Start with a boundary survey from a licensed New Jersey land surveyor. It establishes where the property line is from the deeds and recovered monuments, marks it on the ground, and documents on a sealed plat exactly how far the fence, shed or driveway crosses it. With that in hand you can resolve it directly with the neighbor, or hand it to an attorney. Don't move or remove anything until the line is established.
Step one: find out if it's actually over the line
Most property-line disputes start with a hunch — an old fence that looks crooked, a neighbor's new shed that seems too close, a tax map that doesn't match the fence. Tax maps aren't surveys. Old fences aren't boundaries. Even the survey from your closing only tells you where the line was on paper on that date; it doesn't tell you where it is in the yard today if the pins are gone.
A boundary survey is the process of resolving that. The surveyor pulls your deed and your neighbor's, along with any prior surveys and subdivision maps, then goes into the field to recover the original monuments — iron pins, pipes, concrete monuments, sometimes markers several lots away — and re-establishes the line from the best available evidence. The result is a sealed plat that shows the line, the improvements, and any encroachment measured to the inch.
What the survey shows you
- Exactly where the boundary runs, with corners set or reset in the ground.
- Whether the fence, shed, driveway, pool or landscaping crosses it — and by how much, along its whole length.
- Any easements or rights-of-way that affect what either of you can do on that strip.
- Whether prior surveys or the tax map disagree with the deed, which happens more than people expect in older shore subdivisions.
What to do with the results
If the fence is inside your neighbor's line: the survey settled it and you've spent far less than a lawyer would have cost. If it's over the line by inches: most neighbors, shown a sealed survey and marked corners, will move the fence or agree to move it when it's next replaced. Many attorneys draft a simple written acknowledgment so the encroachment doesn't ripen into a claim. If it's over by feet, or the neighbor disputes the survey: take the plat to a real estate attorney. New Jersey does have adverse-possession and boundary-by-acquiescence doctrines, so long-standing encroachments can have legal consequences — which is exactly why a dated, sealed survey documenting the line matters.
What not to do
- Don't remove or move the fence yourself. Even if it's on your land, you can create a separate dispute.
- Don't pull up or move survey stakes — yours or theirs. In New Jersey, disturbing survey monuments is an offense.
- Don't rely on a fence company, landscaper or the tax map to tell you where the line is. Only a licensed surveyor can establish a boundary.
Cost and timing
A boundary survey for a dispute costs more than a simple corner stakeout because the surveyor has to research both properties and often recover monuments beyond your lot. Lot size, the age and quality of the deeds, and how much of the original evidence survives all factor in. Timing is usually one to two weeks. Send us the address and a description of the problem and we'll quote it.
Where we do this most
Boundary disputes come up most in older, densely built shore neighborhoods where lots are narrow and original pins have been lost, and in inland subdivisions where fences were built by eye decades ago: