FENCING laws in Texas

My husband and bought 15 acres of land in rural Texas in 2002. When we bought the property, there was an existing fence along the front and down the side of the property approximately 480 feet. This showed the fence on our survey. Evidently, the fence was built using plat stakes in the middle of the road which looked like boundary stakes. We knew the fence wasn't our property, but didn't tear it down because it wasn't on our property. We did maintain it because we were unable to contact the owners of the propertyand one of our horses was cut pretty badly on it. The fence was barbed wire and we added livestock wire on one side to keep them from further injury. My husband is a disabled vet and we were unable to build a fence ourselves or to afford to have one built. Last summer, the owner showed up and told us he was putting the property up for sale. Recently, he had his property surveyed and found the fence was 91 feet onto his property. He has sent us a letter demanding we tear the fence down because he is unable to sell his property with the fence there. Like I said, the fence was there when we bought the property, showed on the survey and was built several years ago by someone else. What are our legal rights?

he has to take it down not you


[California has the easiest "squatter's rights" adverse possession law. Just occupy a California property for five years without the owner's permission, pay the property taxes, and you can acquire full ownership by then suing the legal owner in a quiet-title lawsuit. It's that easy.

However, Texas and several other states have much tougher adverse possession laws, requiring "open, notorious, hostile, exclusive and continuous occupancy" for up to 30 years.

But call your local lawyer to see if any exception may exist for you.]

test

[ahcady]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

test

On the property line between ours and our neighbors is a fence that has been there since we moved here 32 years ago. They have live in theres for app 7 years. Who does the fence belong to.