Neighbor’s Garage Is Three Feet Over Property Line

Question: We recently had our Casa Grande home surveyed to determine the property line between our home and our neighbor’s home. The survey shows that, when our neighbor expanded his one-car garage to a two-car garage a few years ago, a portion of the neighbor’s two-car garage encroached three feet onto our property. Can our neighbor now be required to tear down that portion of his two-car garage that encroaches three feet onto our property? Is there a time period for our neighbor to return the three feet of our property to us?

Answer: The test is one of reasonableness as to whether your neighbor has to tear down a portion of his garage. For example, if the downtown baseball park Chase Field encroached three feet onto a neighboring owner’s land, a court would not require that three feet of Chase Field be torn down.

Bottom line: You probably would only receive money damages for the loss of your three feet of land because it is not reasonable to require the neighbor to tear down part of his two-car garage. Finally, if you do nothing for ten years after your neighbor expanded his one-car garage by three feet, your neighbor would probably own this three feet under adverse possession.