The garage and the storage shed are
located on the neighbor’s lot
Driving into their cabin’s driveway, Merle and Betty Larson noticed a line of surveyor’s stakes that ran in front of their garage and storage shed and then continued down to the lake. Confused, they walked up to their cabin, opened the screen door, and out fell an envelope. In it was a thank-you note from Bill and Wendy Bailey, the owners of the adjoining lot. It said, “Thanks for the garage and shed. You shouldn’t have!”
The Larsons’ never had gotten a survey when they purchased their cabin many years ago. Now their neighbors were adding a bedroom to their cabin and needed a survey of their lot to get a building permit. The survey showed that the garage and shed that the Larsons’ seller (affectionately know as Old Harold) had built 10 years ago were located entirely on the Baileys’ property. Evidently, Harold always thought the boundary line was “between those two oaks” on the east side of the property. Problem was, Old Harold’s lot was a squirrel’s paradise; oaks everywhere and all about the same size. “Darn things all looked alike,” he had muttered.
Luckily, the Larsons had always had a good relationship with the Baileys, and the thank-you note was only a joke. The garage and shed did not have to be removed. However, the Baileys did insist that Merle and Betty pay all of the attorney’s fees for the preparation of an encroachment easement. To this day, Merle kicks himself for being too cheap to get a survey of Old Harold’s property before he and Betty bought the cabin. He could have avoided the later legal expense and – worse- the years of kidding from Bill Bailey.