Queens Tribune

For the last 12 years, Lilly Levinson has stared at a rickety green fence meandering onto her driveway.

Lilly and her husband Martin have lived at 65-15 110 St. in Forest Hills for more than 30 years, and they have fought with two different homeowners at 110-05 65 Rd. to get the fence removed from their property.

“One day we were away on vacation, and when we came home, it was here,” Lilly said. “If I would’ve been home, it would have been a different story.”

Lilly estimates that the fence is encroaching on their property about 14 inches. The fence extends from the front of the house into the backyard, where it snakes onto the Levinson property. Because it runs against the side of the Levinson’s garage, Lilly said it created a problem when they painted the garage and couldn’t squeeze between the fence and wall.

Roman Davidov, who has owned the house next door since 1996, said the fence has been in the yard “for 20-something years,” and only encroaches on her property six inches.

“She is opening a can of worms, and there are no worms,” he said.

Lilly filed two complaints with the Department of Buildings—one in 1996 and one in 2004—, but the Department said it’s not responsible for settling property line disputes.

“That’s a private matter between two parties,” said Ilyse Fink of the Department of Buildings. “We would not get involved. This is a civil dispute.”

The Levinsons brought their case to a Queens civil court with the house’s first owner, and the judge recommended the fence be removed. The owner never took it down.

Because it is not a city agency matter, the Levinsons would need a court order to have the fence taken down. First, they would need their property deed for a surveyor to establish property lines. Then they must document that the fence is in fact on their property.

Bill Gati, president of the Queens chapter of the American Institute of Architects, said it costs about $700 to have the property surveyed.

“They come out and put a little yellow stake at end of the (property) line and tie cord between them,” Gati said. A fence must be inside a property line—not on it.

But a survey of the land is not objective, and Gati said two surveys may show different borders.

If the survey shows the property line is encroached, documentation can be brought to a civil court where a judge can order that the fence is removed, and the neighbor would have to comply.

Lilly remembers a time when only shrubs and flowers separated the two properties. Today a towering wall is between them.

“I just really feel it doesn’t belong there,” she said.