Opinions Needed - Buying a house with an encroaching fence

No, the next owner is not bound by the previous agreement. If the next owner wants to give permission for the fence to stay, fine, but if they don't want it there they need to make sure it gets moved, either voluntarily or by court order. In fact, the current owner is not bound by the verbal agreement - he can change his mind any time. To have a binding agreement concerning real estate, it has to be in writing, and there has to be consideration -IOW, the one using the neighbor's land has to pay for the use. Understand, state law always applies in real estate cases, so the time frame could be different in Virginia, but basic principles of adverse possession are pretty similar from state to state, and most if not all states require contracts concerning real estate to be in writing.


Disclaimer: Anything I may post on this forum at any time is only my personal opinion, and not a legal opinion or advice.

 

If you noticed in my post a verbal agreement meant nothing in our case. If it weren't for the mercy of our neighbor finally agreeing that we didn't have to move the fence, we were definitely going to have move the fence. She all of the sudden became hard to deal with after we put the for sale sign in our yard. Of course we were only there 5 years. I don't know if would be different if it's after 15 years. I think it's very rare that a verbal agreement holds up. Then if someone changes her mind, it can become a he said/she said thing. There would be no proof there was even an agreement.