Buying a lakefront place comes with a certain mental picture: coffee on the patio, a clean sightline to open water, and your own easy path down to the shoreline. For one Orange County, Florida couple, that picture got complicated when they realized the neighbor’s dock and boathouse sat out in front of the lake they thought they were paying for.
The dispute ended up in court, and the result wasn’t what many homeowners expect when they hear “my neighbor’s structure is in front of my property.” In the court’s decision, Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeal sided with the dock owner—saying riparian rights don’t automatically let a lakefront owner “eject” a neighbor’s dock and boathouse just because it affects their view or sits off their shoreline.
The first time they really noticed, it wasn’t just an eyesore
The neighbors were Bradley and Sarah Geise and Peter and Kari Fleck, owners of adjoining lakefront homes on Lake Down. The Flecks had owned their property since 1999, and some version of their dock/boathouse had been reaching into the lake since 1983—long before the Geises arrived.
The Geises bought next door in 2017. After that purchase, they took the position that the Flecks’ rebuilt dock and boathouse interfered with two things lakefront buyers care about most: seeing the water and getting to it…