Georgia Property Line Laws Explained
When it comes to owning and developing property in Georgia, knowing where your boundaries lie is crucial. The failings of neighbors to be aware of their property lines has led to a number of lawsuits, ranging from easements to disputes about where a fence or building is located . Georgia property line laws have a basic framework that is used to interpret what the property lines are for owners. If you own property, either residential or commercial, you need to know these laws, how they affect you, and who else is affected by them.
How to Determine the Property Lines Between Two Properties in Georgia
When conflicts do arise regarding property lines, Georgia law is clear that a survey is the preferred process to determine the location of the boundary. In most cases, a licensed surveyor is engaged to confirm or define the property line. It is important to note that property lines are also described in public records. Metes and bounds descriptions of a property, for example, will appear on a deed. Depending on when the property was purchased, the property owner may have a metes and bounds description of their property and that description may differ from where the owner believes their property ends and begins. Purchase agreements also describe property lines, sometimes even mentioning encroachments. However, if neither the survey nor the deed nor the purchase agreement convince you of the accuracy of the property line, you may need to go to Court for a judicial determination. As with all matters involving real estate, the strategies and tactics differ and should be discussed between you and your lawyer.
Common Boundary Disputes
In Georgia, common property disputes involve a few primary issues. One of the most common is fence disputes, where property owners argue about who owns the fence and either move it or destroy it. Other boundary disputes arise when one neighbor builds a structure or roots a tree on the other’s property. Easement disputes often arise as well, when one party claims a right to access a road or driveway – but lacks that right.
Adverse possession is an issue too, where a property owner claims the other has not made use of the land in the last 20 years – and therefore they have forfeited their rights. Generally adverse possession claims cannot be made against government owned properties.
But one of the biggest areas of dispute comes from encroachment on existing easements, such as driveways, septic tank systems and power lines. These easements are established by deed and the property owners argue over their use.
Most common is a dispute arising from a chain link fence or bordering wall. The property owners argue about who owns the fence or wall, usually moving or demolishing the wall. Alternative dispute resolution through mediation is often used in Georgia to resolve these matters. However the problem remains that many people do not know where their property lines are.
Legal Actions for Settling Boundary Disputes
"Georgians have a right to seek justice and a peaceful resolution to their boundary dispute."
If face-to-face negotiation is not an option and the dispute remains unresolved, there are a few options available to the Georgia landowner.
Legal processes for resolving boundary disputes vary, depending on the specific circumstances. A property owner can file an action against the alleged trespasser to enforce a prescriptive easement or quiet title, ask the court to compel a survey and to effectively declare the line via a temporary injunction, or file a trespass action for damages. Generally speaking, the goal is for the Court to draw the line at the line drawn by the surveyor or the Court may apply the doctrine of acquiescence to the case, if it applies.
A common request property owners make is for the Court to appoint a surveyor. Courts will not appoint a surveyor to resolve a boundary dispute. Courts have the discretion to appoint a surveyor as an expert witness, but because the surveyor is not the "Judge" of the facts, the appointment is rare.
A few months ago, another attorney filed a case against his neighbor asking the Court to appoint a surveyor to determine the boundary line. The neighbor hired a surveyor but the attorney filed the trust deed claiming it was a legal description of the property line. In holding that a surveyor is never appointed to draw the line, the judge also instructed the attorney to draft a petition to release the surveyor from the case.
The most common, alternative methods for resolving disputes include mediation, arbitration and even neighborhood association meetings. Most Courts in Georgia will refer parties to mediation before they will set a trial for boundary disputes. In private mediation, the parties hire a professional neutral third-party to come up with a creative resolution to the dispute. Mediation is voluntary and can only be administered by a mediator mutually agreeable to both parties.
How Encroachments Between Two Properties Affect Boundary Lines
Encroachments are physical intrusions onto a person’s property by an object or structure belonging to an adjoining landowner. They can occur even when neither the encroaching nor the encroached upon owner has any intention of trespassing onto the other’s property. In Georgia, encroachments can take the form of a tree that has grown over a property line, a fence that is placed partially on another person’s property, or even water from one landowner’s property that has eroded property from an adjoining parcel. The law in Georgia allows for property owners to seek the removal of encroachments on their property.
The removal of fences and other types of encroachments is the most common issue rising in lawsuits involving Georgia property lines. If the fence is shown to be on a property owner’s land and not an easement or right-of-way, the property owner may demand that the offending party remove the fence . If the fence was placed by the offending party with no intention of causing a trespass, the property owner cannot recover damages.
As with other types of encroachment, fall trees or branches are characterized as a trespass of the owner of the fallen object onto the property of the injured landowner. However, if a tree owner’s encroaching branches overhang the property line of an adjoining neighbor, the neighbor has the right to cut the encroaching branches back to the property line or may ask an appropriate government official to enforce a nuisance abatement resolution. As to deciduous trees which drop leaves onto adjacent property, the overhanging leaves of such trees are not considered an encroachment and therefore do not give rise to a claim for damages.
Property Lines in Georgia and Local Zoning and Land Use Laws
In addition to property line disputes that stem from inaccurate surveying, erosion, or the need for easements, present land use laws can also have an impact on property lines. Zoning laws dictate how a landowner can use a particular piece of property. While zoning and land use typically are not an issue for property owners in rural areas outside county planning jurisdictions, they can have a significant impact in urban areas and even in some outlying suburban areas.
Georgia law allows local governments to exercise "police powers" to regulate private conduct for the protection of the public’s health and general welfare. Zoning in Georgia is generally enacted under powers granted by the state constitution, statutes, local ordinances, and regulations. Zoning power is reserved to local governments in Georgia which act directly through legislative enactment of zoning ordinances or indirectly through their planning and zoning boards.
A zoning ordinance is an ordinance that designates permitted uses of land based on mapped zones specifying the maximum density permitted within the jurisdiction. Zoning ordinances may be very complex; they often specify segregated zones and incorporate multiple conditions. The zoning ordinance is one of the primary regulations consulted in preparing a preliminary survey plat for subdivision approval.
A building line is established by adjustment of a zoning ordinance. "No construction, erection, alteration, or addition of any structure or any part thereof which is within the building lines as established by the city or county shall be undertaken." Georgia’s zoning law was created in 1987 and has been amended frequently. Each county, as well as municipalities with populations over 200,000, has the authority to adopt and enforce land use and zoning regulations in accordance with the Alabama Constitution and Title 11, Chapter 52, and municipal codes. Overruling or modifying existing zoning ordinances can be difficult, sometimes requiring legislative action.
According to the Georgia Law of Easements, "The creation of an easement can complicate property lines, and not in all cases. Some easements transform property lines by granting rights respected by courts as property rights, and some easements hold parcels together in unorthodox fashions." In some cases, many years of use or the mere presence of an easement or license can establish a prescriptive easement or perhaps a dedication.
Local zoning laws can restrict a property owner’s ability to build a fence or tree boundary on the property line. Fencing or erecting a tree boundary that is on public land or in conflict with approved zoning laws can be considered an encroachment. Similarly, zoning and land use laws can impact a property owner’s ability to build a home or other structure on the property line and the location of that structure on the property line.
Georgia Property Line Laws and Good Neighbor Policies
Maintaining good relations with neighbors is essential for many reasons, but especially when there is a dispute over where the property line lies. No one likes being on bad terms with any of their neighbors, particularly those who share a fence. However, these disputes are not uncommon, and people should not feel alone in having boundary issues with their neighbors.
Enjoying your Georgia property while still maintaining a good relationship with your neighbor is about compromise and communication. A fence may seem like an obvious solution for your encroaching neighbor, but if it is causing them hardship or financial distress—such as where the fence has diminished the land value of his property—then a fence may not be the best solution, at least until the land has been measured and the property lines established. A fence could be relocated, a shed could be moved, and more right-of-way concessions can be made to ensure that all parties involved are satisfied.
Communicating with neighbors can help ease the worry they might feel about upgrades taking place on your property, and allow them to know exactly what you are doing so that they do not feel like you are encroaching on their property. If you are digging on your property line for a fence with a neighbor, for example, they might have an issue with it unless you consult them in advance. The same thing goes for cutting down trees that you both have enjoyed in your front yards. If you are planning on upgrading your home, you should ensure to notify your neighbors in the direction your improvements will affect. This can help you maintain amicable relationships after your upgrades have taken place.
Helpful Resources for Georgia Property Owners
Resources are available for Georgia property owners to learn more about the lines on their properties.
In our information age, the Internet is a valuable resource for land owners. Once you have an idea of where your property lines are located, you can search out free and paid resources that can help you resolve your property line problems. Online databases exist for most counties in Georgia and you can access tax assessors, deeds, plats, easements, zoning ordinances and covenants to create a full picture of the legal description of the property. If your title is unclear or there is a dispute with a neighbor, a title company will help you clarify the property lines as part of their services.
Georgia Landmark Maps provides a private service that has compiled Landlot Maps for every county in Georgia. These maps show the property lines between residential lots. However, this service is not accurate for public roads and other right of ways or for commercial and industrial lots. The maps show the block and lot number of the properties, the address and square footage, the date the tax was last paid, the owner’s name with links to a local tax record and the tax rate for that parcel. There is an additional state excise tax based on the sale price of the property. This service misses many details in the property history and is likely to include many errors so it should not be relied upon without further research.
Google Maps also has many of the streets and some of the parks and other features of the county as well as showing you where the road ends; if there is a house on most parcels , it will also show up as a satellite image on Google Maps with the boundary lines outlined in white. You can also use Google Earth Pro ($399) to see 3D images of the county, with satellite images of each parcel’s perimeter outlined in white and any structures inside the perimeter. These programs can also help you see the shortest route to your neighbor’s house for discussing the property line problem.
If you do have a problem on the border lines of your property, you may want to consider hiring a Georgia registered surveyor to mark your borders with GPS equipment. This service can quickly and reliably draw the boundary lines on a satellite photo of your property, which will be recognized by local authorities. A surveyor will measure the day of the survey using the same measurements as were used on the previous survey to make sure that everything lines up with the prior surveys, if that is available. The surveyor can create a manifest of this data that is suitable for recording in the real estate records with the county Clerk of Court’s office, which will ensure that the description of the land will not "move" when the land is sold in the future.