. That's what I did when I bought my house.

I had a similar issue that I luckily caught during construction. The builder constructed my sandmound (on lot septic system) half on our neighbors property. He based the location off of the wrong property corner and didn't look at the plans. He moved it and gave me a couple thousand dollars for the mistake. That would be a terrifying mistake to find after construction.

The builder should pay the homeowner of the land infringed upon whatever amount of money for that extra little bit of land and have it re-zoned. That should be enough money so that they can move to another property if they don't like the smaller size of their yard afterwards.

Solicitors should've found this on the searches. Also she might qualify for an adverse possession claim

I mean how do you not know where your own property line is. Still the builder should be held accountable and i hope things worked out for her.

It's still a better place and situation than moving back to NY. I can tell you that; I lived in NY for 20+ years.

You want to start good relations with the neighbors right away....

Not just look for the lot pins. Understand what each pin means. Need to go to the county and see the plat book with the survey.

Solution is you buy the home let the family move and take responsibility for your F-up. Sounds to me like a bad company who only wants your money and doesn’t care about its customers!!

I was given a plat when I closed on my house. It detailed the dimensions of my lot. I took photos of the property the day I received the key. The photos came in handy years later when I put up a privacy fence. The neighbor began insisting a portion of my lot had always been his. People have short memories and they hope you have a short memory.

You don't trust anybody lady. Always get a land survey before buying a property.

There is no solution I would seek conjunctive punitive relief and that's just the beginning I would sue every party responsible all the way up to the title insurance company I would go after everybody who sold me that property had that been me the bottom line is the current owner bought the house in good faith. But here's a rule of thumb due diligence is a must in all real estate transactions sometimes it's worth the extra expense to have an independent surveyor one that certified and respected in the county to do it before closing just so you don't have these unfortunate mishaps that is crazy

Everyone has a survey. They knew. Now they are playing dumb. Oh, this is six years old.

Wait....everyone who purchases a home or land receives a copy of their survey. Not only should the builder be to blame but the owner as well.

WTF, sounds like incompetence to me. A loss of license should happen,

At 1:45, they said the real estate attorney said an easement is a possible solution? Sounds like stealing land to cover a mistake.

It's the corner of the deck not the house. Apply for an easement or remove the deck.

Maybe don't hire illegal alien contractors, lol.

Peoples have had that problem before, what kind of Backwards Court council is in that town .the Builders construction company didn't do their job , she has nothing to do with this problem except to get it appraised through a good Attorney and collect her money and leave . Somebody's trying to get her money to pay for you know who's mistake. Lady go outside that county and Hire an Attorney and wash those guys right out of your money. When you deal with construction companies and builders that work together in one court they will form an alliance against the third party YOU STUPID. they have to work with each other all the time, and for all you know they can most likely be related.

Sounds like she knew about it which is why she was trying to sell before the others started building.

Any update on this?

Hope she has valid title insurance.

The owner is at fault as well it’s their right to know all of it. Part of home owners responsibility she not taking any blaming others your at fault the most

have thee builder buy it back he messed up

Ya. Pretty sure she should know where her lines are. & she should’ve hired a surveyor for sure. This is what happens when you cut corners. You get stuck cleaning up a mess.

Sigh. The builder is at fault.

That's why there are setback lines on the former survey. I staked out a house where the builder thought the 50ft right away started behind the curb instead of the CL of the road. This in turn after adjustment put the front of the house on the edge of a cliff.

What were the end results of this story?

Adverse possession laws! If you’ve had access to & used that extra land for more than the 7 years statute of limitations then if when it does to court if you have a good titles lawyer you likely will end up with legal possession of it!

did the news do a follow up on this situation? I wonder what happened ? Looks to me like the builder built a spec home and these people bought it

Get the F off my property! Now! lol

The builder and the owners of the house are equally at fault in this case. The owners never should have started building before they knew exactly where their property line was. And a professional builder should have known better than to go by a temporary fence as the property line.

this is more common then you think. I've seen an entire neighborhood 10 feet off on each house. everyone gets an easement, and it's not that big a deal. that is why as a professional realtor, you NEVER make a statement about property lines. that is the easiest way to end up in court.

How was this resolved?

I feel sorry for her. The title company is liable. Never buy a house without an attorney , ever. Here’s on example of why.

why did this report need to be live?

The guy next door to us 'accidentally' put down his foundation too close to the property line in order to later split his lot in half and sell the rest (the lots here are 1.25acres min.) The guy on the other side of us was an architect and called it in. Boy was he pissed....

This was 6yrs ago I’d like to know was it solved?

give it all back to the natives. problem solved.

Any update?

I walked my property three times and twice with the builder, it's called being involved.

If the house been there over 12 year's it here land look into that

Title insurance should cover this??

you don't even can build a building too close to property limit building code require certain distance

Every state has laws about this and sometimes a person gets to keep the "extra" land. When my neighbor built his house next to mine 20 years ago he decided he didn't want to move the grass strip between his driveway and my yard and aligned the backyard fence inline with the driveway and a concrete pad on the side of the house. That gave me an extra 3.4 feet the full length of the property line. When the house was sold 6 years ago I mentioned it to the new owner and asked if he wanted to move the fence. He did the paperwork and "surrendered" the strip to me but was told that since I had been "using" it for over 10 years it was already mine.

2 years later, who had to pay?

Most likely what happened here is the homeowners bought their own lot from the land developer and were responsible for the survey work but never got it done and certainly did not include it in the builders contract so they could save money. See that happen all the time. They were clever though when they told their friends what great negotiators they are. Showed that builder right and saved lots of money right ? Furthermore no lawyer should ever close on a real estate purchase especially a new home without a current survey dated and signed.

I wonder how this was resolved?

Before any building permit is approved .. Should be manditory a propert line survey be done... and certified

Title insurance claim. State contractors licensing board and the bond.

I love the comments more than the video. Some are like I pray it works out for all the parties envolved 🙏 and some are like, I have a solution, get that s**t off my property! Lol.

That's a load of crap that the homeowners have to be penalized do to a mistake made by the previous builder... The property that they purchased, have been taking care of and have enjoyed using, regardless if it was legally theirs should be titled to them as they have been the caretakers since the purchase of the house...

relocating back to NY?......................lady this is a blessing in disguise. Also what property sq ft have you been paying taxes on? If you have been paying for it all these years, get your money back!

Ahh sharp residential..why am i not surprised. Beware!!!!do not build with (formerly) Sharp residential, now Toll Brothers...

Nope. I don’t care what anybody says. This is the home owners mistake. Not the builder. Never ever buy a piece of real estate without knowing the legal property lines. No questions asked. Period.

I know the solution! We should take the house, and push it somewhere else!

And I bet they were charged a price for that ENTIRE parcel as if it were their own property. Meaning, they paid more for less land and a house way too close to someone else's property line. That's fucked up. The builder and real estate company both need to pitch in and refund money for that property or they need to pitch in and purchase the extra property and make it wholely one lot.

There is no solution. She's fucked. Now *GET OFF MY LAWN!* Class dismissed.