Q: My husband and I bought our home and surrounding property from his grandfather back in 1997. There are 3 separate lots…the lot the house sits on, 1/2 of the lot that sits next to the house and a triangle lot in the back…

Recently the home behind us was sold and the new owners are under the impression that the land in back is theirs when in fact it is ours. I made copies of the deeds along with the photos of the lots from our county and they still insist that this land is theirs…What steps do we need to take to ensure that our property is secure? I have a call into the county… I talked to someone and they said that as long as we have the deeds, there isn’t a problem. I am slightly nervous about friction with neighbors… We are planning on fencing our entire property out back but had not planned to do so for at least another 9 months to a year.

A: You can fence the lot and that will certainly clear things up. But in the meantime, consider staking your property. You can hire a surveyor who can stake the property which will make it quite official.

Should your neighbors attempt to fence in the property, or develop it, or put a swingset on it, you may have to hire an attorney to explore your legal options. In the meantime, you should get to know your neighbors. It’s possible they were told that their property included your land and may have an action against the real estate agent or seller.