If I recently bought a property with 2-3 feet of my deck as an encroachment onto my neighbor’s property, do I need to tear down?
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If I recently bought a property with 2-3 feet of my deck as an encroachment onto my neighbor’s property, do I need to tear down?
My neighbor is now subdividing, and is asking me to tear it down. Since this was not disclosed properly when I bought my property, whose responsibility is it to tear-down/re-build (we need a second egress so some sort of landing is necessary) – myself, the previous owner, or the Borough who permitted it in the first place?
Asked on June 17, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Assuming that the neighbor is right--and you do not need to take him at his word, if you think he is wrong; you can and should have the property resurveyed--then you would be responsible for the cost of tearing it down; the current property owner has to correct any encroachments. However, you may in turn have grounds to seek compensation from the person who sold the property to you, if the deck was misrepresented as being legal. The borough is not liable even if they issued permits; they rely on the papers provided to them by the permitting homeowner, and do not go out and resurvey or double check that the boundaries, etc. are correct.
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