“My husband and I own a piece of property that has an easement across it for 4 lots.  Two of those lots had houses already built on them when we purchased the property and we have purchased the other two for ourselves but do plan to eventually sell them. The easement is in use for the two homes already built. One of the home owners would like to pave the easement using their own funds. We have no problem with that but my husband wants to move the easement, which is currently a gravel road, 3 feet over, closer to the property line. This would allow us to reclaim use of those 3 feet since they are virtually useless to us as is with a road crossing through them. This does not materially change the access and would be virtually unnoticeable to the those that are using it. However, there are some small trees and bushes that would need to be removed in a couple of places before the new road could be paved or used. At no time would the easement be restricted or inaccessible. When the home owner came to us to tell us they would be paving the road on Wednesday he seemed surprised to find that we owned the property and that the he only had an easement. He also seemed a little upset to find out that my husband wanted to move the easement, though I think that was more or less because it would delay his plans to pave. We’re hoping that this won’t erupt into any kind of dispute but just in case it does I thought I should check and find out if we even had a legal right to change the location of the easement. Can we change the location of the easement under the circumstances described?”

No.

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