New house bad fence line.

[Dan Dunmire]

Hello BP. Well the time had finally come after all the books, research, and searching for a property that fits my investment strategy; I've bought my first house cash. It was a foreclosure the is distressed. I should be able to spend about 30k to improve the house to an ARV around 40-60k more, depending on the exit strategy I go with. Anyway, the reason for my post is to ask about my new neighbors fence. There are two fences side by side, mine is straight and goes from the ally down to about 10 ft from my house. The neighbors fence starts in the ally and runs diagonal straight into the corner of my house. The survey shows it to be on my land also. My issue is that I can not perform maintenance on my house (replacing siding and windows, also soil has built up and is touching the bottom layer of my siding). I actually don't care to change how the fence is currently, I should be renting it after I renovate/repair the house, I just need access to my part of land that is on her side of the fence. It's about a 10-15 foot section of my house that is fenced off into her side of the fence but is about 6" on my side of the property line. I'm basically asking how I should approach her about it. I have done a bit of research about adverse possession and in Pennsylvania it's a 21 year period and it's up to the person trying to take possession to prove all the requirements have been satisfied. I understand this to not be possible for her because she can't prove how long the fence has been there (it was installed without a permit) and it's a rather new fence. Additionally it's not considered hostile because I want the fence there, it has just now become time for me to want access to the side of my house. My own idea to remedy the issue is to inform the neighbor that I'm trying to make repairs and bring value to our street. That I do t mind the fence being as it is as long as I can instal a gate that is between our houses and could have access for making repairs and performing maintenance. Also I would want her to sign an acknowledgment letter stating that her fence is not against my will and that she must maintain the fence and land. Also while I have your attention, what should I do if she refuses? Thanks in advance for all replies!

[Steve Babiak]

So you now have survey markers or monuments in place. Then I suggest you contact an attorney - just because you do not consider this "hostile" does not mean that it is not "hostile"; hostile does not require weapons. I figured that the fence was erected to control animals, but the party that erected the fence should have had a proper survey performed beforehand and then placed the fence appropriately. Since that apparently was not how this was done, it should be corrected - because if you get to the point of wanting to sell, your buyer might not want somebody's fence on the property.  Perhaps an attorney will say it's not a problem to get permission from others to access your property as you wrote ... but it sounds a bit odd to have to ask permission ...