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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    2

    Default Fence Encroaches on an Easement

    My question involves an easement in the state of: Indianapolis.
    Four years ago I hired a fencing company to install my fence and they did an onsite survey (included in price) to find my property lines. I am currently selling the home. I was looking over my documentation and noticed on the survey that the easement line seemed closer to my house then the back of the fence.
    So I measured from the main street to the end of my fence (according to the length of the plot on the survey) and I am 10 feet over onto the easement.
    The easement to my knowledge has no utilities running through it... it is only water runoff or flooding. Which it never does in this area. My neighbor behind me has a fence, 10 feet from the center of the easement, my fence is 10 feet from the center of the easement (so 20 feet between our fences) however, the easement shows my fence SHOULD end 20 feet from the center of the easement. This would put my fence really close to the back of my house and pretty much give me no backyard at all.
    I called the fencing company and they are no longer in business (father and son business).
    So, can I still sell my house? Will I have to move my fence before a bank will approve a person to purchase my house?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    206

    Default Re: Easements - Fence is Over

    Do you have a signed and stamped boundary survey produced by a Professional Land Surveyor licensed to practice in Indiana? I'm guessing the answer is no.

    I've never heard the term "onsite survey", but i suspect it means that the father and or son found your property corners and pulled a string along them and built a fence. They ignored, or were more likely ignorant of, a 30 foot wide easement, 20 feet of which burdens your property.

    If they did not have a professional land surveyor on staff, then the fencing company had no business determining your property line; after all, they've done you harm by building the fence in the wrong place. Even if they did have a professional on staff, they still blundered and built the fence in the wrong place. Either way, they can and should be held liable for the error. At this point, it boils down to what the Indiana Board of Surveyors and or your attorney decide to charge them with.

    If I seem angry by the tone of my post, it's because I am. Jacklegs like that fencing company erode the public trust in true professional surveyors; any of which would likely have immediately found and shown the position of the easement line(s). If I am somehow mistaken in my analysis, I apologize, but that's the way I see it.

    As for selling your house, you may want to remove the fence, or at least disclose what you know about it's position to a buyer. The holder of the easement could order you to remove the fence if they choose to, it's their easement.

    If you haven't already gotten one, perhaps consider a boundary survey. In fact, you may need one of you decide to take action against the fence company.

    Anyway, good luck.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Easements - Fence is Over

    Thank you.
    Do you know if it is possible to have an easement moved? I mean, could I call the city or the land developers and ask, why I have a 20 foot easement and the other side has 10? If nothing else, maybe get everyone on my side of the street to pedition together to get it changed or possibly pay for the land? Just curious.
    Going to the government center today to get an offical plot and hopefully schedule to have surveyor come out.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    206

    Default Re: Easements - Fence is Over

    You can feel free to ask why the easement is located with the current configuration, no one here can give you that answer since the possibilities are legion.

    The only way to move an easement is for the dominant tenant (being the party who holds the easement, also the party who benefits by the easement) to agree that it be moved. Also, if the easement on your neighbor's property would be altered in any way, then they would also have to agree to it being moved.

    In this case, a petition would be the wrong tool to use; your best bet is to approach the easement holder and your neighbor.

    The fact that you are burdened by 20 feet worth of easement as opposed to 10 feet is immaterial beyond seeming to be unfair. The easement is where it is, irregardless of the position of any parcel lines.

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