Title and boundary problems often surface at the worst moment. A buyer's survey shows that the neighbor's driveway, pool deck or fence sits on your lot. A lender will not close because of a gap in the chain of title or an old deed with a bad legal description. A neighbor builds a wall a few feet over the line and refuses to move it. Someone who has used a strip of land for years claims it now belongs to them. Or a developer assembling parcels finds that one of them cannot be insured.
These disputes are document-driven and often technical, but they also turn on what has happened on the ground over time: who fenced, maintained and paid taxes on the disputed area, and for how long. The record needs both the paper and the physical history.
1. Order or locate the surveys
Collect every survey of your property and, if you can, the neighbor's: the survey from your purchase, any lender survey, and older surveys in prior owners' files. If the dispute is active, consider a new boundary survey by a licensed surveyor that locates the improvements in question. Keep the surveyor's field notes and any elevation or as-built drawings.
2. Assemble the chain of title
Pull your deed and the deeds back through prior owners, along with the recorded plat, any easements, restrictions and corrective instruments. Keep your owner's title insurance policy and the title commitment from your closing. The policy may provide coverage or a defense for some title and survey problems, so locate it early and read the exceptions.
3. Document the physical history of the disputed area
Gather dated photographs and aerial images showing when a fence, wall, driveway or structure appeared. Ask longtime neighbors and prior owners what they remember and write it down with dates. Keep permits for fences, pools and other improvements near the line, because permit files often include site plans showing where an improvement was supposed to go.
4. Pull the tax and assessment records
Get the property appraiser's records for both parcels, including the legal descriptions, parcel maps and tax payment history. In an adverse possession claim without color of title, the question of who returned the property for taxes and paid them is central.
5. Notify your title insurer if you have coverage
If the problem may be covered, give written notice of the claim to your title insurer as the policy requires, and keep a copy. Do not settle with the neighbor or sign any agreement before checking whether doing so affects your coverage.
6. Avoid self-help on the ground
Do not tear down a neighbor's fence, move survey markers or build in the disputed area while the dispute is unresolved. These actions can create new claims and make a judge less sympathetic. Communicate with the neighbor in writing and keep it civil.
The Florida rules that matter
Seven-year rule for recovering land. "No action to recover real property or its possession shall be maintained unless the person seeking recovery," or a predecessor or grantor, "was seized or possessed of the property within 7 years before the commencement of the action" (§ 95.12). Long-running encroachments should not be ignored.
Adverse possession with color of title. A claim based on a written instrument, judgment or decree that purports to convey the property requires that the claimant "has for 7 years been in continued possession of the property included in the instrument, decree, or judgment" (§ 95.16(1)). Property counts as possessed, among other ways, "When it has been usually cultivated or improved" or "When it has been protected by a substantial enclosure" (§ 95.16(2)).
Adverse possession without color of title. A claimant without a written instrument must be "in actual continued possession of real property for 7 years under a claim of title exclusive of any other right," must pay "all outstanding taxes and matured installments of special improvement liens" within one year after entering possession, must file a return with the property appraiser within 30 days after that payment, and must keep paying later taxes (§ 95.18). Possession under this section means land "Protected by substantial enclosure" or "Cultivated, maintained, or improved in a usual manner." Because the tax and filing steps are specific, the appraiser's records often decide these claims.
Lis pendens in title litigation. When a suit concerns title to real property, a recorded notice of lis pendens warns later buyers and lenders, and an action "not based on a duly recorded instrument has no effect" on them unless a notice is recorded (§ 48.23(1)(b)1.). A lis pendens can also block a sale or refinance, so it should be used carefully.
Many boundary questions, such as how courts resolve conflicting legal descriptions, how acquiescence in a boundary line works, and what remedies are available for an encroachment, are governed by court decisions rather than statutes. We evaluate those questions on the facts of each property.
“No action to recover real property or its possession shall be maintained unless the person seeking recovery,”
§ 95.12
“has for 7 years been in continued possession of the property included in the instrument, decree, or judgment”
§ 95.16(1)
“in actual continued possession of real property for 7 years under a claim of title exclusive of any other right,”
§ 95.18
“not based on a duly recorded instrument has no effect”
§ 48.23(1)(b)
Your checklist
- Gather every survey and consider a new boundary survey of the disputed area.
- Pull the deeds, plat, easements and your title policy and commitment.
- Collect dated photos, aerials and permit site plans for improvements near the line.
- Obtain the property appraiser's records and tax payment history for both parcels.
- Give written notice to your title insurer if coverage may apply.
- Do not remove structures, move markers or build in the disputed area.
- Talk with a lawyer before the seven-year marks pass.
How we handle these cases
We line up the surveys, the chain of title and the physical history of the land, and we work with licensed surveyors and title professionals to identify where the line actually is and who has the stronger claim. As property owners and developers ourselves, we understand how a title or boundary problem can stall a sale, a refinance or a project. We handle these disputes throughout Florida, including quiet title and encroachment actions. Meetings are by appointment only. Call 305-748-3789 to schedule a time to talk.
This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.