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setback definition - legal

n

The minimum distance from the property line to where a structure may be built, as regulated by zoning statutes or restrictions in the deeds in various locales. Meant to keep houses from being built so close to each other that they cut off the light to and ventilation from a neighborÂ’s home. Setback also applies to how close a structure may be built to a road.

Webster's New World Law Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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