Definition of "Adjoining"

Gena Taylor real estate agent

Written by

Gena Taylorelite badge icon

Coldwell Banker FI Grey & Son Residential Inc.

Regarding the definition of the term adjoining, we see a term used most often to describe a particular position that objects, items, or properties have regarding each other. In the case of the term adjoining, that position is one of direct contact, attached, or contiguous. Strictly regarding the ordinary meaning of the word, adjoining describes closer proximity than adjacent as it requires a “joining” of objects, items, or properties. 

Adjoining in real estate

The term adjoining is also important in real estate lingo as it describes two buildings with a connecting boundary, a wall that they both share, a fence that connects the properties, and such. The term, however, is often used together with adjacent accompanied by a wide variety of environmental planning instruments as well as in development control plans. Something important to note is that when used together, they possibly refer to different concepts that determine the proximity of properties, buildings, and lots.

The term real estate adjoining can be used to describe abutting properties or adjoining properties as, in both instances, the two properties do not have any land or structure in between them. These properties can share a wall of the house, a fence in the backyard, or a line of trees that limits one property from the other. In any other way, the two properties are joined at one point or one line with nothing else separating them. Examples would be duplexes and townhouses. The concept is debated when issues of cadastral mapping come into question for buyers that are interested in lots that are devoid of any structures in order to have exact measurements of where one lot ends and the other begins.


Adjoining owners are the legal owners of adjoining properties that share a common structure at their border. Other terms that can be used instead of adjoining in real estate are abutting, neighboring, connected, or attached. Adjacent is close but not quite as directly connected as adjoining is and should not be used as a synonym.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Title to property being given under a court order because the original owner failed to pay the mortgage payments and/or real estate taxes. A judgment in a lawsuit may also have forced the ...

The definition of property acquisition cost in real estate is the total recorded cost of a piece of real estate after reductions in price, incentives, closing costs and any other ...

Contiguous shore area bordering a river that is subject to periodic water level increases. In the flood stage, the flood plain can be under water. ...

Indicators reflecting future changes in economic conditions; referred to as the Composite Index of 11 Leading Indicators. This index indicates the direction of the economy in the next six ...

In business, one may come across the cash accounting method, also known as cash-basis accounting, during the accounting period. The cash method of accounting is used where payments are ...

Federal act passed in 1974 regulating mobile homes. The act defines a mobile home as a "Structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is eight body feet or more in width and is ...

Rate of return of capital invested in building improvements. Is segregated from land investments and provides a method of separating property income streams between improvement and land ...

Building a structure in such a way as to reduce the process of destruction in the event of fire. Fire-resistant materials are used. ...

In real estate, asking price is referred to as the amount set by the seller, the amount he/she wants to receive for the purchase of their home by the buyer. The asking price isn’t ...

Popular Real Estate Questions