Q: I planted trees & built a garden on the strip of land that the original owner of the property next-door told me was mine
The property has now sold for the third or fourth time & the new owners had a survey done. It shows the trees and garden are on their side of the survey line. We spoke to them within a week of their moving in and they said not to worry they couldn’t use that tiny strip of property next to their driveway anyway. They now have pretty much taken over the flower bed and have put up lights and decorations on the trees without even saying a word to us. What are our rights and what are the rights of the new owners. We put about $800 into the trees in the creation of this garden and have been maintaining it for years . The trees are now about 20 feet tall. When the new owners asked the previous owners who put in the garden they were told that it was us. The new owners response was “Well it is ours now.” What are our rights & what are the rights of the new owners? The new owners exhibited a tendency to not be completely truthful during the process of the sale. We believe this will turn ugly.
A:
Yours is a common issue. Our Firm recently had this exact issue (dispute over ownership of flower beds near shared boundary) in a D.C. case. Do you have a survey? Perhaps it conflicts with the neighbor's survey. Also, have you or your predecessors used the beds to the exclusion of your new neighbors' predecessors in title for a total of 20+ years, without permission? These are the core issues.
These matters, when ending up in court, can require witness testimony (prior owners in line of title), surveyors and perhaps abstractors of title. The case I referenced from D.C. lasted three years.......over 300 square feet of flower beds.
Mediation may be a lower cost alternative for you.
Mark Oakley agrees with this answer
A: I agree with Mr. Valkenet. Assuming the new neighbors' survey is accurate (I would confirm with your own survey), and you do not intend to try and litigate an adverse possession claim against them, then they own the strip and everything on it. That's what happens when you plant or build things on another person's property. You have no rights to any of it, and no right to be reimbursed for what you paid to improve the land. Adverse possession is a legal cause of action to claim the strip of land as yours, but that requires a willingness to expend a lot of money on lawyer fees and basically go to war with your neighbor. The escalations and retaliations will never stop.
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