When a building or other permanent structure,
on one block of land, extends beyond the boundary
onto the neighbouring land, it is said to constitute
an encroachment on the neighbour’s land.
You might be surprised how often this happens,
and how long an encroachment can exist before
it is discovered.
You won’t be surprised to hear that encroachments
can cause major problems for land owners, on
both sides of the boundary.
I’m John Gallagher from Argon Law and I’d
like to say a few things about encroachments.
The first and most obvious comment I have,
is that you should be mindful of the issue
when you are looking to buy property, and conduct
a survey to determine exactly where the boundary is
if there is any question of an encroachment.
If you already own land and find that you
and your neighbour have an encroachment problem,
then there are a number of different ways
it can be resolved.
You may be surprised to find, however, that,
in some circumstances, a court will actually
order that the part of a person’s land onto
which a neighbour’s building encroaches
must be transferred to the offending neighbour,
albeit subject to the payment by the offending
neighbour of fair compensation for the land.
Such an order will never be made if it can
be shown that the encroachment was deliberate,
and whether it was deliberate or not, in some
cases orders are made for the removal of the
encroachment.
Encroachment issues are usually resolved by
agreement, without the need to seek a court
order, but in any event, I recommend that you seek
legal advice to ensure that the matter is
fully and finally resolved.
So don’t hesitate to contact us if you have
any questions about encroachment or any other
aspect of property law
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