This is the quandary: You have decided to rent a place near your new office because it was too far from your home. Now, two years have gone by, and you decided to go home, only to find out that somebody has invaded your place, or precisely, a part of your ownership. Your neighbor has just extended his backyard to yours.
This circumstance is called
encroachment, or when another person builds a structure that meddles on your property, be it just an awning, or any physical structure for that matter.
Like any other civil case, you can just ignore it. You can also settle it with the offender democratically. However, if things went irreparable through these two constitutional processes, you can always take it to court.
In court, you just have to prove that you own the property, which is legally called as “quiet title action,” and that your neighbor is without doubts using your land, which lawyers call an “ejectment action.”
However, reducing litigation length can be done in two ways: through
adverse possession and
prescriptive easements. In order to win in a claim for
adverse possession, you just have to prove that you own your land legally by presenting important documents—titles, deed of sale, tax records—that would establish your claim. Conversely, one of the most popular methods of
prescriptive easements is by just easing your accusation to “claiming” instead of “possessing.” In this way, your neighbor would end up paying for the taxes that encompass the entire period of his intrusion, making him appear as a renter, not as an intruder.
Atty. Craig Seldin’s broad law practice includes civil cases, such as different encroachment issues. This website provides additional information on Atty. Seldin’s practice.
