A survey shows a neighbor's fence extending across the boundary onto the seller's land. Which issue is indicated?

A possible boundary setback requirement

A possible restrictive covenant

A possible easement reserved in the deed

Exam vocabulary · physical encumbrance on real property

What Is Encroachment in Real Estate?

Definition

An encroachment is a structure or improvement that physically intrudes onto a neighbour’s land, such as a fence, driveway or roof overhang crossing the boundary. It is an unauthorized encumbrance discovered by survey, and left unchallenged it can ripen into a prescriptive easement or adverse possession.

How the exam tests encroachment

These mirror the phrasing you will see on test day. Answer them, then read the explanation whether or not you got it right.

Encroachment: exam questions1/2

Property ownership

A garage built two feet across the boundary onto the adjoining lot is:

score 0/0

Every encroachment question, answered

Every question above with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read the explanations for the ones you answered correctly too. A lucky guess and knowing the rule look identical on a score report. These are sample questions from our larger bank.

1. A garage built two feet across the boundary onto the adjoining lot is:
- AAn easement by necessity
- BA fixture
- CAn emblement
- DAn encroachmentcorrect
Why: Unauthorized physical intrusion of a structure onto neighboring land is an encroachment, which clouds title and is usually revealed by a survey. It is not an easement, because no right of use was ever granted.
Property ownership
2. A survey shows a neighbor's fence extending across the boundary onto the seller's land. Which issue is indicated?
- AA possible boundary setback requirement
- BA possible encroachmentcorrect
- CA possible restrictive covenant
- DA possible easement reserved in the deed
Why: An encroachment is a physical intrusion across a property boundary. Its legal consequences require evaluation rather than automatic assumptions about ownership.
Property ownership

Where encroachment sits in the exam vocabulary

Encroachment is a physical encumbrance on real property, and so are easement appurtenant, lien and deed restriction. That matters more than it sounds: a multiple-choice item builds its wrong answers out of siblings like these, because they are the options that look plausible to someone who has learned the category but not the distinction. If encroachment appears as the correct answer, expect to see easement appurtenant and lien on the same screen.

Encroachment does not stand on its own: it assumes you already know legal description. Questions that look like they are testing encroachment are often really testing whether that idea is solid underneath it.

The exam most often tries to catch you by putting encroachment next to easement appurtenant, prescriptive easement and adverse possession. Each of those is a real concept sitting close enough to be tempting, and the question usually turns on the single feature that separates them rather than on the definition of either one. Read the contrast, not the term.

Words that mean encroachment, but only sometimes

These are conditional synonyms. Each one is interchangeable with encroachment in the context stated beside it and misleading everywhere else, which is precisely the kind of distinction an exam item is built on.

trespass: equivalent to encroachment in litigation framing when the owner sues to remove it.

Related exam terms

Tested alongside

Often confused with

Know this first

Encroachment belongs to the physical encumbrance on real property family of exam concepts. When it is solid, take the free real estate exam prep or browse the full real estate exam vocabulary.