Neighbour Non-permitted construction on my property

[Stephen M.]

Hi,

New here, hopefully posting in the right category.

I recently purchased a new property. And roughly a few weeks after moving, still unpacking we noticed some serious grading taking place on the other side of our fence.

After doing some research with the help of our realtor we ended calling the department of public works to enquire about the construction and they confirmed that there was no permit for grading or construction and that there hasn’t been any in the past 15 years. An inspector is likely to go there to check things out and hopefully put a stop to whatever is going on.

Meanwhile the grading continues and due to the slope a lot of dirt is falling against our wood fence. In 3 days the amount of dirt on the other side of our fence increased by 3-4 ft.

Considering they didn’t have permit I decided to look at maps and parcel/property lines. While possibly inaccurate both google maps and county maps agree on the fact that the wood fence built by the previous owner was placed well within our property lines.

What probably was an attempt at maintaining their privacy is now being used by the neighbor as what should be the properly line (I’m guessing as I have no intention in even trying to start a discussion at this point).

Here is what I am thinking. I am going to hire a licensed a surveyor to get the property lines surveyed and corners staked. Once that’s done I want to hire a licensed contractor to apply for a block wall permit on wherever the property line ends up being located.

I am hoping that I can do this before anything gets constructed. Even though the LA county says non permitted constructions can be required to be deconstructed I am fairly sure this is usually a last resort. And the last thing we want is to be forced to give the neighbor an easement or rent for a construction they never surveyed and applied for permits for.

Am I approaching this the right way? Whatever damage there has been (if any) is likely small but could be much greater if they get away with an encroachment on a mediocre construction. And what we are really trying to conserve is our privacy by keeping them away, i.e. behind property lines and setbacks.

Any input would be helpful.

Thanks

[Stephen M.]

Thanks for the feedback.

I spoke with my neighbor yesterday morning and mentioned the fence was bowing from the dirt being moved. He acknowledged but went back to using water and packing it with his bobcat later that day.

I also told him we believed the property line is not where the wood fence is but rather 15 ft out and that we were going to get the property lines surveyed. He did not deny.

He said he is just packing to use this area as a driveway. Hopefully the county will object to that just based on the slope itself and lack of retaining wall. The last thing we want is for cars or trucks to land on us, our kids, dogs or house.

More importantly I hope the actual property line is what the maps suggest and that we’ll be able to build a block wall on that property line. If that’s the case there is no room for that driveway anyway.

Thanks