Driveway, bylaw and entrenchment

[avonord]

Hi All. A hypothetical scenario..

Let's say I bought a house. It has a driveway for the past 20 years and it was built without a permit. Also, the driveway violates a bylaw. A neighbour calls and complains about it. A week later, the city tells me to take the driveway down. Can I fight this? Am I entrenched in my right to the driveway?

Thanks

 

[James]

I have no experience with such a situation but I'd probably review the survey if you had one at time of purchase and also contact your real estate lawyer for advice. If anyone has first hand experience with something like this, I'd be interested to know what the best course of action would be too.

 

[rbt]

Hi All. A hypothetical scenario..

Let's say I bought a house. It has a driveway for the past 20 years and it was built without a permit. Also, the driveway violates a bylaw. A neighbour calls and complains about it. A week later, the city tells me to take the driveway down. Can I fight this? Am I entrenched in my right to the driveway?

It depends on the specific situation as to whether you can fight the removal. Generally not. Also, they usually make you put everything back before you do file for a permit; building first then requesting is a big no-no AFAIK, but 20 years is a long time.

That said, Title Insurance is for exactly this kind of thing (Municipal orders against a pre-existing defect). While you may not be able to keep the driveway, you would be able to file a claim for the removal/remediation cost and, I believe, loss in property value.

 

[avonord]

Thanks rbt. I didn't know that's the purpose of the title insurance.

My situation is actually the reverse of my hypothetical scenario. My neighbour has built a something without a permit. It is not affecting me right now, but I can foresee it being a problem in the distant future. We have negotiated certain compromise that is beneficial for me, but there is no guarantee that those promises are kept til end of time. I want to ensure that I am still holding a leverage in 15-20 years from now if things go sour.

For the record, I talked to the city staff. I was told that there is no time limit on filing a complaint against these kinds of things, whether 10 or 20 years from now.

 

[nfitz]

I suspect that there are many people, myself included, who have driveways that are 70 to 100 years old with no permits. Presumably there has to be a point where things were grandfathered!

 

[avonord]

I suspect that there are many people, myself included, who have driveways that are 70 to 100 years old with no permits. Presumably there has to be a point where things were grandfathered!

Presumably, yes, you may be correct. But if grandfathering requirement is any more than 30-40 years, I probably would've sold the place (or be dead) by then and I probably won't care.

 

[howl]

If the driveway was there the day the bylaw come into effect it would be legal. If the driveway was built (without a permit) the day after the bylaw can into effect it would be illegal. The biggest problem is after ten or or fifteen years no one remembers when the driveway was built. Unless you have some sort of archived evidence you've been sitting on for decades it is very difficult to prove the driveway hasn't always been there.

However ten or fifteen years from now Google Earth's historic images may be useful in cases like this.