Healthy relationships with one’s neighbors contributes much to one’s happiness and the use of the property.

When relationships among neighbors turn sour, home life can become miserable, the use and enjoyment of the property may be diminished. When the sale of a home may become desirable, neighbor issues may make the sales process more complicated. Leo Tolstoy wrote, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This same insight often applies to neighbors. Good neighbor relationships can contribute a great deal while not really getting a lot of credit or appreciation. While we often think of property rights as about being “left alone,” the English common law of property has ancient doctrines that are still used today to settle matters between adjoining owners where an easement, covenant or boundary require the parties to have an ongoing working relationship.  When neighbor disputes arise, the assistance of counsel can be particularly useful because of the strong emotions that often run high in these cases.

While many neighbor disputes nowadays play themselves out in the manager offices and zoom hearings of the HOA or condominium, many of the types of problems existed long before community associations became prevalent. Neighbor disputes are particularly challenging in condominium buildings, where the nature of the condominium form of ownership puts people together as common owners in close quarters with others whom they would unlikely want or need to interact with otherwise. When a dispute with a neighbor arises, landowners frequently struggle to identify to what authority they should turn to, be it law enforcement, community association, county code enforcement, or the courts. Cowherd PLC helps owners to evaluate their cases using other professionals such as surveyors as necessary, so that all litigation and non-litigation alternatives can be carefully considered.

Our Neighbor Law experience includes:
  • Zoning & Land Use Applications and Enforcement Defense
  • Party Walls and Other Unique Issues Relating to Rowhouses or Townhouses
  • Easements
  • Nuisances and Trespassing
  • Boundary Line Controversies
  • Disputed Fences, Gates and Walls
  • Impairments to Shared Structural Support
  • Firearm Shooting Ranges Adjacent to Residential Property
  • Disputed Flow of Water
  • Interference by Neighbor with Construction Project
  • Damage or Interference with Property by Neighbor’s Construction Project
  • Disputes over Flooding
  • Water Intrusion & Wastewater Nuisances
  • Stormwater Management between Neighboring Parcels of Land
  • Faulty Stormwater Diversion or Mitigation Improvements
  • Community Association Disputes
  • Noise Complaints
  • Pets and Animal Nuisances
  • Lakes, Ponds, Waterfront, and Water Access Issues
COWHERD PLC

Service Area

Fairfax County, Fairfax City, Falls Church, Arlington County, Alexandria, Prince William County, Manassas, Loudoun County, Montgomery County, Frederick County, Howard County, Prince George’s County, and Washington, D.C.

  • Virginia, Maryland & Washington D.C.
LOCAL REAL ESTATE LAW ASSISTANCE

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703.884.2894

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