Wednesday 8 June 2011

An Encroachment By Any Other Name...Is Still an Encroachment

By Adam Ciboch


When it comes to property, sometimes boundary line mix-ups happen. The initial land surveyor might have made a mistake. Maybe a boundary line was changed by water erosion. It's also possible your neighbor was just plain being inattentive.

It probably comes as no surprise that misunderstands happen.The real surprise may come in the myriad of different varieties of encroachments. Not all of them even manifest physically. Check this out.

An encroachment is an illegal intrusion of some kind onto the property of another when boiled down to its simplest definition. An obstruction doesn't even need to exist when it comes down to intrusion onto a highway or a navigable river. The simple fact that it is an illegal intrusion is enough. A fixture needs to exist for a street or highway to be encroached upon. A wall or fence will suffice. You've got yourself an encroachment, as long as it illegally intrudes into or invades the property of another in some way.

Encroachment also brings up the additional legal issue of adverse possession. This term is the legal means by which someone can claim title to a parcel or portion of land to which they technically do not hold true title. Many factors need to be met in order to obtain title, or quiet title as most lawyers would say. This includes remaining in open, notorious, continuous and hostile possession of the piece of land in question for a specified statutory period. The length of time varies by state. If you do not want this occurring on your land, be sure to act quickly and effectively. It is sometimes wise also to seek the advice of a legal professional.

As a fun little fact, there's also something called a temporal encroachment. Instead of being an actual structure, this is actually an action that affects a person's perception of time. In the alternative, it can also affect a person's ability to take action in the future. The next time that annoying co-worker of yours decides to gossip for 20 minutes at your desk, you can tell them to stop temporally encroaching on your work day. See how that goes over with them!




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