Location: Ohio. Three months ago my neighbor put up a new fence along our shared property line. Didn't say anything to me beforehand, just showed up one day with contractors and built it. Fine, annoying, but whatever.
Except the fence isn't on the property line. It's on my side of it.
I noticed it looked off but waited before saying anything becuase i wanted to check the survey first. Pulled out the one from when i bought the house four years ago, compared it to where the fence actually sits. It's encroaching on my property by somewhere between 35 and 45 centimeters across the full length, which is about 30 meters of fence. That's a significant chunk of my yard.
I went over and talked to him about it. Stayed calm, brought the survey, showed him. He said his measurements showed it was on the line and my survey was probably outdated. He was polite but made it clear nothing was moving. That was six weeks ago.
I have the original survey and photos i took before and after the fence went up. I don't have a newer survey.
Things i'm trying to figure out:
Does my existing survey hold up legally or do i need to commission a new one before i can do anything?
What's the actual process here, small claims, civil court, something else?
Is there anything i should be doing or not doing right now while i work this out?
I don't want this to turn into a whole thing with my neighbor but i also can't just let a permanent structure sit on my land indefinitely.