Alley Issues

Congratulations! You have just received a notice that your Borough has passed an Ordinance vacating an alley thereby making you the proud owner of a portion of an alley that runs adjacent to your property. Now what?

Usually, when the Borough vacates an alley, they give the portion of the alley that is adjacent to a property owners land to the center point of the alley to that property owner. In a sense, they are splitting the alley down the middle and giving each half of the alley to the property owner on that side of the alley. It is then the property owner’s responsibility to get that portion of the alley added to his/her deed.

A common issue arising is when one property owner has no interest in the portion of the alley vacated in their favor and agrees to let the other property owner take the whole alley. Again the additional land must be added to the property owner’s deed.

For more information regarding alley issues, please contact: