Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Property Line Encroachment

My wife and I bought our current house in May of 1994. Even though a survey was done by the bank we never paid much attention to where the boundary lines and corners of the property were located. In June 2003, we decided to have the original surveyors perform an instrument survey (at our expense) of our property. We requested all four corners to be staked and boundary lines identified. Both boundary lines that separate our nieghbors to the left (A) and right (B) of us are where they should be. However, neighbor B has three of their trees planted on our property in addition to about a three foot section of their driveway apron. Neighbor B has lived there for approximately 20 yrs. The three trees are at least 15 yrs old and a minimum of 5' inside our property line. We like our neighbors and certainly don't want to cause any ill feelings between us. They are planning to move within three years and we may encounter problems if we don't get these issues resolved now.

1). Do I legally own these trees?

2). We were considering installing a fence on Neighbor B's side of our property but now I'm hesitant in doing so. How can I make sure that my property remains my property?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

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