Neighbor Has Claimed My Front Yard, What Options Do I Have

My question involves real estate located in the State of: PENNSYLVANIA

My neighbor has claimed he owns half of my front yard and has installed metal spikes and rope along this new boundary. He is dumping manure, tearing up the soil, and digging on "his" new land. I pulled a copy of the deed registered at the county courthouse and survey, all showing that this is clearly my property. When I approached him calmly to resolve, he lost his temper. He showed me a "map" which he pulled from the county tax assessment office and hand marked up new boundaries, claiming this is somehow legit. He is stating it is his word against mine and that I need to hire an attorney.

I called the township police, who said this is a boundary dispute and that I need to go through the court system. I've contacted a real estate attorney and have an appointment scheduled, but it is staggering to me that nothing can be done in the interim. How is this not trespassing such that the police can remove him? What is to prevent him from destroying the property by the time the issue is resolved in the courts? It feels like we are powerless.

Nothing will stop him from destroying your property. But you can sue for damages which would be the cost to correct all damages and anything else he has changed.

Tax map records are not legally binding on property disputes. Do you mean that he showed you a GIS map overlay from the county tax assessment office website? GIS overlays are not accurate as to where a boundary line is. They are for informational purposes only.

Boundary disputes are a civil matter and unless you have an enforceable court order, the police will tell you it is a civil matter and do nothing to help you eject the trespasser.

When is your appointment with the attorney? If it is sometime out, you can send your neighbor a certified letter stating that he is trespassing and will be held accountable for any damage to your property. That you have retained an attorney and he should cease and desist until such time the dispute is resolved.

In the mean time, take pictures of all his activities and start writing down every thing he says or does.

How much land is involved?

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Quoting PayrolGuy

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Nothing will stop him from destroying your property. But you can sue for damages which would be the cost to correct all damages and anything else he has changed.

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It's not as simple to say that as it is to do it. First, OP will have to prove where his boundary is with a survey. Then he has to go to court to eject the trespasser restore his property and recover.

You make it sound like a walk in the park which it isn't.

Thanks for the insight. Yes it is a GIS map overlay. I told him that is info use only (it even says so on the map printout). The person is not exactly rational.

We have around 4 acres, but the area he cut off from our house is probably 1/3 to 1/2 acre. A survey was done with survey markers installed in 1994 encased in concrete. He has removed the ones along our property boundary.

The appointment with the attorney is next Monday (6/25). I have taken some photos but will start documenting everything religiously.

Since you state he has removed surveyors markers, call the police back and cite them this law

section 18
§ 3312. Destruction of a survey monument.
(a) Offense defined.--
(1) A person commits a summary offense if he intentionally cuts, injures, damages, destroys, defaces or removes any survey monument or marker, other than a natural object such as a tree or stream.
(2) A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he willfully or maliciously cuts, injures, damages, destroys, defaces or removes any survey monument or marker in order to call into question a boundary line.

The other thing you can do today is you can contact the GIS office for your county (or whomever maintains it), give them a copy of the survey, and ask them to fix the lines.

There is a chance the lines are in the right location, and you are misreading something. They'll explain it to you if that is the case, and it doesn't cost anything. Or they can go fix their lines.

The GIS lines won't get fixed today, but if you are lucky and write as an inquisitive citizen (not like you are in the middle of a property dispute with a neighbor) they might write back to you today.

OH, from my experience GIS lines are actually highly accurate as to where property boundaries are, as long as the GIS operator drew them correctly.

The process for drawing GIS lines are as follows:

1) Property owner has a survey performed and records a certificate of survey (or deed exhibit) with the county.

2) GIS department reads the recorded survey and draws lines based on surveyor's dimensions on certificate of survey.

In the case of the OP, the survey that was done in 1994 may not have been recorded with the county. If not, it can't be used as the basis for GIS lines. In this case, the question would be what authority (certificate of survey) was the county using, and why does that authority show property lines in a different location than the 1994 survey?

The OP can do some research on this if he/she desires.

You can also.....

Undo or haul off anything you don't like him doing. Load up the manure and take it elsewhere. Plant big heavy rocks and stones, or cement blocks. He will probably pick them up. He may walk out there and slug you. Make sure you have a camera ready - he surely can be arrested for that. If he plants anything, spray weed killer on it. I know, this isn't the "legal" recourse you are looking for, but sometimes fighting fire with fire is justified. Just be sure you don't start the physical fight. Of course, if he is that irrational, he may come out with a gun too. I wouldn't do this - I would have the lawyer you hired send him a letter and proceed from there - but thought I would throw some ideas out there.

He should not do anything at the moment. The appointment is on Monday and there is nothing legal that the neighbor can do this weekend that can't be undone later.

I would strongly encourage some additional property research today. It will save the attorney time (saving the OP money) and might resolve the issue more easily.

In particular, I am very confused why the GIS line showing the property boundary was in a widely inaccurate location. GIS lines aren't drawing by kindergarteners with etch-a-sketches. They're drawn by experts who are skilled at reading deeds, surveys, and the like, and the computing systems used show the lines to highly accurate dimensions.

While they aren't legal per se, the lines should be pretty darn accurate. When I've compared the lines to aerial photographs, they were always accurate to within a reasonable degree of accuracy (less than 5' and often about 1' to 2'). So if a line is 50' away from where a person thinks it should be, there is more to story that we don't know.

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Quoting bigtrees

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He should not do anything at the moment. The appointment is on Monday and there is nothing legal that the neighbor can do this weekend that can't be undone later.

I would strongly encourage some additional property research today. It will save the attorney time (saving the OP money) and might resolve the issue more easily.

In particular, I am very confused why the GIS line showing the property boundary was in a widely inaccurate location. GIS lines aren't drawing by kindergarteners with etch-a-sketches. They're drawn by experts who are skilled at reading deeds, surveys, and the like, and the computing systems used show the lines to highly accurate dimensions.

While they aren't legal per se, the lines should be pretty darn accurate. When I've compared the lines to aerial photographs, they were always accurate to within a reasonable degree of accuracy (less than 5' and often about 1' to 2'). So if a line is 50' away from where a person thinks it should be, there is more to story that we don't know.

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Excellent points, thank you. I can't comment on why the GIS map is inaccurate other than in 1995, some of the property lines were re-drawn when we sold off approximately 1 acre of our land. My assumption is that the neighbor is operating under the old property lines from GIS.

So far today, I've done the following:

1. Got a copy of the deed from the courthouse
2. Received a "plot plan" from the township which shows an Engineering Drawing of the plot supporting our case.
3. I took the deed description (coordinates) and entered them into CAD and overlaid on Google Maps, which lines up exactly to where I believed the property lines to be.
4. Sent a certified letter stating that we have a lawyer on retainer and to cease and desist.

Is there anything else I can be doing to save money or boost our case?

In parallel, I have also made contact with our title insurance company. I'm hoping that I can file a post-closing claim and that they might cover cost to settle the dispute (e.g., surveying fee and/or legal fees). Not sure how typical this is.

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Quoting bigtrees

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In particular, I am very confused why the GIS line showing the property boundary was in a widely inaccurate location. GIS lines aren't drawing by kindergarteners with etch-a-sketches. They're drawn by experts who are skilled at reading deeds, surveys, and the like, and the computing systems used show the lines to highly accurate dimensions.

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GIS databases that are provided without cost are know to be highly unreliable. They can be 15 to 30% off the mark with respect to boundary lines. A property line overlay on a map does not take into consideration the topography of the land. The tax map overlays are just that. They take the flat tax map and overlay it on the satellite image. It is not drawn on the image according to metes and bounds deed descriptions.

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Quoting budwad

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GIS databases that are provided without cost are know to be highly unreliable. They can be 15 to 30% off the mark with respect to boundary lines. A property line overlay on a map does not take into consideration the topography of the land. The tax map overlays are just that. They take the flat tax map and overlay it on the satellite image. It is not drawn on the image according to metes and bounds deed descriptions.

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In the northwest, where I am at, our property is generally based on PLSS survey rather than metes and bounds. I am not familiar with you comment about topography, but in the PLSS, topography doesn't affect property boundary location. A 1/4 1/4 section boundary is 1320 feet long (projected on a 2D plane) regardless of whether the topography is hilly or flat.

So on the west, our GIS maps are pretty darn accurate.

I can't speak for metes and bounds.

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Quoting bigtrees

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In the northwest, where I am at, our property is generally based on PLSS survey rather than metes and bounds. I am not familiar with you comment about topography, but in the PLSS, topography doesn't affect property boundary location. A 1/4 1/4 section boundary is 1320 feet long (projected on a 2D plane) regardless of whether the topography is hilly or flat.

So on the west, our GIS maps are pretty darn accurate.

I can't speak for metes and bounds.

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how wide is the line displayed on your gis maps? Surveys are a accurate to fractions of an inch and the division plane is two dimensional (height and length) It has no physical width (thickness) that can be displayed on a 2d overhead map. If you see a line, it’s on somebody's Property. That alone means the display is inaccurate.

So how wide is the line and what is the scale of the map?




i would also contact the police again and regardless of whether they argue it’s civil or not, request the demand the neighbor stop spreading his manure and damaging disputed land.

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Quoting jk

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how wide is the line displayed on your gis maps? Surveys are a accurate to fractions of an inch and the division plane is two dimensional (height and length) It has no physical width (thickness) that can be displayed on a 2d overhead map. If you see a line, it’s on somebody's Property. That alone means the display is inaccurate.

So how wide is the line and what is the scale of the map?

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On most GIS applications, one can zoom in as far as desired and the line thickness is a couple of pixels.

Again, I wasn't talking fraction of inch accuracy. I was talking to visual accuracy on an aerial photograph, which I'm defining about 5' or so. Survey stakes of course are the defining location for property boundaries.

What I'm saying is that if the property boundary is way off (like 30' or 50') there is a reasonable chance that either the GIS team made an error or the GIS team decided the survey document that the OP is using either wasn't recorded or isn't a legal survey. In that case, a new survey may need to be performed, resulting in a new certificate of survey being recorded with the county.

It's simply my way of saying, if the GIS lines are way different than one thinks, there may be more to the story. The GIS system is pretty darn accurate.

Five feet is a huge variance.

And since the gis maps are not legally dependable, their accuracy is actually irrelevent. They are intended to be a general locator and not to replace a survey.

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Quoting jk

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Five feet is a huge variance.

And since the gis maps are not legally dependable, their accuracy is actually irrelevent. They are intended to be a general locator and not to replace a survey.

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You're missing the point. What I'm saying is that, in spite of the disclaimers, they actually are most often pretty darn accurate. Small variations are to be expected (I suggested under 5') while huge variations may be indicative of a different problem, such as the survey the OP is looking at is not recorded with the county.

The reason why I put this is that the OP is asking to get his ducks in a row. One suggestion that I have is to ask the GIS folks if they have information as to why they put the property line in the location they did. There's no requirement for the OP to do this - he's welcome to have his attorney look into it for him at $300/hr.

There is a potential chance that the neighbor is correct and the OP is wrong. Perhaps the OP is looking at the wrong survey or perhaps the survey that he had performed in 1994 never was recorded. Maybe it was part of a boundary line adjustment application that the county denied. We don't know.

What we do know is there is a serious difference between the GIS application's opinion of lot line location and the OPs opinion. If, at no cost to the OP, he can figure out the rationale for the difference, this could save him a lot of money.

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Quoting bigtrees

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You're missing the point. What I'm saying is that, in spite of the disclaimers, they actually are most often pretty darn accurate. Small variations are to be expected (I suggested under 5') while huge variations may be indicative of a different problem, such as the survey the OP is looking at is not recorded with the county.

The reason why I put this is that the OP is asking to get his ducks in a row. One suggestion that I have is to ask the GIS folks if they have information as to why they put the property line in the location they did. There's no requirement for the OP to do this - he's welcome to have his attorney look into it for him at $300/hr.

There is a potential chance that the neighbor is correct and the OP is wrong. Perhaps the OP is looking at the wrong survey or perhaps the survey that he had performed in 1994 never was recorded. Maybe it was part of a boundary line adjustment application that the county denied. We don't know.

What we do know is there is a serious difference between the GIS application's opinion of lot line location and the OPs opinion. If, at no cost to the OP, he can figure out the rationale for the difference, this could save him a lot of money.

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You're way out in the weeds of irrelevance. Using informational maps to bolster a legal claim won't get the OP anywhere. Also, doing your own research won't really save the OP money as the attorney will want to perform their own research and for good reason.

The neighbor has possibly created problems for themselves for moving survey markers but that doesn't solve the initial issues. What you'll really need, OP, is a survey and some court orders to truly put the brakes of an obstreporous neighbor. I would urge you to NOT destroy any property of the neighbors, simply that you move it.

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Quoting Mark47n

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You're way out in the weeds of irrelevance. Using informational maps to bolster a legal claim won't get the OP anywhere. Also, doing your own research won't really save the OP money as the attorney will want to perform their own research and for good reason.

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No, I'm not way out in the weeds of irrelevance.

I'm saying that property research is in order. He has a survey in his hand. Is it a legal survey (i.e., Certificate of Survey signed by the surveyor and appropriate parties)? Was it recorded with the county? Or, is it something that a surveyor drew for a project, but perhaps the project didn't materialize? We don't know. Drawings created by surveyors can be created for a multitude of reasons, but not all drawings created by surveyors are legal surveys.

What the OP needs is the legal survey that defines the geometry of his parcel. One avenue that he can, and should, explore is what the county GIS department considered to be the official survey to define the property boundaries. This is the piece of paper that is used to generate the GIS lines. If it is different than the survey that he was using, he needs to figure out which one is the official survey.

In the quoted post, you say that he should get a survey done. He can do that, and a surveyor will do the property research that I mentioned. But he'll have to pay for it. If he does it on his own, it might cost a lot less. Of course, depending on his skills, he may come up with the wrong answer.

Either he, his attorney, or his surveyor will need to do some research on the property boundaries for his parcel. My comments about the GIS are simply to say that there may be going on than the OP realizes from his original post.
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The other way to say it is that the neighbor currently believes the GIS map.

Somone (whether that person is a judge, attorney, surveyor, or neighbor) will need to convince the neighbor that the GIS map is incorrect, if that is actually the case.

The cheapest way to solve the problem is for the neighbor to become highly knowledgable about where the property lines are based on surveys, deeds, and GIS information. I'm sure that everything makes sense, and it's a matter of communicating that to the neighbor. I'm not saying that the OP needs to go through all of that with the neighbor, but he needs to know enough to speak or write confidently about the issue.

I'm writing my post from personal experience with a similar issue that I am going through.

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Quoting bigtrees

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No, I'm not way out in the weeds of irrelevance.

I'm saying that property research is in order. He has a survey in his hand. Is it a legal survey (i.e., Certificate of Survey signed by the surveyor and appropriate parties)? Was it recorded with the county? Or, is it something that a surveyor drew for a project, but perhaps the project didn't materialize? We don't know. Drawings created by surveyors can be created for a multitude of reasons, but not all drawings created by surveyors are legal surveys.

What the OP needs is the legal survey that defines the geometry of his parcel. One avenue that he can, and should, explore is what the county GIS department considered to be the official survey to define the property boundaries. This is the piece of paper that is used to generate the GIS lines. If it is different than the survey that he was using, he needs to figure out which one is the official survey.

In the quoted post, you say that he should get a survey done. He can do that, and a surveyor will do the property research that I mentioned. But he'll have to pay for it. If he does it on his own, it might cost a lot less. Of course, depending on his skills, he may come up with the wrong answer.

Either he, his attorney, or his surveyor will need to do some research on the property boundaries for his parcel. My comments about the GIS are simply to say that there may be going on than the OP realizes from his original post.
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The other way to say it is that the neighbor currently believes the GIS map.

Somone (whether that person is a judge, attorney, surveyor, or neighbor) will need to convince the neighbor that the GIS map is incorrect, if that is actually the case.

The cheapest way to solve the problem is for the neighbor to become highly knowledgable about where the property lines are based on surveys, deeds, and GIS information. I'm sure that everything makes sense, and it's a matter of communicating that to the neighbor. I'm not saying that the OP needs to go through all of that with the neighbor, but he needs to know enough to speak or write confidently about the issue.

I'm writing my post from personal experience with a similar issue that I am going through.

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Thanks for all the input. UPDATE: I went to the county courthouse and was able to successfully retrieve a recorded survey! It turns out, when we sold that acre (neighbors house), we paid for an official survey and it was recorded as a "sub-division." Our deed recorder office told us when we arrived that they do NOT typically record surveys, with the exception I just mentioned above. So I have a plotter size copy, signed by the surveyor, clearly showing the encroachment.

I also pulled copies of the deeds going back to 1982 for chain of custody, along with the deed of the neighbor. There was no survey or plot plan available in county records for the encroaching neighbor; however, I plan to take the neighbor's deed and run it through my CAD program to get a quick sanity check that his deed doesn't conflict with mine.

We are starting to get our ducks in a row for the Monday meeting with our attorney. At this point, we have deeds, the recorded survey map, and pictures of the damage to the property.

Anything else we are missing?

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You're missing the point. What I'm saying is that, in spite of the disclaimers, they actually are most often pretty darn accurate. Small variations are to be expected (I suggested under 5') while huge variations may be indicative of a different problem, such as the survey the OP is looking at is not recorded with the county.

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let me summarize this;

youre saying except when it isn’t a accurate, it’s fairly accurate.

So, in your mind, can one legally depend on a gis map, especially when there appears to be a dispute of its accuracy?

your argument about whether the survey is a real survey or not is rediculous. Did you forget the surveyor set monuments? No surveyor, at least one that cares about his license, will set monuments when performing a “survey” unless it’s a “real” survey. Their job is to remove ambiguity and confusion. Setting false monuments would be doing just the opposite

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If it is different than the survey that he was using, he needs to figure out which one is the official survey

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they can all be official surveys. Maybe they were performed at different times and there had been a change in property lines in the interim. They would each still be official surveys.

What if one is incorrect; does that make it not official? Nope. It just makes something about it incorrect but it’s still an official survey

I think you mean: which is the most recent survey. Then they can worry about the accuracy of the survey.

Again you want to put legal relevance on the gis map. It has none. It doesn’t matter what survey they used to make their map. If it is wrong, it’s wrong. If it’s right, it’s right. In either case it doesn’t matter because a gis map is not legal support for a property line dispute.

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Perhaps the OP is looking at the wrong survey or perhaps the survey that he had performed in 1994 never was recorded.

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do you think that if it wasn’t recorded it is not correct and legally dependable?

ill tell you that in my area you do not record surveys and the county/state does not use a survey to establish their gis maps. They use the location derived from deeds of record. Your argument if recorded v. Non recorded surveys and official v. Non official surveys is meaningless. What the courts depend on is the most recent survey, if unchallenged and if it conflicts with another survey, the surveyors are generally taken to task to defend their work.

My suggestions are what I would do, based on my perspective from the part of the country that I live in.

Yes, it is true that not all drawings drafted up by surveying firms are surveys. I learned this recently when I thought a drawing was a survey and it turned out not to be one.

Yes, I understand that GIS lines are not legal boundary definitions. They just happen to be easy to read and a simple way to communicate information. Having accurate GIS lines, if possible, would make the OP's argument much stronger in the neigbhors eyes.

Yes, I am saying that understanding the deeds and surveys that go with the property are important. Someone, whether it be a judge, attorney, or neighbor, will have to convince the parties involved of where the actual property lines are. Some of those options cost more than others.

But you need to understand that a gis map is not going to convince anybody with the authority to do anything about this to know where the property line actually is.

And i dont know what document you were reviewing that you thought was a survey but it really isn’t that difficult to discern whether the document in your hands is a survey.

You also need to undertsnd there are different types of surveys. Some are actually more accurate or complete than others as they are intended for different uses.

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Quoting bigtrees

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In particular, I am very confused why the GIS line showing the property boundary was in a widely inaccurate location. GIS lines aren't drawing by kindergarteners with etch-a-sketches. They're drawn by experts who are skilled at reading deeds, surveys, and the like, and the computing systems used show the lines to highly accurate dimensions.

While they aren't legal per se, the lines should be pretty darn accurate. When I've compared the lines to aerial photographs, they were always accurate to within a reasonable degree of accuracy (less than 5' and often about 1' to 2'). So if a line is 50' away from where a person thinks it should be, there is more to story that we don't know.

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Maybe your county uses a different software or system to draw the lines? For giggles I looked up the lines for my property on my county's tax assessment map and it's off far enough that the boundary line runs through my garage instead of 20 feet to the south where it really is based on the survey markers. In fact, every east-west boundary line in the area is off by a similar amount.

The GIS location of boundaries on my properties are 10+' off for one, 6' and 8' (at two corners) on another. The first has the whole thing shifted north, the other one of the angles is off on one "corner". Survey confirms.

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Quoting Catmad

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The GIS location of boundaries on my properties are 10+' off for one, 6' and 8' (at two corners) on another. The first has the whole thing shifted north, the other one of the angles is off on one "corner". Survey confirms.

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To summarize what has been stated on this topic (please correct any errors):
1. The accuracy of GIS maps can range from perfectly aligned with the most recent survey to off by many feet.
2. The accuracy of the GIS maps is irrelevant in a property boundary dispute, since they are not legal records that document property lines.
3. Despite this, ensuring your GIS maps are as accurate as possible is valuable to avoid situations like the one I am in (where the neighbor feels they have a leg to stand on using a bogus GIS map).
4. The courts will use the recorded deed information and most recent undisputed survey to determine how to settle a boundary dispute.

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Quoting tjh5122

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To summarize what has been stated on this topic (please correct any errors):
1. The accuracy of GIS maps can range from perfectly aligned with the most recent survey to off by many feet.
2. The accuracy of the GIS maps is irrelevant in a property boundary dispute, since they are not legal records that document property lines.
3. Despite this, ensuring your GIS maps are as accurate as possible is valuable to avoid situations like the one I am in (where the neighbor feels they have a leg to stand on using a bogus GIS map).
4. The courts will use the recorded deed information and most recent undisputed survey to determine how to settle a boundary dispute.

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1.
That is true. A tax map overlay is a 2 dimension representation of property boundaries that is drawn from deed descriptions. It typically shows courses, lengths, and angles. It may contain the size of the lot in square feet or acres. An aerial or satellite image is also a 2 dimension representation that does not take into consideration the topography of the land (it looks flat when it really isn't (unless you are in Kansas)).

One acre of land in the mountains contains the same area as an acre of land in the plains because surveys are made in a horizontal plane. The measurements are not taken on the ground. Thus while the areas may be the same, the acre of land in the mountains contains more land surface than does the acre in the plains.

When they overlay the tax map onto the image, they have to be stitched together and scaled to match the image. The slightest error (even 1/100th of 1 % will place boundary lines off the surveyed lines.

2. Also true. And not just because they are not legal records. Only a survey and deed description is accepted as the legal record.

3. Despite what some member have posted, you can't insure that your individual boundary lines are correct on the GIS overlay and the county or state can't just change your boundary on a GIS overlay. It is the entire area that is overlaid.

4. That is true.

I think you have a good handle on things, except for some practical matters.

Your point (3) is something to seriously consider. If your neighbor would believe a better GIS map, is there anything you can do to try to fix the map? This may be a way cheaper option than anything else.

Seeking an attorney's help, as you are doing, is a perfectly reasonable option. It just might get very expensive. I am not an attorney but have been associated with 2 real estate lawsuits. One cost each party $135,000 (the winning party actually had to pay the losers attorney fees in that situation, due to a quirk in the state law.) So in that case the winning party probably paid about $270,000 in legal fees. It took 8 years before the Court issued the judgment. The second cost each party $150,000, and was in court for 18 months before it was settled out of court.

So in your case, it is very unlikely that you and your neighbor would actually ever see a Court issuing an opinion. I don't think you and your neighbor would both decide to fork out that kind of cash.

So that leads to the question - what is the least cost option to convince your neighbor you are right?


Hiring a local attorney is a good first step.

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Quoting bigtrees

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Your point (3) is something to seriously consider. If your neighbor would believe a better GIS map, is there anything you can do to try to fix the map? This may be a way cheaper option than anything else..

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There is absolutely nothing OP can do to have the line moved. His property lines are part of an image of the county tax map.

Why don't you call your county and ask them to change your property line on the GIS map and see what they tell you.

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Quoting budwad

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There is absolutely nothing OP can do to have the line moved. His property lines are part of an image of the county tax map.

Why don't you call your county and ask them to change your property line on the GIS map and see what they tell you.

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I'm not sure why you say that. The GIS folks at the OP's county drew the lines on the map. They have the capability of erasing incorrect lines and drawing new lines. I just checked three counties, and all three provide e-mail addresses to the GIS team where you can submit questions and folks from the GIS team respond to questions that citizens have.

Keep in mind, I am not talking about location of lines being correct as compared to overlays aerial photographs. Aerial photographs may be shifted compared to the parcel layer and there is nothing that can be done about that. I am saying that the dimensions of the OP parcel on GIS should match the survey and locations of his parcels should be correct in relation to other parcels. None of this is in relation to the aerial imagery layer.

Yes, I recently did talk to a county's GIS team about some incorrect GIS lines. They wrote back and we had some discussion as to the reason why the lines were drawn the way they were and what the process was for moving them. In my particular case, the GIS team explained that they draw lines based on information from property surveys. Because (in my case) a particular property boundary feature hadn't been surveyed, they were unable to incorporate it on the map. However, if I hired a surveyor to generate a survey of the property, they would update the GIS map to reflect the property line boundary as shown on the survey.

So yes, there is no reason the OP should not contact the county GIS, inquire about the location of the property line, and ask the county provide the information that they use to locate it where it is. It is possible that they are using outdated survey information, and by providing them a copy of a more recent survey, they might be willing to update it. Or it is possible that something else is going on altogether and it is possible that the line is in the correct location.

Sending an e-mail, with the OPs survey as an attachment, is free. The county should be able to explain why the lines are located where they are. They may or may not be willing to fix them if they are in error, but if nothing else, contacting the county would be a bit educational. Just don't start the e-mail with "My neighbor and I are in a boundary dispute and …". That won't get the OP anywhere.

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In my particular case, the GIS team explained that they draw lines based on information from property surveys. Because (in my case) a particular property boundary feature hadn't been surveyed, they were unable to incorporate it on the map. However, if I hired a surveyor to generate a survey of the property, they would update the GIS map to reflect the property line boundary as shown on the survey.

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in my area there may be no survey but even if there is, it is private. There is no requirement to record a survey. How would they know where to place lines in such a case?

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Quoting jk

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in my area there may be no survey but even if there is, it is private. There is no requirement to record a survey. How would they know where to place lines in such a case?

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I can't speak to all areas. However, in the county that I am experienced, originally lands were surveyed under the PLSS system. The location of all sections is known through original Government Land Office Surveys.

If someone owned a chunk of land (typically 1/16 of a section, or 40 acres) and subdivided it, they had to record the subdivision with the county. In order to subdivide, the county required a deed exhibit, certificate of survey, or plat be recorded with them that showed the dimensions of the new subdivided land. This information is how the county created tax maps (prior to GIS) and GIS maps (today).

If for some reason a deed was recorded that didn't include a survey (Bob deeds 2 acre chunk of land extending from the big oak tree to wide bend in the river to Billy Joe), then the county doesn't know where the property boundary is and cannot include it on either tax maps or GIS maps. In this situation, they will need one of the two landowners to have a surveyor generate a certificate of survey and provide a copy of this to the county, who will then be able to generate the new tax map and update the GIS maps as well. (I think, but am not sure, that this would be an illegal subdivision. While this may have been allowed early in the 20th century, it is not allowed today and has not been allowed for a long time.)

My experience is only with PLSS surveyed land. I understand that metes and bounds is used in other parts of the country. While I assume the process for creating tax maps and GIS lines is probably similar elsewhere, I don't have experience to know for sure.

Update: Met with the real estate attorney today. Nothing ground breaking. We mailed a letter attaching all our documentation (survey map, deed, etc.) showing we own the property, with a statement to remove the barricade he has built. The most expensive letter I've ever sent.

The attorney stated the next steps are to file for a declatory judgment with the county court to settle the boundary dispute. His filing fee is $2,000 for this (does this seem reasonable?). In parallel, he recommended that if there are any more threats or situations where he is shouting/cursing at us, that we can get the township police involved (again) and pursue mental health 301/302 for him being a hazard to himself and others. The attorney said it is possible that if this goes to court and we win that we could be awarded compensation for legal fees. I don't know how likely this is.

It all seems expensive and unfair to have to defend your property against someone when you have documented evidence supporting you.

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Quoting jk

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Since you state he has removed surveyors markers, call the police back and cite them this law

section 18
§ 3312. Destruction of a survey monument.
(a) Offense defined.--
(1) A person commits a summary offense if he intentionally cuts, injures, damages, destroys, defaces or removes any survey monument or marker, other than a natural object such as a tree or stream.
(2) A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he willfully or maliciously cuts, injures, damages, destroys, defaces or removes any survey monument or marker in order to call into question a boundary line.

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OP, I am curious. Did you ever call the police again per JK’s suggestion regarding removal of survey markers? (I bolded the bottom part).

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Quoting searcher99

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OP, I am curious. Did you ever call the police again per JK’s suggestion regarding removal of survey markers? (I bolded the bottom part).

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Unfortunately I don't have any real proof. We had survey monuments there, I know he removed them, but I didn't catch him on video or picture. He will just deny it when the police show up, even though he has a motive.

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Quoting tjh5122

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He will just deny it when the police show up, even though he has a motive.

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Perhaps you have more details as to his motive, but that’s what I’m wondering about. Is he really trying to steal half your front yard, or does he mistakenly belief that the GIS map overlay proves the survey monuments to be incorrect? Is he devious or simply ill-informed?

If he’s not well informed, then probably he also doesn’t know that removing a monument is at least a summary offense in Pennsylvania, meaning that when questioned by police he might freely admit to removing the monuments because he believes he has “proof” they are not correct. In that case they probably would go ahead and issue him a citation.

Even if he denies it, you might still be able to file a police report.

Are the missing monuments documented on your survey? All of mine show the location and description of the markers. That might be enough for you to file a report of (at least) vandalism to establish that you believe he has committed a crime.