"pixi" wrote in message
...
I need an answer but don't know where to look on the internet. Has anyone
got any ideas about this?

There is about 800 feet of fence between us and a neighbor. The neighbor
recently put up a new fence. When ever a tree had grown up on the lot
line
he put the fence on our side thus putting the trees on his side of the
fence. In most cases this meant a foot or more of our property on his
side
of the fence.

I believe the law used to say if the fence remained there for 20 years,
the
land on his side was the neighbors.

This means that the neighbor took aboutg 800 square feet of land. That/'s
a
lot of land. Does anyone know where I can find out what we can do about
this.

Thanks a bunch.

As others have said, you need to get a survey. The survey will establish
the lot line. Until you have the survey, you are just guessing where the
line is. If you can establish that the fence was placed on your property,
then you can talk to the neighbor and let him know what your feel is an
acceptable solution -- move the fence, sell or lease him the property, etc.
If you can't come to a satisfactory resolution, then I would get an
attorney. In addition, I would check with the local building authority.
Many jurisdictions have zoning resolutions that dictate the type of fence
that is acceptable. There are generally set back requirements and often
permits are required. In some cases a survey is required and the property
corners and lot line must be marked and the marks must remain in place until
the final inspection is done by the building inspector. If a permit is
required, then your building department may take care of the problem without
any effort or expense on your part. In our state, the county auditor's
offices are placing real-estate records online. You can do a property
search and then access an aerial photo of the property with the lot lines
marked. If the old fence was in place when the picture was taken you can
get an idea of where it was in relationship to the lot line. That would
give you an idea of how likely it is that the new fence is on your property.
You might check you county's website to see if that option is available to
you.