Can My Neighbor Use His Easement to Graze His Cattle?
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Summary
My wife and I recently bought a house on 80 acres that has an easement. The easement owner wants to use it to cross cattle; can we keep him from doing so? |
“My wife and I recently bought a house on 80 acres that has an easement. The owner of the land has 160 acres on the west of us and 160 acres on the south. He recently told us that he was going to fence in the 160 acres and put in cattle guards and let the cattle be on the road and cross over to his other property on the south. The location of our house is 200 feet from where on cattle guard will be. Is there anyway to keep him from putting these in and keeping the cattle off the road?”
Read the easement.
If it says he can use it for cattle, then he can. If not, then he can’t (unless he has been doing so long enough to extend the scope of his easement by prescription). There might be some local law which supercedes this basic rule, but why do his research for him? If the easement doesn’t say anything about cattle, politely ask why he has the right to extend his use in that way, and the ball’s in his court to provide an answer.
Recommended reading (click on the picture)
My Neighbor Asked me to Grant her an Unrecorded Easement, How Should I Handle this?
Can a Neighbor Pave a Driveway that Falls on My Property and an Easement Without Asking?
My Neighbor’s Driveway Falls not Only on our Easement but on Part of my Property, Can I Insist that the Easement be Moved?
For more on this subject check out these categories: Property, Animal Law, Easements
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State laws vary, and the above is intended as general advice, and not direct legal advice regarding any one particular situation in any one state. For direct personal legal advice related to your own situation you should consult an attorney familiar with the laws of your state and with your situation.
