Friday, July 20, 2012

LAND BOUNDARY DISPUTES WITH NEIGHBOURS… WORTH THE FIGHT? A lot of Toronto real estate is in close proximity to one another. When fences are involved, boundary disputes can become commonplace. Toronto real estate lawyer Bob Aaron says in his most recent column that his own Toronto-area practice is beginning to see more boundary dispute cases. If land boundary issues go to court, they can be very costly. He also writes about how costly it can be if both parties don’t act reasonably and rationally in a land boundary dispute case, the court costs can be more expensive than the actual value of the disputed piece of land: “Four years ago, a heated disagreement arose between two Delta, B.C., neighbours whose rear yards are back-to-back. Colleen Burke’s house is located on 67th St. in Delta, and the house directly behind her on 66a St. belonged to Brad and Marlene Keefe. Title to the houses is registered on an 1893 subdivision plan. Originally, the rear fences of all of the houses in the block ran along the same north-south line, which was marked in the old subdivision plan. But in 1988 and 1989, Warren Barnard, a newly-minted land surveyor, surveyed some of the lots in the area. He incorrectly concluded that the rear fences did not correspond with the true boundary lines between the adjoining lots, and were in fact out by about 12 feet. It appears there was some confusion over the location of the original survey markers for the 1893 subdivision. As a result of the erroneous Barnard surveys, some of the neighbours moved their fences and some did not. At that point, the rear fences in the block were no longer in alignment.” Read the rest of his column, and the expensive conclusion, here.

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