An Introduction to North Carolina Property Lines
A critical aspect of property ownership in North Carolina is understanding the laws surrounding property lines. North Carolina property line laws encompass a wide range of issues, such as how property lines are determined, who is considered an adjoining landowner, and how disputes between landowners are resolved. This understanding is essential not only for individual landowners but also for developers, investors, and real estate professionals to avoid costly legal battles and ensure development plans are viable.
From the outset, understanding your property lines has significant practical implications. Accurate assessments of where your land starts and ends will determine what can and cannot be built on your property, where you can put up a fence, and how close your house can be built to a neighbor’s property. These seemingly minor decisions can lead to expensive legal disputes if you are unaware of your property lines.
However , when a dispute does arise, the stakes become even higher. Property line disputes can involve breaches of contract, negligence, easements, adverse possession, prescriptive easement, and Nuisance. A fence or a tree that crosses into a neighbor’s yard can lead to serious consequences under North Carolina property laws. Thus, it’s vital to know the exact demarcations of your property before your neighbor claims their rights over it.
Ultimately, the underlying principle of North Carolina property law regarding property lines is to resolve ambiguities fairly and equitably through state-prescribed rules and procedures. Whether you are dealing with easements, encroachments, or adverse possession, there are established ways to deal with any grievances.
Defining the Boundaries of Your North Carolina Property
From a legal perspective, the boundaries of a given piece of real estate are defined by what are called "metes and bounds." This essentially means that the land is defined by its physical features along with considered distances, except in cases where the property is defined through a subdivision plat, as we’ve written about previously on the blog.
If there is a fence or some other obvious demarcation that separates your property from your neighbors’, there is little need to consider the formalities of metes and bounds. However, if no such obvious feature exists at the perceived boundary, then the formalities and language become vital.
In addition to the metes and bounds, a survey of the property may be required to legally delineate the true boundaries of it. Surveys are typically required in situations of, well, severe boundary disputes between neighbors. When a survey is conducted, a licensed surveyor will determine the property line using the formal language that was established in the 1980s. While more common, you shouldn’t consider it a necessity in all boundary disputes.
Common Disputes Involving North Carolina Property Lines
While the laws listed above provide a good starting point for resolving property line disputes, each situation is different. Therefore, let’s discuss a few scenarios that may arise when trying to determine the location of your property line:
Encroachments
Encroachment is when a person, structure, or vehicle trespasses on your property by extending into a portion of it. This may occur as the result of a neighbor, homebuilder, or other party building too close to the property line. The best way to avoid an encroachment is to have a licensed surveyor mark the property lines (including corners) before construction begins.
Fences
A property fence that extends onto your neighbor’s land will require removal at the owner’s request. However, this rule does not apply if the fence owner can prove that they’ve maintained the fence and paid taxes on the property for 21 years or more.
Easements
Easements are a way for third parties – like local government or utility companies – to gain limited use of a property. After receiving an easement, a party cannot be held liable for any damages caused in the process of maintaining access to the desired land.
When to Seek Legal Action Regarding a Property Line
There are various options available to property owners who encounter disputes over property lines, and resolving such a dispute often depends on the specific circumstances. When it comes to land disputes, the goal should always be to reach an amicable and peaceful resolution. Whether you are a buyer or seller or a neighboring landowner, you need to understand what legal recourse you have if push comes to shove.
In some situations, an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approach can lead to a resolution that all parties can live with. For instance, if you are a buyer who has discovered that the land you bought was originally encompassed by the neighboring property of your seller, or perhaps land that has never been legally subdivided from that property, the seller may be inclined to offer you an easement rather than have a drawn-out legal fight over a strip of land that is not being put to use regularly.
However, this does not mean it is always possible to simply avoid conflict with the property owners next door. You may perceive your property line to be clearly defined, but your neighbor may disagree. If you have a fence or shed that comes too close to the property line, your neighbor may decide to erect a fence of his or her own to keep you from using that land or may just approach you about moving your fence or shed back a few feet.
The real problem occurs, however, when a person attempts to take ownership of land that is not their own. Perhaps you are building a retaining wall to prevent an overflow of water from flooding your yard during a heavy rainstorm. If your neighbor is the source of that flooding, chances are he or she would be in favor of your building that wall. However, if the wall happens to cross your property line by a few inches, or you just happen to discover several feet into your neighbor’s yard, you may not receive that same support in further enhancing that wall. As your neighbor, that person has every right to keep flood water off of his or her property, and may well be the source of a lawsuit against you.
A second potential problem involves having buildings, sheds and the like that reach too closely to your neighbor’s property line. In the worst-case scenario, it may even be a thousand-square-foot addition connected to your home that has snagged a few feet of your neighbor’s property but runs the full length of your house. Not only will this likely require that you tear down part of your home, but you will probably be forced to pay damages to your neighbor for the trespass because this case may be one where you legally can’t counter sue for damages to your own property. Clearly, this will get very messy very quickly.
In North Carolina, however, there is a statute of limitations in place that allows for clear-cut and vindicated boundary lines after they have persisted for over seven years. So, if your property has been utilized under those old property lines for over seven years, you should only need to seek damages against your neighbor if that neighbor attempts to dispute the lines.
How North Carolina Property Lines are Affected by Local Zoning Regulations
Local zoning laws can impact how North Carolina property lines operate and, importantly, what uses are available for the land on either side of the lines. Whether a property owner near a boundary may build a fence, shed or other structure, or make changes to existing ones, can be determined by what local zoning laws state about the specific use of that portion of the land. The definition of what structures also constitutes the definition of a building under local zoning ordinances can also play a role in this analysis, as the determination of whether a fence or structure is a true building could end up radically changing the approach taken to the use of that portion of the property. In general , zoning requirements establish what can and cannot be on property in a neighbor’s yard as well as your own, and can significantly restrict how you use your property if it is near a boundary with another parcel. As such, anyone who believes they have property lines that don’t run where those who own adjacent or nearby properties believe they do should check with the local authorities to see what regulations exist for that area and how they impact the use of that land, to avoid any issues with neighbors or the government down the line.
Pro Tips for Avoiding Property Line Disputes
In the spirit of prevention, here are some tips that might come in handy for North Carolina property owners, both new and those currently residing on a boundary line:
· Get a survey. Knowing where your property lines clearly are, and where your neighbor’s property lines begin is essential to preventing property disputes. In most cases, getting a survey is the single best thing that a homeowner can do to protect themselves from property line disputes. It is worth the $300 to $500 that it will cost you to make sure that your improvements, trees, shrubbery, fencing, etc. aren’t encroaching on your neighbor’s land. A surveyor will also tell you who is responsible for the cost of a fence between you and your neighbor.
· Keep clear records of what you have done to your property. If a neighbor accuses you of having encroached on their land, be prepared to produce your survey to prove otherwise. Make sure that your survey (or the work done by the surveyor) is easily accessible and easily understood by court systems should your dispute spill over into court. If you installed a fence, take pictures of the original fence as well as any replacement fence should it get damaged. Take pictures of any trees you might have planted between you and your neighbor. Keep a list of dates and corresponding photographs when you and your neighbor or neighbor’s contractors have accessed the property for any repairs of dirt moving.
· Communicate with your neighbor. Problems concerning property lines stem primarily from neighbors not knowing where the property lines actually were when they built a fence, put in a swimming pool or a road. If you are considering a project that might involve area that your neighbor might think is theirs, be sure to show them the survey and give them a heads-up about the potential issue. If your neighbor is planning such a project, kindly remind them that you own the property outlined by the survey.
Final Thoughts on Property Lines in North Carolina
In conclusion, understanding the laws surrounding property lines in North Carolina is crucial for both homeowners and landowners. North Carolina is a "fixed boundary state", which means that the boundaries of your land are essentially a snapshot of when your deed was created. These days, in addition to surveying the land, landowners must also survey the subdivision of any land that they have already subdivided, particularly if it was subdivided in the mid-2000s when the subdivision laws and surveying laws changed . Especially in today’s world where property lines are determined by species, date of monumentation, land surveyor markings, and the like, property line disputes are much more common than before. The best way to avoid these disputes is to ask a local land or real estate attorney about it. Because the laws and regulations are complicated and unique to each situation, working with an attorney who practices in this area of law will ensure that you are doing all that you can to avoid disputes before they become an issue.