New home construction going on behind my house. The lot requires a minimum rear setback of 20'. Affter they poured foundation/put in window frames(daylight basement here in Utah) noticed appeared closer to my back property line than the other new recently built home behind the other half of my back property line. Grabbed laser measurer and sure enough it was 18ft from my property line to window frame of new home.

I called the city and they are going to measure setbacks and get back to me(confirmed no variances approved), but what, if any recourse do I have and what can city do on their end?

City will notify builder/homeowner who will apply for a variance.

Aren't plans submitted to the city for permitting? So either the plans are wrong, survey is wrong, or the builder is not following the plans.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Aren't plans submitted to the city for permitting? So either the plans are wrong, survey is wrong, or the builder is not following the plans.

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Depends on the city, I guess.

What if that specific lot doesn't have the same setback everybody else does? I've seen typos like that in subdivision docs. Mistakes happen and people are just people in the end.

My guess would be that the plans don't follow the restrictions, nobody at the permitting office caught it, the builder built it to the plans, and they'll get a variance for it.

I had something similar to this happen with the depth of our culvert at one of our multi unit developments. The inspector didn't like the depth of our culvert which was done exactly like they made us do it in the plan set, so they made us rip it out and redo it at depth they later preferred.

Or someone put the forms in the wrong spot. Happens more often than you'd think.

HTownAg98 said:

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Or someone put the forms in the wrong spot. Happens more often than you'd think.

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and no form survey was done.

I requested and received the submitted site plans from city to confirm stated setback. Its does state 20' and even has the back wall showing to be 21' from my property line. Being 10% off is a pretty big snafu in my opinion.

When I asked the rep eith the city if there were any variances filed in this particular case, he said there would be no reason to have granted one.

Does that usually require public notice?

If it bothers you, you should fight it.

jsc8116 said:

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Does that usually require public notice?

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Yes, usually. Ask the city once they confirm they are in violation. They'll have a hearing with city council as to whether or not to grant the variance request. Do you plan to object?

Its correct, developer did surveying few years ago before building to confirm property lines.

Yes, the lots these homes are on arealready at an elevated position that blocks what I had for mountain views. Me being downslope would also worry about run off with new construction being a couple feet closer than what it should be along with even less privacy

I would warn the foreman so they might consider stopping construction.

Make sure to measure the distance between your house and the fence. If it's 22', you may be about to make a killing on the sale of 2' of your property...

Red Pear Realty said:

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Better to ask forgiveness than permission.

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I guess our hood doesn't allow 3 car garages....the house going in at the corner of our streets has one.....I know my wife's group text has been quite excited (not in a good way) about it....

agnerd said:

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Make sure to measure the distance between your house and the fence. If it's 22', you may be about to make a killing on the sale of 2' of your property...

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Based on his observation that the adjacent house is set back 2' more than the new build, I'm guessing they're in the wrong spot.

Are there surveying flags still up?

Random story about building houses in the wrong spot.

My first job out of college was as a residential project manager. After a few months on the job, they sent me to a new neighborhood and handed me a stack of houses to manage. I was taking them over from a much more experienced PM. One of them was pouring the foundation my first day there. There was no file on the house so I started trying to piece together documentation. I asked for the form survey showing the forms in the right spot on lot. They hadn't done one, but the concrete was already flowing.

I had a survey done the next day and the front of the foundation was EIGHT FEET over the build line. Had to tear the entire foundation out, recompact the pad and start over. Wasted $50k or so, but saved a whole bunch of money by not letting construction go any further.

No more surveying flags, but one metal rod that has a orange cap that says "survey" that is at my property line and between the 2 new lots behind my house.

I know a city rep was out there on Tuesday measuring and I didn't hear anything after that. I then called and left a voicemail yesterday with city rep, never heard back, but an hour later the construction company owner and an one of his employees were out there measuring as well. So makes me think they are off

How much you pay the new guy?