What Is Encroachment, and What It Means for Your Property Line

What Counts as an Encroachment

An encroachment: something belonging to a neighbor, a fence, a shed, a driveway, a retaining wall, even overhanging tree branches, physically crossing onto your property line without permission. It's easy to mix up with an easement, but the two run in opposite directions. An easement is authorized use of your land, formally agreed to or recorded. An encroachment is not authorized, period. A fence built two feet over the line. A shed whose foundation straddles a boundary. A shared driveway that narrows onto your side of the lot. A patio that crosses a setback. These are the common shapes encroachment takes, and most owners never notice until someone actually measures the property.

How Encroachments Get Discovered and Fixed

Most encroachments surface one of two ways: a boundary survey, or the title review that happens automatically before a home sale closes. A boundary survey is done by a licensed surveyor who measures the legal property lines and drives physical stakes into the ground to mark them. Typical cost: around $543. Once you spot an encroachment, fixing it follows a few steps. Start with a straightforward conversation with the neighbor. If that doesn't settle it, send formal written notice so there's a paper trail. From there, negotiate: sell the small strip of affected land, grant a formal easement so the use becomes authorized, or get the structure moved. Legal action comes last, not first. One more thing worth knowing: if a neighbor's use of your land goes on long enough, openly and continuously, some states let that use ripen into an actual ownership claim. It's called adverse possession, and the number of years required varies by state law.

What This Means If You're Selling Your Florida Home

A survey or title search turning up an encroachment doesn't have to sink your sale. You still have real options. But every path forward comes with a trade-off worth knowing before you pick one. A cash investor buying a property with a title complication will often use it to push the price down further than the issue itself justifies. A traditional listing can work too, but if the encroachment surfaces mid-contract, a buyer's lender or title company may pause the file for weeks sorting it out. That delay is exactly what causes financed deals to fall apart before closing.

Cash Flow Deals is a Florida real estate investor that locks in a net price for a seller's house before repairs are scoped, using a novation-based, flat-fee process arranged through its licensed FL brokerage partner, Silver Door Realty — not a traditional listing, and not a brokerage itself.

CFD works differently. We agree on your net price in writing up front: the number you're guaranteed at closing, unless foundation, moisture, wiring, or drain issues turn up during inspection. If they do, we re-cost together and you decide how to proceed. To get the home found by real buyers, we partner with a licensed Florida brokerage, Silver Door Realty, to list it on the MLS through a flat-fee listing service, then market it above your locked-in price to a real FHA, conventional, VA, or DSCR buyer. When it sells, the proceeds cover your price, your closing costs, and the buyer's agent commission first. CFD is paid only from whatever's left over. It's the same single-contract novation used on every CFD sale: you sign one contract, the buyer purchases directly, and CFD never takes title. The same title company that would handle a normal sale handles it here too, just with someone accountable for keeping the file moving instead of you having to chase it down yourself. If your Florida home has a title complication and you want your number locked before it goes anywhere, talk to us today.

Cash Flow Deals' Offer Process:

1. Cash Flow Deals reviews your survey or title report and the specific encroachment issue, then sends a written net price offer within 24 hours: the number you're guaranteed at closing, before any boundary resolution is factored in.

2. Once you accept, Cash Flow Deals partners with its licensed Florida brokerage, Silver Door Realty, to list the home on the MLS through a flat-fee listing service and market it above your locked-in price to a real FHA, conventional, VA, or DSCR buyer.

3. The sale closes through a single-contract novation: you sign one contract, the buyer purchases directly, and Cash Flow Deals never takes title. The file can close in as little as 10 business days once a buyer is secured, instead of sitting stuck for weeks sorting out the encroachment mid-contract.