Bumping this instead of starting a whole new thread.
Bought an empty lot that's never been built on in inner San Antonio roughly 7 years ago, while we lived in Dallas with the intent of building once we moved back. When we received the survey it said the neighbors on the left side fenceline encroaches 2'6" onto our property. No problem, fences can be moved, or so we thought. Cut to me going out with some stakes this past weekend to measure where the house footprint will be and came to discover it wasn't just a fence that encroaches on the property, but at some point the homeowners had poured a massive concrete slab in which to put the fence on that makes up their side and rear patio. The slab encroaches anywhere from 5' at the front to 2'6" down the left side of the lot. The plans we have call for 5' setbacks from the fence which we no longer have and would have to lose square footage to build at it's current lot size.
What recourse do I have here? The neighbor's family has been living there since the house was constructed in the 40's, but the concrete patio isn't original to the house. It has been there a very long time I assume. They would have to saw out a ton of concrete to make the property line correct.
The house will likely still be in this family for the foreseeable future so I'm wondering what the best route is to approach so that we get back what we should have while not starting a feud with people with which we are about to be neighbors.
TIA