Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 11, 2009 9:33 pm Hi everyone,
Just a question which i am quite concerned about. We recently had to get a re-establishment survey done so we could start building and i just recieved the survey back. It seems out neighbour has built their garage 20mm over the boundry and the fence that has been errected is also on our block. I know when you think about it, it isnt alot but thats my land. And i am really annoyed about it. The neighbours builder is the same builder we are going through. Is there anything I can do about this? Are they allowed to do this? Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 2Mar 11, 2009 9:56 pm No they arent allowed.
And to be honest its probably the builders fault. I would talk to the builder and such and see what they can do. Ive heard in other cases the neighbour buys a small part of your land so that it becomes their land, and therfore in the rules Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 3Mar 11, 2009 10:05 pm did you say 20mm?? I realise its your land, but seriously.. 20mm?
-Sha Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 4Mar 11, 2009 10:06 pm Not sure what state you're in, but in NSW we have an Encroachment of Buildings Act. In my experience, a building will not be ordered to be removed from your land unless it is a substantial encroachment. Unfortunately, I don't think that the 20mm will be considered to be substantial
An alternate remedy under legislation may be to seek some type of compensation from the neighbour. I would suggest that you contact a solicitor who specialises in land and environment law and get some legal advice. Building a Wisdom Homes Impression 33 MkII http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com/ We have the keys! Tiling in progress... Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 6Mar 11, 2009 10:22 pm Haha! Sadly, subjectivity and the law don't mix
It would be "reasonable" compensation as deemed by the Land & Environment Court, in the event that the matter got that far. Building a Wisdom Homes Impression 33 MkII http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com/ We have the keys! Tiling in progress... Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 7Mar 11, 2009 10:33 pm Yes i can understand how stupid it may sound.. And i do understand its only 2cm along the length of my property but thats besides the point.. The fact is they built on my property and i am not happy about it and i have the right to be annoyed. Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 8Mar 11, 2009 10:41 pm Don't houses built need to be a certain amount of distance from the edge of there property? Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 9Mar 11, 2009 11:43 pm sha did you say 20mm?? I realize its your land, but seriously.. 20mm? -Sha 20mm is alot when they have lost 20mm down the length of the block! devalues the land and the neighbors didn't pay for bit which is now theirs. wakeboardandy - has the right approach let them finish their house off and ask them for a cool 100k or remove the fence AND the garage off your property! technically they are your bricks -Nathan 2nd-Fix | Blog Building with Desyn Homes previously with the insolvent [url=https://www.facebook.com/7NewsAdelaide/videos/1162546323776021/]Endeavour Homes[/url] Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 10Mar 12, 2009 6:24 am did you say it was 20mm plus the fence? what is the amount in total including the fence. i also dont understand how they can build over the boundary line, most councils require a metre or two between the edge of the building and the fence line Blog - http://snakedr.blogspot.com/ Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12084&p=307406#p307406 Status - PCI 15/10. Things nearly done. Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 11Mar 12, 2009 6:56 am billdsl did you say it was 20mm plus the fence? what is the amount in total including the fence. i also dont understand how they can build over the boundary line, most councils require a metre or two between the edge of the building and the fence line From what I've seen, there are councils which allow garages to be built with zero side setback as long as it is facing the neighbour's garage. I think it's only when the house is single storey as well. This is definitely the case in Blacktown council, I just had a read of our development guidelines. Single storey house garage can have side and rear setback of zero. Stevep79 & Principessa Finished building Wisdom Homes Impression 33mkII in The Ponds, Sydney http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 12Mar 12, 2009 8:16 am The Property Law Act (Vicoria) provides for a 'Margin of Error' Section 272 of 50mm for lengths up to 40.30m. Longer than that the limit is equivalent to 1:500.
http://www.dms.dpc.vic.gov.au/ 20mm is nothing. Over a the full length of a 40m block it amounts to to not even a square metre. So for your garage its even less. 20mm could be classified as 'survey difference' that being your surveyor can up with a slightly different position to thier surveyor. With possibly neither being wrong. This is why there is Section 272, to provide for slight encroachments and minor discrepancies in the way boundaries are determined/pegged etc. Build a bridge and move on, maybe take down the section of fence (along side the garage) if it really gets your goat. If they have indeed built in the wrong position they can never claim the land as theirs under Adverse Possession (15 years) due to the amount being less than 0.15m. Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 13Mar 12, 2009 8:25 am I can't believe some people on here wouldn't be annoyed about this. I'd be extremely annoyed if someone built on my property no matter how small the amount. It means someone has not been careful, done their job properly and has made an error, and why should you, as the land owner have to live with it. Another example of people doing their job poorly and others just having to accept it. Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 14Mar 12, 2009 8:34 am i thought all buildings/ structures must be a min 900 off the boundary fence. we have to have 900 away for the pool. John, Tarin and the Kids Built and moving in to the Regent Grande with Masterton homes http://thebrownsaremovingtothecountry.blogspot.com Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 15Mar 12, 2009 9:17 am I have no comment on the problem of neighbours encroaching on your land but just to clarify for other posters: many councils do allow you to build a garage on the side boundary.
In our council we are allowed to do this, in fact our garage is on the boundary. We are allowed to have garage walls on the boundary as long as there is no window on the boundary side. We were going to have a high window on side of garage but moved it to back instead. We are allowed to build house walls 900mm from boundary, with or without windows. Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 16Mar 12, 2009 9:21 am Briz Ms I can't believe some people on here wouldn't be annoyed about this. I'd be extremely annoyed if someone built on my property no matter how small the amount. It means someone has not been careful, done their job properly and has made an error, and why should you, as the land owner have to live with it. Another example of people doing their job poorly and others just having to accept it. Not sure if you read my post, due to the size and potential differences in two independant surveys, its more than likely that there isn't even an error/overlap. A garage say 15m in length, 20mm over is 0.3sqm. Over a 600sqm block that amounts to 0.05%!! People jump up and down about (and in some cases start wars) over land, please consider the stats, its the reason why the law provides for tolerances. If you have concerns, act at construction time not after. Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 17Mar 12, 2009 9:23 am This topic came up in my building course a few years back.
From what I was told on the boundary refers to +/-50mm. In other words the boundary is a big thick 100mm line and as long as it is within that it is exceptable. Unfortunatley for you, you have no cause to complain. Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 18Mar 12, 2009 9:51 am Wow Borg, thats some interesting news and something I definitely didn't know!! I too would be a little annoyed, as you paid for all the land, but doesn't look like theres much you can do.
I'm going to tell my fencer to encroach my neighbours property by 95mm either side of the property!! Oh, if your my neighbour and are reading this, I know nothing about it ICK So glad the building is over, never again. Loooove our house, but still not quite sure it was worth all of the stress they put us through! Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 19Mar 12, 2009 9:55 am Briz Ms I can't believe some people on here wouldn't be annoyed about this. I'd be extremely annoyed if someone built on my property no matter how small the amount. It means someone has not been careful, done their job properly and has made an error, and why should you, as the land owner have to live with it. Another example of people doing their job poorly and others just having to accept it. I don't think there's a person out there that wouldn't be annoyed. The unfortunate fact is that there's nothing you can do about it...spilt milk Building a Wisdom Homes Impression 33 MkII http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com/ We have the keys! Tiling in progress... Re: NEIGHBOUR BUILT ON MY LAND!! HELP 20Mar 12, 2009 9:58 am Thanks for all your comments and info. I can understand how many people can think its not an issue and I am over reacting.. And to be honest its only works out to be .6m overall.. Its not enough for me to make a fuss about or ask for it to be fixed even if i was in my rights to legally. Although I do find it irresponsible of the builders for something like this to happen.. especially when last week i was ordered by the builder to get a re establishment survey as one of our pegs couldnt be located when we werent building on the boundry line anyway.
By law, they are technically allowed to take 50mm x 40m of land.. So how is this fair?? Well, its not but thats not the builders problem. Just to clarify, I'm not a builder I've read my own council's LEP numerous times and worked with an architect to understand my own lot size and problems. 5 1776 Thanks for your reply! All valid points and I agree with you on many of them. I am in QLD, any recommendations on a construction lawyer would be helpful 3 2628 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair We purchased a 1960s property that is on timber stumps mostly, and a newer section is on concrete stumps. We had a building inspection initially and they reported some… 0 12739 |