Where to fence?

Then the land is still not your neighbor's land legally. In many jurisdictions filing an affidavit is sufficient to convey property by adverse possession, but a Quiet Title action is necessary in others. However, most title companies won't touch adverse possession property that wasn't conveyed by a Quiet Title action, regardless of what the law might require.

As I understand the story, you no longer have direct interest in the disputed property since you sold it. You do still have a dog in this fight though, since your neighbor's fence placement has cost you $12,000.

As it stands now the buyer is the record owner of the disputed property, by deed, since you probably used the same property description on the buyer's deed that you always used in the past. The neighbor's claim is apparently only a verbal claim at this point, which does not establish legal ownership. But the timetable is still important, since the neighbor may still have a legitimate adverse possession case if it has been over 20 years.

If it's been less than 20 years and the new owner were to send a letter to the neighbor giving him permission to use the land, then the neighbor could not claim adverse possession, since the possession of the land would no longer be adverse. Send the letter certified with return receipt requested.

__________________
Ask Me About Linux System Administration

Ok I think I see the problem. You moved to Il without learning the custuoms and laws.
In a IL land sale its custumary to include the words "more or less" or "+-"
THE ENTIRE STATE HAS BEEN SURVEYED!
I think I would have offered it to the second place bidder and then sued the first for the cost of your loss.
You apparently had a valuable asset I would have thought it would have been worthwhile to learn about your rights and responceabilities in regard to it. I suspect the advice givin by many in this thread wont help you but maybe it will help someone else later who reads this thread.

If I understand the post, you're suggesting that he should have sued the high bidder for the lost revenue from the acreage loss? What's the theory behind that?

I don't know who is in the right legally, since every time I ask approximately when the fence was placed the original poster side-steps the issue, but the culprit here seems to be the neighbor, not the person who purchased his land.

__________________
Ask Me About Linux System Administration

Nope not for the acreage lost , for the income lost in the sale.
In IL its customary in the sale bill to say something like 160 acres more or less.
its the buyers responceability to go lok at what is being ACTUALLY offered and bid on THAT.
So if in that 160 acres 2 are lost to a road ,1 to conforming the survey to the curvature of the earth ,3 to a creek and 1 to a neighbors fence line thats just the way it is.
You may only be getting 153 acres but what you are actually bidding on is a single property at 160 times the money NOT 153.
If a survey comes back later with only 153 acres your not entitled to a refund because what you where saying Is For this property I will give 160 times the amount bid NOT that I will give the bid amount for each acre.
So in the sale of said 160 acres if the last two bids were $1900 and $2000 respectively then the winning bidder was offering $320,000 for the farm and the second place bidder was offering 304,000 for the farm. If the first place bidder welches on the deal you are entitled to sell the property and recover the difference between his bid and what you get at the new sale from the original High bidder.
In this case $16,000.

But my point is that he may not have lost the 6 acres. If it's been less than 20 years then the neighbor has no legal argument to even pretend that the land is his.

But you are correct that the first bidder seems to be welshing on the bid, since he's only willing to buy the land from fence-to-fence, not the land described in the legal description. I'm guessing that the legal description was used to describe the property at the auction. But still, the neighbor needs to be dealt with.

__________________
Ask Me About Linux System Administration

Nevada Your right,
but the point is that the custom here says you byuy the place and the acres are only an approximation