Gainesville, Florida Civil Litigation Law Firm
What is a property boundary dispute? When you buy real estate or property in the State of Florida, your deed should indicate exactly where your property begins and ends. If the property was surveyed when it was purchased, the survey should indicate the actual boundary lines. Also, the deed should include a description of boundaries.
However, despite the state-of-the-art surveying technology used to determine the boundaries of a real estate property these days, disagreements often arise over exactly where those boundaries actually fall. Some boundary lines were set many years prior, so residents inherit conflicting information when it comes to building fences, paving driveways, or making other changes that “cross the line” into another owner’s property.
What is an encroachment?
This is the legal term for a property owner’s claim that another owner has exceeded a property’s boundary in some way, either legally or illegally.
If someone else has obtained the legal right to use the land in question for something specific, it is called an easement, and the person should have a deed to show for it (the county typically records easements). In some cases, once a neighbor has used a section of land for some time, that person may receive a prescriptive easement, which is not required to be a matter of official public record.
What are your rights as a real estate owner?
When you realize you’re having a significant disagreement with another property owner over the boundaries of your land or property, you must consult a real estate attorney to advise you all of your legal rights. Together you can go over title reports, insurance policies, covenants, surveys, and public records to verify where your property truly ends and your neighbor’s property truly begins.
If your property survey does not concur with that of your neighbor’s property, the most cost-effective and agreeable solution is to determine a new boundary line. This is where both parties can sometimes compromise a bit in order to resolve the issue once and for all.
You may also have the option of using a mediator (arbitrator), who can assist you and the neighbor to resolve the boundary issue out of court.
Commercial Litigation
At Moody, Salzman and Lash, we have the legal expertise it takes to successfully represent individuals and companies in a variety of contractual disputes, such as a breach of contract, corporate disputes, shareholder disputes, enforcement of shareholder agreements, actions involving corporations, dissolutions of companies and partnerships, legal action to address the breach of fiduciary duties, and issues related to foreclosure.
Lease
We represent rental companies, property management agencies, and landlords in all aspects of property leasing and rental agreements, such as broken leases, evictions, and various lease violations.
The real estate litigation attorneys at Moody, Salzman, and Lash can handle all kinds of legal action, including arbitration, conflict resolution, mediation, administrative hearings at a local, state, or federal level.
We are prepared to protect your legal rights. If you have concerns or issues with anything related to real estate law in Alachua County or the State of Florida, please call Moody, Salzman and Lash at (352) 373-6791, or e-mail our Florida real estate law attorneys serving alachua county, ocala, lake city, palatka, hawthorne, marion county, levy, columbia, bradford and other surrounding areas of north and central Florida.
