Fence Creep: When Neighbours Gradually Claim Your Land by Moving Boundary Markers

• Neighbours moving fences or walls by small amounts over time can accumulate significant encroachments.
• If unchallenged for 12 years, a fence encroachment can support an adverse possession claim.
• A licensed surveyor can confirm the registered boundary and identify any encroachment.
• Owners should formally challenge any encroachment in writing, not just verbally.
• MEGID survey pegs are the official reference point for boundary identification.

Fence creep is rarely dramatic. A fence that is repositioned by a metre during a repair, a wall that is rebuilt slightly to one side of its original line, a survey peg that disappears and is replaced in a slightly different location — each individual movement may appear minor, and may even be presented by the encroaching neighbour as an honest mistake. Over time, however, the cumulative effect can be the loss of a significant strip of land that has been absorbed into the neighbour’s apparent possession.

In Jamaica’s legal framework, this matters because of the 12-year adverse possession period. A neighbour who has had physical possession of an encroached strip of land — using it, maintaining it, fencing it — for a continuous period of 12 years without challenge may be able to claim title to that strip. The encroachment need not have been intentional: the clock runs regardless of whether the encroaching party knew where the boundary was.

How to Identify and Challenge Encroachment

The first step in identifying a potential encroachment is to commission a licensed surveyor to locate the registered boundary of the property. The surveyor will refer to the survey plan on the registered title and to MEGID-placed reference pegs to confirm the boundary line. If the existing fence or wall is found to be inside the registered boundary — that is, on the neighbour’s side of the line — there is no encroachment. If it is outside the boundary, encroaching into the surveyed parcel, the owner should take immediate action.

Challenging an encroachment requires more than a conversation. The owner should send a formal written notice — ideally through a licensed attorney — to the encroaching neighbour, specifying the nature and extent of the encroachment and requiring its rectification within a defined period. If the neighbour refuses, a court application for mandatory injunction requiring the removal of the encroaching structure may be necessary. Title searches are available through the NLA’s eLandJamaica portal. The NLA and the Land Surveyors Board can provide further guidance on boundary identification procedures.

Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com