Buying house, dock situation is weird, where to put sailboat?

[Sir]

Buying house in middle. Docking situation seems weird. "My" dock seems to run right along property line, can I park my boat on the upper side of it? Is the bottom neighbor encroaching on me? His huge boat lift seems to be in "my" portion of the water? Seems like I ended up screwed here. Where can I put my sailboat?

[ilCigno]

First you need to find out were the property boundaries are. I don't know about your situation, but here in The Netherlands we can see online where the property boundaries are, who's the owner and many more publicly available information. See attachment for an example of the map (white is land, red buildings, blue water) You cannot assume that the boundary on land is extended in a straight line across the water.

Furthermore, ask your real estate agent and talk to the neighbors!
[img]www.cruisersforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=260964&stc=1&d=1657790 818[/img]

[Orion Jim]

So you are buying a piece of real estate and you are asking strangers on a boating forum for their advice on property lines and riparian rights? Speak to your realtor and only accept a truly definitive answer from a real estate attorney.

[tkeithlu]

Orion Jim is right, but approach it with a good case. Assuming that you are in the USA, usual law is an extension of the property lines into the water. If that is true, then the large boat hoist does intrude on your area, and your dock, being on the property line, will only allow you to moor on the lower side. Good luck with it.

Wherever you are, it appears that there is no setback requirement - the houses and that big patio come right to the lines.

[mvweebles]

I recently had two slips I own in a condo on the ICW in Florida reconfigured into one. Requred review and approvals from FL Dept of Environmental Protection, US Army Corps of Engineers (due to being on the ICW), and local and state zoning authorities. Process took almost 2-years even though the outer 'envelope' of the two slips did not change, just the location of piles and fingers. I was required to do a mini-environmental protection survey to assure no protected wetlands or seagrass would be disturbed, and a new survey of the entire 7-slip dock as the old one was 30-years old, and one of the slips had been changed 5-years ago without full permits so the agency wanted a full update. I'd say this is likely an extreme case.

My point is threefold. First, zoning requirements can vary dramatically even within the same jurisdiction. Second, you are well-advised to find a civil engineering firm skilled in the permitting and survey process for waterways incuding the prequirements (such as setbacks), sequence of requests, who to contact, etc. Except for the actual dock structure, process bears little resemblance to terrestrial-based permiting process. Third, in my experience and area, there appears to have been lax enforcement of codes and requirements so authorities are clamping-down to clean-up past abuses. In my neck of the woods (which means nothing), neither 'your dock' or the one below it would be allowed as there is not adequate side setback, but thats just an example.

And then there is the issue of pissing-off a neighbor if you find their dock was built in your right-of-way and demand they move it......All I can say is good luck and I hope your situation works out better (and more economically) than mine.

[Chotu]

Not even worrying about the neighbors, why don’t you just take off that boat lift on your dock and put your boat where that was. Seems like a fun place to put a sailboat.

[GreenWave]

Just talk to your neighbor and work something out, though I agree with Chotu- I would reconfigure the dock

[Calif.Ted]

Have you looked for survey markers where you think the corners are ?

[Bullshooter]

OP your post seems confusing. If you are buying the middle house, it looks like your dock has 2 big boat lifts on it, one on either side. The dock on the bottom of the photo may have a lift, but it is mostly obscured by a label that says "bright" on it. Can you just use the lift on the "bottom" side of your dock?

My advice is to try to avoid building anything new, which may or may not involve permit-related red tape. Get your boundaries clearly established, and try to work out something equitable for you and your neighbor. If he is unreasonable, stand by your property rights, once you are certain what they are.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by Bullshooter

OP your post seems confusing. If you are buying the middle house, it looks like your dock has 2 big boat lifts on it, one on either side. The dock on the bottom of the photo may have a lift, but it is mostly obscured by a label that says "bright" on it. Can you just use the lift on the "bottom" side of your dock?

My advice is to try to avoid building anything new, which may or may not involve permit-related red tape. Get your boundaries clearly established, and try to work out something equitable for you and your neighbor. If he is unreasonable, stand by your property rights, once you are certain what they are.

I think the OP is looking to buy the gray rooftop house.

[carlosproa]

It looks to me his pilón are at the property line, based on a projection of the fence between the two houses.
The least destructive option would be to do a med style anchoring or mooring. Get a mooring anchor and so you can back up your transom towards the dock and no need to deal with anyone.

The next easier one is to take your pilons out or move them much closer to shore.

[letsgetsailing3]

Depends on where you are.

Some localities have restrictions on building all the way up to the property line. Sometimes there's an offset (even in the water), which your neighbor clearly isn't allowing.

I would investigate this, and know all the rules and norms before buying the house or even talking to neighbors. You hate for your first interaction with your new neighbor to be combative.

[S/V Illusion]

“Some guy on an obscure Internet forum told me I should ……….

So I did it.”

Doesn’t sound like a good defense to liability.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by carlosproa

It looks to me his pilón are at the property line, based on a projection of the fence between the two houses.
The least destructive option would be to do a med style anchoring or mooring. Get a mooring anchor and so you can back up your transom towards the dock and no need to deal with anyone.

The next easier one is to take your pilons out or move them much closer to shore.

Yes, this is exactly what I have to do with almost exactly the same situation. I put a mooring ball about 10' in front of the bow which I catch on my way in and tie the stern to the dock. It's a minor pain if you have a cross-wind, but nothing that's been a big deal over the past 5 years I've been doing it.

Also agree with the baseline comment, most places extend your property line out so if you've got a converging property at the waterline you end up pretty constrained. Many jurisdictions also have set asides that require you be so many feet from the baseline on each side, so this property may already be operating on a variance or grandfathered, meaning it would be very hard to make any changes to the dock configuration that aren't in-kind.

[PippaB]

The house is in Glen Burnie, MD, USA. Address of it is trivial to find from Google.


From the county's map viewer it looks like the OP doesn't even have a dock Certainly time to get the real estate people involved before the deal goes through, and have them provide the real documentation.