What is a property dispute?

In short if you have a disagreement with someone regarding a property then you have a property dispute. This is actually far more common than you think and something that often requires the involvement of lawyers to resolve the issue.

There are a variety of reasons why a property dispute may arise; the following are some of the most common scenarios.

The Property Line

One of the most common is for two or more neighbors to fall out regarding where one property ends and the others start. This is usually referred to as the property or boundary line. Fortunately this is a fairly easy one to resolve with a topographic land survey. The survey will note all the features of the land surveyed including the exact boundaries as defined by the state. They will even place boundary markers in to identify these boundaries. Of course, this doesn’t mean that your neighbors will be happy!

View Issues

If you let your trees and bushes grow then it is possible they will block the view your neighbors once enjoyed.  You can even do this by adding a fence to give yourself privacy. This can be a more difficult dispute to settle as you may be staying inside the confines of the law but you and your neighbor are going to fall out. That’s a lot of stress you don’t need every time you’re home.

Damage

If you’re a tenant then your landlord may tell you that you’ve damaged something or need to fund the cost of a specific repair. If you disagree with their statements hen you have a property dispute.

Finance Issues

When a home is unfortunately foreclosed on there can often be disputes between the mortgage provider and other creditors secured on the property. This usually revolves round who has the right to foreclose and receive the biggest, (or any) of the funds available.

New Builds

Another surprisingly common property dispute is usually between insurance companies and developers. When you buy a new house and insure it you expect everything to be built to last for at least a few years. If things need repairing early on then you and your insurance company will consider the developer to be liable for those repairs; if they disagree you have a dispute on your hands.

Utility Rights

It is possible that you have utilities running under your land and that your neighbors and the utility companies have a right of access to them. If you did not grant them this right and were unaware of it when you purchased the property you may wish to dispute their claim; creating another property dispute.

Ownership

It would usually seem fairly simple who owns a property; their name should be on the title deeds. But there are plenty of cases where people have argued over who really owns it. This could be in the case of divorce, bereavement and inheritance or even relate to squatters rights.

When you have a property dispute a lawyer is often an expensive way of resolving it; but sometimes it is the only way that you and everyone else can move on with their lives.