kermit's ongoing infill issues

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Swarly

They will almost certainly require access to his yard to finish the exterior of the house. I suggest when they show up with a ladder and ask for access to your backyard you tell them with a straight calm face "step one foot on my property and I will call the police"

I decided to do an experiment and checked the distance between my house and the fence, and its about 130cm or 50". I think even with the 37.5" at the OP measured, it would probably be possible to get the stuff in there to do the finishing work on the lower level of the house. The cantilevered portion and the upper floors though, -I don't know, a ladder would be practically hugging the house.

[Nancy]

Would it be worth spending $8 to get the DP and BP status documents from the following City of Calgary site? Wondering if anyone has used this before (I haven't.)


https://cityonline.calgary.ca/Pages/...rtyInformation

[Reneeee]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Based on this picture it really doesn't look too bad. Pretty much looks like a typical infill from any neighborhood. Your earlier pictures looked like they were building right up to your fence but that must have been a perspective thing. It sucks but I bet they are right up to mininum distance from the property line.

Looking at the infill vs your place it looks identical to the property line. Your back jut out is just about at the fence also. I don't understand why houses get built without access to the full side of the house. Honest question, if a fire breaks out, does the fire fighter climb atop the fence to gain access?

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[Ace]

I’d be calling my councillor, they can be helpful in situations like this. As for the “orange” pins, are you sure those are property line pins? It’s unusual for then to not be buried to where you’d have to excavate somewhat to get to them.

The pins could just be offset points for the foundation. They’ll often put reference points that won’t get disturbed during excavation (i.e. offset 1.5 meters to corner)

[GP_Matt]

The orange mark is most likely not a property pin. Very few subdivisions have deflections on the side yard. Especially the old lots.

Depending on the age of your subdivision, the property corners are either at all four corners of the lot or, more likely, the pins will be at the corners of your block and you have to measure down to put in your corners.

However, the fact that your side yard is 1.4 m to the fence and his is 0.95 m, my guess is that the fence is in the wrong spot. It makes sense that both builders wanted to maximize their footprint and put the house 1.2 m from the side yard.

[Fuzz]

The orange marks would have been placed by a survey company. No, they aren't official survey points as they don't mark every properties corner, but they should be reliable markers. The easiest way to figure out where the property line is was mentioned. Look at your RPR, it should have a distance from your house to the property line, measured from the foundation. Ideally that distance would match the distance to those orange marks. If it doesn't it means either your report is incorrect, or the survey they had done is wrong.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The orange marks would have been placed by a survey company. No, they aren't official survey points as they don't mark every properties corner, but they should be reliable markers. The easiest way to figure out where the property line is was mentioned. Look at your RPR, it should have a distance from your house to the property line, measured from the foundation. Ideally that distance would match the distance to those orange marks. If it doesn't it means either your report is incorrect, or the survey they had done is wrong.

I don't do a lot of house stakeouts but we rarely stake the property line for new builds. We stake offset lines to the house instead. If the lot isn't square the property boundary does not help the excavator or cribber.

[kermitology]

I don't have an RPR as I built my house, so the closest thing I have is my DP which specifies things per the original house that was on the lot prior to my build, and the intended build, but I don't know how exact they ended up.

My DP marks the fence as the property line.

[llwhiteoutll]

I’d say it would be money well spent to have a survey done of your property to find out exactly where the property lines are and how everything sits in relation to them.

Then pull the permit documents for the next door house and see where they encroach.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I don't have an RPR as I built my house, so the closest thing I have is my DP which specifies things per the original house that was on the lot prior to my build, and the intended build, but I don't know how exact they ended up.

My DP marks the fence as the property line.

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

I’d say it would be money well spent to have a survey done of your property to find out exactly where the property lines are and how everything sits in relation to them.

Then pull the permit documents for the next door house and see where they encroach.

Real Property Report isn't too expensive and can be done pretty quickly.

I am sure one of the realtors on here could hook you up with a contact.

[Fuzz]

An RPR is going to be at least $500.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

An RPR is going to be at least $500.

Which he’ll need at some point regardless. And he does need it now to do accurate measurements to the next door house, saying that his DP shows the fence as the property line doesn’t mean much without a survey.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

An RPR is going to be at least $500.

I reckon his house is worth much more that that.......it is money well spent IMO.

[bizaro86]

You need a RPR to sell at some point anyway, and this is a big deal. I would pay the money and get one done now.

[kermitology]

So, I think there’s started to be a misconception. They are NOT encroaching on my property. I believe they are building without a sufficient side yard setback.

[4X4]

Is it a single family or is it a duplex? How close to the other side yard is it?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Is it a single family or is it a duplex? How close to the other side yard is it?

Duplex, and it marginally close on the other side. Other side is a renovated single.

Still waiting to hear back from inspectors.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by kermitology

So, I think there’s started to be a misconception. They are NOT encroaching on my property. I believe they are building without a sufficient side yard setback.

You should still be spending $500 of your money to satisfy us.

[Travis Munroe]

I have not used them personally but hear nothing but great things about ARC Surveys. It will cost you over $500 but it is a must-have when you go to sell and doesn't expire. If you make any changes to your fence, deck, ac, etc then you will need to have it updated but updates are significantly less than the original RPR itself.

I personally do not understand complaints about infills. If you do not want to run the risk of an infill beside your bungalow then purchase in an area where zoning does not allow for infills. It is sort of like those who complained about noise from the airport after buying a home right beside the airport.

As for quality, the OP has outlined why a thorough inspection on an infill could be more important than inspecting an old home. It is too easy for your average Joe to pop up overnight and start his infill business.

I just had a buyer buy an infill style property and told him that I was going to focus on quality points as we go through each place. There were 5-6 key things I would look for to grade the quality of each build. In the end, he bought the best quality property and it was confirmed by a thorough inspection! A home which was built 50 years ago has proven itself for 50 years while a brand new home has proven nothing. If the brand new home is through a reputable builder, chances are it was done right and if not, having it done right shouldn't be much of an issue. If it was a pop up overnight builder, prepare for a lot of unknowns!!

[rotten42]

I'm surprised the site isn't shut down by the city. maybe things have changed. Back in 92 my brother and I built a house i Citadel. The grade of the house was surveyed wrong which would have resulted in all the water run-off to flow right to our walk-out basement. The developer was given a choice to tear down the house and start over or let us build a retaining wall and back charge them.

They took option two.