What should I do if my neighbor is building a structure on my property?

What should I do if my neighbor is building a structure on my property?

Howard Gould (Neighbor Law Expert, Finestone & Richter) gives expert video advice on: How can I find the boundaries of my property?; What should I do if my neighbor is building a structure on my property? and more...

You're going to need to make certain that you know where the boundary line is. And if you never had a survey, you may want to get one before you approach the neighbor so that you're absolutely certain that he's encroaching onto your property. If he is building something that's on your property, you want to act on it right away. You want to, in a courteous reasonable way approach them and let them know that what they're doing is encroaching onto your property and that they need to stop what they're doing right away and redesign whatever they're project is, so that it won't be encroaching onto your property. If you don't get a positive response from them, you're going to want to put something in writing them promptly. Again, you may want to get the help of a lawyer to draft that. You may want the lawyer to actually write the letter, which sometimes will carry more weight with the neighbor. But you are going to want to have something in writing that documents that you've communicated to the neighbor and specifically what you've communicated to the neighbor. And that's the reason why you want to make sure you have your facts well in order and the evidence to support them if you need to at a later time.