Encroaching On the Neighbours Has Legal Implications

The term encroachment has many dimensions and it is not acceptable in any of them. It goes without saying that your encroachment on a neighbour’s property will set him on a tight fuse, leave alone the legal potholes that the situation may land you in.

Encroaching neighbour’s property

Your land or building structure encroaching on your neighbour’s domain can become a serious lapse. Legally, your neighbour then is entitled to seek relevant compensation from you.

The buyers, especially those who opt for a land and property package, can find to their great agony the devil that lack of Due Diligence can be. For all you know, your land may be encroaching on your neighbour’s property (something you hadn’t clearly expected).

Hire a professional

This is exactly why you are recommended to rope in a conveyancer, one who can laboriously go through the legal exchange of titles, and before that run through the buyer’s contract in detail. It is his job to conduct pre-settlement inspections.

Such inspections are only expected to bring into the open any possible encroachment. At this stage, the conveyancer will duly advise you to terminate the contract or seek necessary remedial measures from the vendor.

Law is in favour of the encroachee

The buyers will do well to remember that the law is loaded completely in favour of the encroachee and the buyer (in this case, the encroacher) is liable to cough up hefty fines. Such penalty may include, but is not restricted to, paying for the encroached area, paying for the council fee and survey fee linked with realigning the boundaries.

Unethical vendors

Often, vendors dupe buyers into signing contracts which merely have a semblance of building specifications rather than a completely dedicated land and building contract. This lack of diligence can come back to haunt the buyers on a later day.

Next time when you visit a prospective land and see eaves running erratically or fences and walls constructed vaguely, make sure that you press the point on your conveyancer.

No land or property deal should ideally be completed without the services of a reputed conveyancer. We will be glad to assist you with investigations associated with land or property purchase.