How do I avoid encroachers on my land?

Many people cannot forget the day they bought land. The thought of finally owning property and planning for possible projects.

Yet, at times, when the land is left unattended for a long time, neighbouring residents may encroach on it as farmers or squatters that may become a problem in the long run.

Florence Nambooze Bbale, a property manager, says that sometimes people encroach on people’s land because it is dormant. However, she says this is usually profound in situations where the land has no visible boundaries.

Nambooze says that planting trees on your boundary can help you to stop encroachers because they can act as a fence to stop people that want to trespass.

Building visible boundary marks

 Nambooze says that it’s advisable to use a visible boundary so that encroachers can identify that the place already belongs to someone.

“Visible boundary stone marks not only stop intruders but also stop property agents and managers from selling the land twice,” she says.

Nambooze adds that people used to buy short boundary stones and when they were not around, they would be relocated, something they would not easily notice. However, with visible boundary marks, it may be hard for people to tamper with them.

Renting out your land

For many that may not be ready to put up projects, renting the land out to those in need of space can help you keep it busy.

Nambooze says that if you’re not in position to use your land immediately, it’s better to rent it out so that people can use it for the meantime as you prepare yourself.

“You can talk to property agents that you want to put your land into use so that they can look for you some interesting clients instead of being dormant,” she says.

She adds that there are several ways such as farming or temporary bird rearing that people can utilise land, depending on the time one has before starting construction.

“You can avoid encroachers on your land while earning some money from tenants. It is also easy to start constructing on the land which has been active,” she says.

Making bricks from your land

Instead of leaving land dormant one can start brick laying for selling or for your construction.

But this needs to be a well thought out move. According to Nambooze, you can only embark on the venture when you are sure of building soon or the presence of people constructing houses who would need bricks around the neighbourhood.

“It makes a lot of sense to make bricks when you are sure someone will buy them because if bricks accumulate on the site, they may become a habitat for serpents,” she says.

 Nambooze adds that making bricks yourself, you can even produce more than you want and it helps you to do whatever you need while building.

Fencing

Nambooze says that if you have money you can fence your land to avoid encroachers. Fencing can also stop property agents from selling your land twice.

“Fencing also helps neighbours to identify your boundaries because when your land is dormant people can use that chance to chop some metres from your land,” she says.

Nambooze says that it’s advisable to demarcate your boundaries as early as possible so that no one can trespass on your property.

It is also advisable to have a caretaker in this case, though, an agreement should be written since the caretaker may end up becoming what you wanted to avoid.

Bricks Instead of leaving land dormant one can start brick laying for selling or for your construction. But this needs to be a well thought out move.