Encroachment on the property

The house we’re buying right now has “encroachments” on neighbouring properties. My solicitor Said it wasn’t a big deal and we should just be quiet about it. The vendors have us a surveyor report from the engineers noting there’s 0.8m encroachment on the fences on each side, one on a private property and the other is on a church(which is vacant). How serious is this and can it be remedied by hiring a carpenter and just moving the fences inwards? TIA

 

That is a massive encroachment - do you actually mean 0.8m or 80mm? Is it both sides (and in your favour)?

Engineer's don't do survey reports, surveyors do.

Correcting a fence is simple - pull it down and start again as it isn't worth the trouble to try to reuse it (it will be about $50-70/m + demolition) and should be a shared cost.

@bmc

 

Encroachments in your favour be silent about. Over time fence becomes the boundary (monuments over measurements or some other silly surveyor term).

The reverse if its in the neighbours favour - move the fence

 

@Pinkmarjory

er, not always the case.
but i do like the monument over measurement quote and I still use it today.

Is the property torrens title or limited (old system)
look for this notation on the property title;

Limitation pursuant to s.28T(4) Real Property Act 1900. The boundaries of the land comprised herein have not been investigated by the Registrar General.

means the boundary has not been defined by physical survey, and will need a plan lodged to remove the limitation. ($$$ not $$)
the land described in the deed may have variations and subject by the determination of a registered surveyor.
if the fences (we call them occupations) have been on site for a designated time the surveyor can adopted the position for the boundary. (if there is available land that is not leaving a shortage to another lot) plus many other factors.

however lets just assume the lot is torrens and your fence is out by 0.8m. it sounds a lot, but i have seen it.
So, now you're aware of it, just don't build anything substantial next to the fence (sheds, garages, pools etc, and be prepared that one day the neighbour may have the boundary surveyed and ask you to move all your stuff and put the fence back on the boundary.

ps. don't rely on an old recycled surveyor report. things change, like extensions or fences replaced etc etc. get your own done (current) and ask the surveyor to mark the boundary at the same time. then you know for sure.

 

qld bias here, quite correct my response was an over simplification.

Land titling is based on possession being 9/10s of the law when it comes to precision of boundaries, but you have to have a brace of surveyors and a murder of lawyers to spend shedloads of time and money to get that conclusion.

I still reckon stay quiet if it is in your favour, and holler if it is not. That is what bogans do about more than just boundaries

 

nsw surveyor, but anything's possible in Joh's country

 

Rocking chair & a 12 gauge on the lap?

 

@bmc @Scott No Mates @boganfromlogan

E8415299-96AF-4609-AEBA-F20C7AC8BD83 by Pinkmarjory posted 11th Mar, 2021 at 9:26 PM

Apologies for my typo.
That’s what stated on the paperwork they provided. When our solicitor inquired further, the vendor’s solicitor have no idea about any dispute, inquiry, plans of build on the neighbouring properties and the front main road.
Basically, they didn’t care and just wanted to do anything with the property. The encroachments are more of in our favour.

 

E8415299-96AF-4609-AEBA-F20C7AC8BD83 by Pinkmarjory posted 11th Mar, 2021 at 9:26 PM

E8415299-96AF-4609-AEBA-F20C7AC8BD83 by Pinkmarjory posted 11th Mar, 2021 at 9:26 PM

The property is Torrens and the building is 70-80yrs old. How will I find that “limitation pursuant”- whereabouts in the contract is that written? The survey report was done last month, hence i queried why the sudden random report as I’ve never seen it in other properties we inspected. When we inquired to the vendors solicitors about the inquiry/dispute/negotiations etc, they said no
They don’t know anything.
Ok we won’t do anything on those boundaries. Thank you for your advise!

 

So it’s 32cm and 9cm and 6cm?

 

300mm, 60mm & 90mm - the last two are not major encroachments.

 

it will be noted on the property title, although i would guess it is torrens.

don't do many survey reports these days. the insurance companies have stepped in and offer "title insurance". So now they take your money and hope there's never a claim.

the bit about the brick fence is blurred and 0.32 is starting to creep over a bit. however the last 2 are just minor fencing irregularities and fairly typical finding.

 

99% of fences are probably within 100mm of where they should be. Plus / minus. Fencing contractors dont do surveys. We have a survey marker out front and ours was out by 50 / (70) mm and we have 200mm extra land at the rear but this is a solid concrete retaining wall and it will never ever become a issue as it would cost a million to move it inwards (affects 26+ properties) and was constructed and is owned and the responsibility of our neighbour - a property trust. Council noted it was out and Coles property company errer on the side of caution when building the wall to ensure there could never be a boundary dispute about the wall being on our land. The wall doesnt retain much as they cut the sandstone face flat and the wall is against that cut.

We only know this since the developer who did our street wanted to check boundary alignmnets just before we moved in and surveyed the street. They fixed a few up side boundaries that were out and the supervisor gave us a copy of the full survey report which covers every lot (since we were first in). It contains a letter from Coles legal counsel which disclaims any issue with the back wall position in our favour.