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• Neighbors may have cut trees on our property
• Reasonably-priced surveyor?
• Help determining property lines
• Dispute w/neighbor over property lines
• See also: Fences and Neighbors
• More Advice about Neighbors

Neighbors may have cut trees on our property

My wife and I recently purchased a house in Montclair. We did not bother with a survey of the property line at the time of purchase and the map and description in our prelims are quite cryptic.

A few weeks ago our immediate neighbor hired a crew to cut and trim some Eucalyptus trees on his property. The problem is that we are pretty sure that some of the cut trees are on *our* side of the property line (the neighbor did not contact us before cutting the trees). When we noticed, we asked the neighbor to stop the work until we could assess exactly where the property line is.

We called a few surveyors in the area and their phone-estimates are in the $2500-$4000 range. We have no idea if this is what we should expect, or if there is any other (reasonably priced) way to establish a property line.

Also, we would appreciate any suggestion about what we can do if it turns out that -as we unfortunately expect- the trees were on our property.

I called MANY surveyors and found that they wanted min. $2500- 3500 to survey just one property line and map the house out for us. Ridiculous! Then through my realtor I found Don Vegvary of Vegvary and Vegvary Engineering. Really nice guy, competant, quick and very inexpensive - we got everything done and addiotional work for $1500 on a 1/3+ acre property. He also did not come with an "attitude", which so many surveyors I interviewed had! Don can be reached at (925) 947-1051.

Needless to say, the tree was on our property, and turned out that we had MORE property than previously thought! Good luck! Maya

Reasonably-priced surveyor?

Can anyone recommend a licensed, reasonably-priced surveyor? We recently bought a home and want to know the where the property lines are. Thanks. Anon

Help determining property lines

We live on a piece of property that is surrounded by empty lots. We'd like to do some landscaping but there are so many different markers on our property that we are not sure where our property lines really are. We contacted a surveying company and they want $3500 to come survey the lot and set markers. My questions are, do we need a surveying company to determine our lot lines? If so, is $3500 a reasonable fee for this service? Thanks! Melissa

If, however, you want to avoid the cost of the survey altogether, you may be able to simply come to an informal agreement with the owners of the neighboring property. Or, if you don't know who owns the other property, you could use your own best guess and landscape as you like. You would just be taking a risk that the neighbors will later make you tear out your work if it turns out you've encroached; this would most likely happen if and when the other property is developed. Therefore, if you go that route, I would suggest putting only relatively transient stuff (flowers, grass) rather than planting large trees or building decks in areas where you have any doubt. Holly

Dispute w/neighbor over property lines

Hello, I am having (unfortunately!) a dispute with my neighbor regarding property lines. She insists on planting trees and plants without consulting me on our shared strip of land between her driveway and my sidewalk. I checked with the county, and there is no survey on file for my property. Is there a way to resolve this without the expense of a survey? (suggestions welcome!-although I have tried twice to speak with her about this, so that doesn't seem to work... she believes she has been here 20 years, and I don't have any real rights since I've only been here 3 years..) Assuming I must resort to a survey of the property, does anyone have a recommendation on land surveyors? Note to Moderator: I did check the archives, to no avail... thanks! anonymous and frustrated in Oakland