Selling a House With a Neighbor Dispute in South Carolina
A dispute with an adjoining owner is a property matter, and it can be dealt with like any other property matter: document it, disclose what you know, and price it.
One thing to be clear about from the start. This guide is about documented, property-level issues between specific adjoining owners, such as a boundary, an encroachment, a tree, an easement, or a recorded claim. It is not about characterizing a neighborhood, its residents, or who a house would suit. Statements of that kind are a fair housing problem as well as a marketing one, and they have no place in a listing, a disclosure, or a conversation with a buyer.
Homebuyers SC buys properties across Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties, including ones with unresolved boundary and access issues.
What kinds of issues actually affect a sale?
| Issue | Why a buyer cares |
|---|---|
| Boundary disagreement | Where the line is determines what they are buying |
| Encroachment | A fence, shed, driveway, or roof overhang crossing a line, in either direction |
| Easement or shared access | A recorded right across the property, or no recorded access to it |
| Shared driveway or well | Ongoing obligations that come with the house |
| Trees and overhanging limbs | Responsibility and cost, and occasionally an active dispute |
| Drainage | Water moved onto or off a property by grading or construction |
| A recorded claim | A lis pendens or lien from litigation. This is the one that stops closings |
| HOA enforcement | Between an owner and the association rather than a neighbor, but it behaves similarly |
The top of that list is priced. The recorded-claim row is the one that can stop a sale outright, because it appears in the title search. See selling a house with ongoing legal disputes.
What should I find out before selling?
All public, all worth doing before a buyer’s attorney does it for you.
- A current survey. The single most useful document in any boundary question. If the last one is decades old, a new one usually pays for itself.
- The recorded plat and deed, from the county Register of Deeds, including the legal description and any recorded easements.
- Whether anything is recorded against the property: a lis pendens, a lien, a judgment.
- Any written agreement with the adjoining owner, recorded or not.
- Your own correspondence, so you know what you have said in writing.
A survey that shows the fence is three feet inside the line converts an argument into a fact, and facts are cheaper to sell through than arguments.
Do I have to disclose it?
Disclose what you know about the property. Do not characterize people.
SC Code 27-50-40 requires a residential property condition disclosure statement from an owner, and the statute lets an owner indicate actual knowledge of a condition or make no representation. SC Code 27-50-30 exempts certain transfers, including a transfer by a fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate and transfers by foreclosure sale.
The practical line:
- Disclose an encroachment, a shared driveway, an easement, a drainage issue, a recorded claim, or a written agreement affecting the property. These attach to the land and the buyer inherits them.
- Do not write characterizations of the neighbor, their household, or the area. It does not help you, and it creates exposure of a different kind.
Whether a specific matter must be disclosed depends on the facts and on your transaction. Ask your closing attorney before completing the disclosure form.
Should I resolve it before selling?
Depends on which kind it is.
| Type | Worth resolving first? |
|---|---|
| Boundary uncertainty | Often yes. A survey is cheap relative to what the uncertainty costs at sale |
| Encroachment both sides accept | Sometimes a recorded written agreement is enough, and it is far cheaper than litigation |
| Unrecorded handshake arrangement | Worth putting in writing, since an informal understanding does not bind a buyer or a neighbor’s successor |
| Active litigation | Rarely resolvable on a sale timeline. Price it instead |
| A dispute that is mostly friction | Not resolvable at all. Disclose the property facts and move on |
Litigating a boundary to improve a sale price almost never pays. Surveying one frequently does.
How does an as-is sale work here?
The buyer prices what they can see and what you document. An investor buyer is generally more tolerant of an unresolved boundary or an encroachment than an owner-occupant, because they are assessing the asset rather than imagining living beside it.
What lowers the price is a buyer discovering something after the contract. What raises it is a survey, a recorded agreement, and a straight account of what is unresolved.
In South Carolina the closing must be supervised by a licensed attorney, from State v. Buyers Service Co., 292 S.C. 426, 357 S.E.2d 15 (1987), and the title search will surface anything recorded. Ask any buyer which closing attorney they use. See how to choose a cash home buyer in Charleston.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to tell a buyer I do not get along with the neighbor?
Disclose the property facts: the encroachment, the easement, the drainage, anything recorded. Personal friction is not a property condition, and characterizing people is where sellers get themselves into trouble.
What if the neighbor is the reason I am selling?
That is your reason and you do not owe anyone an explanation for selling. The property facts still get disclosed.
What if they have encroached for years?
Long possession can matter, since adverse possession in South Carolina runs on a ten-year period under SC Code 15-67-210, and a claim requires more than time alone. If a structure has been over the line a long time, get an attorney’s view before you sell.
Will a buyer walk away over this?
An owner-occupant might. An investor prices it. That difference in buyer pool is usually the real effect.
Should I get a survey even if I am selling as-is?
If there is any boundary question, yes. It is the cheapest way to reduce the discount for uncertainty.
How fast can a cash sale close?
Usually one to three weeks once the closing attorney confirms clear title. A recorded claim is what changes that. See how fast can I sell my house in South Carolina.
Need to sell this house?
We buy houses across Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties for cash, exactly as they sit. No repairs, no cleaning, no commissions, and you choose the closing date.
Caleb Pearson is the founder of Homebuyers SC and a licensed South Carolina real estate agent (License #83101) with 15+ years of real estate investing experience. He has personally been involved in over 500 purchases across South Carolina.