Real Estate/Property Litigation

Disputes often occur when homeowners encroach on each other’s properties or cause nuisances, among many other property-related disagreements. This is when it’s important that a property litigation attorney steps in to assist with your rights.

New York real estate and property litigation attorney, Kenneth Allen Brown is well-versed in real estate disputes that can happen when owning a property. Kenneth is very proficient in handling these kinds of matters and will explain in great detail what your rights are during property litigation.

Adverse Possession Litigation

Through adverse possession, a trespasser can legally come onto your property and gain ownership of it. This often happens unintentionally – usually when a neighbor relied upon a faulty property description in a deed when building a fence on your property.

Adverse possession claims usually end up in court when questions about legal ownership of the property arise during the sale of a house. For example, a title insurance company may refuse to provide insurance because the neighbor’s garage is discovered to be standing directly on the property. If this happens and the people involved cannot work something out, the property owner may sue the trespasser (the neighbor whose garage is encroaching), or the trespasser may bring a lawsuit to “quiet title,” which is a request for the court to determine who owns what.

To make a successful adverse possession claim, hiring a lawyer is key as a lawsuit may need to be filed to eject the trespasser or a court order may be needed to remove a structure from your property.

Neighbor Disputes

There are many reasons why neighbors can have a dispute – loud noise, unclear boundary lines, trees that hang over a property line, blocked views – the list goes on. A neighborly nuisance can turn into a nasty lawsuit real quick. That’s why it’s important to know your rights and responsibilities to the laws behind common neighbor disputes. Long Island property litigation attorney, Kenneth Allen Brown has extensive knowledge of updated laws and information on mediation and going to court on behalf of his clients when dealing with a neighbor dispute.

However, not every neighbor dispute needs to go to court. Kenneth knows when to tackle a neighbor problem through mediation and when it’s appropriate to take the neighbor to court.

What is mediation?

Mediation is essentially a conversation between you and your neighbor, facilitated by a trained neutral third-party who addresses the communication breakdowns, distrust, or hostility between the two parties. A mediator can help you and your neighbor figure out exactly what the issues are and ways to compromise without a court proceeding. Kenneth is familiar with local laws, state statutes, and case law when it comes to the following property disputes:

Loud Noise

Loud noise tends to be a popular neighbor dispute.

• At what time does the music need to be turned down by law?
• What are the laws against noise in your town or county?
• What should you do if your neighbor refuses to lower the music?

These are the questions and issues that an attorney would be able to assist with.

Trees

• Who owns the tree, you or your neighbor?
• What are the property owner’s rights when a tree is damaged?
• What to know about the removal of a boundary tree
• State statutes on injury to trees
• What the tree owner can sue for
• Co-owners’ responsibilities when trees on the property line are unsound
  • Ask the owner to trim the tree
  • Suing to prevent damage
  • After damage from an unsound tree

Obstruction of View

• View ordinances
• Laws and subdivision rules that protect views
• Avoiding view problems

Boundary Lines

• What happens when a neighbor doesn’t honor the boundary lines?
• Settling uncertain boundary lines

Fences

• What is a spite fence?
• Property line fences
• Disputes over boundary fences
• Restrictions on fence height
• Negotiating with the neighbor to compromise

Water

• When is the neighbor liable for water damage?
• When is the neighbor not liable for water damage?
• What the neighbor at fault must pay for

Nuisances

A private nuisance is when someone else’s unreasonable action interferes with your enjoyment of your property. During a private nuisance, it is best to hire an attorney to brief you on the local laws and state statutes on private nuisances. To sue for a private nuisance, you would need to show:

• There is excessive and disturbing noise coming from your neighbor’s residence
• Your enjoyment of your property is affected and is causing you damages. Such damages may include loss of sleep or the inability to carry on normal activity without interference.
• You have asked the person to stop the noise. This can be shown by police reports, other witnesses, or even a recording.

Encroachment and Understanding the Boundary Issue

First, you will need to get a professional analysis of how much land is being encroached upon and whether permission was ever given to encroach. To obtain this information, you will need to have a survey, appraisal, and a full title search performed. During a survey, a licensed surveyor will find the boundary of your property based on the legal description in your deed. This will help determine how much land is being encroached upon.

Consulting with an attorney is also a good idea to determine whether you have a valid claim for encroachment and what additional information is necessary if the claim proceeds to litigation.

Easement, Prescriptive Easement, and Right-of-way Disputes

An easement is a right held by an interested person to use one’s land, despite not having an ownership interest in the property. Easements have certain restrictions that are often written into their terms. Usually, easements are made by a grant using a written agreement, but can sometimes be created by operation of law.

An easement and a right-of-way are very similar in that they both give access to another person’s property. However, a right-of-way only allows one to pass over another person’s property. It does not give one access to “use” the person’s property. For example, crossing over one’s driveway or walkway.

A prescriptive easement allows someone other than the original property owner to gain the right to use a property. Prescriptive easement disputes often arise when landowners fail to realize part of their land is being used by a neighbor. For example, a fence that is put in the wrong location can result in a prescriptive easement.

Litigation of prescriptive easement disputes often involves legal complexity and is uniquely challenging as these disputes typically present a mixture of legal conundrums, factual disputes, and human emotions. When initiating an action to resolve a dispute over an easement, several causes of action are often relied upon. For example, is the dominant tenement (person gaining the benefit) seeking to clarify rights in an easement or is the servient tenement (person granting the benefit) seeking to limit the rights of a dominant tenement under an easement?

If you are involved in an easement dispute, it’s important to contact an experienced real estate attorney to review your case, along with all relevant documents such as contracts, deeds, and surveys, so you know all your legal options.

License Disputes

Real estate licensing is a very important aspect of real estate law. It helps ensure that real estate professionals are registered with the state and that they are qualified to perform transactions. Real estate license disputes are often linked to legal issues, such as mortgage loan fraud and other various schemes. For instance, if a real estate transaction was conducted, and it’s later discovered that the real estate agent was not licensed, there may be an issue as to whether the transaction will be applicable or not.

Thus, it’s important to hire a real estate lawyer during such license dispute. New York attorney Kenneth Allen Brown is well-versed in these kinds of license disputes and will provide the appropriate legal advice, and can also represent you during the actual court procedures.

Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (“CC&Rs”) Disputes

A covenant is a set of rules that determines how real property is used. Essentially, it is a promise made by a purchaser as a condition of buying the land in question.

Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) are used by many “common interest” developments – such as condos and co-ops – to regulate the use, appearance, and maintenance of the property. CC&Rs, usually enforced through homeowners’ associations (HOAs), restrict certain things that homeowners can do on their property. For example, some CC&Rs have lawn maintenance standards and others prohibit homeowners from hanging their laundry out to dry.

Covenants vs. Zoning Laws

Covenants differ from zoning ordinances in that covenants are agreements between private parties rather than between a governmental entity. Thus, an HOA can enforce a covenant to a homeowner, but not to the city or county enforcing a zoning ordinance to a private citizen. Zoning ordinances are rules and regulations recorded as local laws whereas covenants are recorded in private deeds.

Seek Legal Advice for CC&Rs

Title companies will usually not have copies of the CC&Rs affecting the property until the day of closing. However, the CC&Rs are binding upon the buyer, whether or not they have read or understood the CC&R. Therefore, it is imperative to have a real estate lawyer review all the CC&Rs and zoning laws affecting the property before signing a real estate contract. Seeking legal advice will help set your mind at ease and will provide a smooth process in cases where certain actions are either required or prohibited through CC&Rs.

Environmental Disputes

Land contamination has been and continues to be the environmental concern in real estate transactions. Land contamination may originate from past owners or from off-site sources. However, the site owner’s liability may vary depending on how the contamination arose. So locating its source is important in order to assess the potential risk and allocate responsibility. Moreover, these kinds of issues may become even more complicated if there are drinking water supply wells on or near the property.

The Law Firm of Kenneth Allen Brown assists clients in all aspects of environmental litigation, enforcement, regulatory appeals, and permitting while delivering a custom-designed approach to every matter. Clients include manufacturers, developers, property owners, and municipalities in cleanup disputes, cost recovery actions, and related environmental insurance claims, as well as matters involving air, water, and wetlands.

Long Island attorney, Kenneth Allen Brown has the knowledge, network, and contacts to navigate the evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations of the environment. Kenneth provides practical, creative, and cost-effective solutions to each and every environmental dispute that he comes upon.

Snow Removal

Under premises liability law, property owners and occupants in New York City and many Long Island communities are legally responsible for removing snow and ice from walkways, sidewalks, and parking areas in front of or attached to their properties. If a property owner or other responsible party neglects to keep their property free from hazards due to snow and ice, and it causes a person to sustain an injury while on the property, the injured party has the right to sue for damages by filing a premises liability claim.

New York City gives property owners a limited window of time (4 hours) to remove snow and ice from public sidewalks surrounding their properties after the snow stops falling. Basically, the snow and ice must be removed from paved walkways and sidewalks outside their property in a proper and timely fashion in order to create a safe path for pedestrians. Property owners are still responsible for clearing access even when these areas have been obstructed by snow that was pushed aside by a plow.

If you are a property owner and have specific questions or concerns about your rights when it comes to snow removal on your property, you should consult an attorney right away for the appropriate legal advice.