Articles on Property
My Association Discontinued Snow Removal on a Utility Easement, What Should we do?
At some point in time a previous lot owner cleared a path along this easement and now it is used by the neighborhood as a road. Our association has notified the current property owners that they will no longer provide snow removal as this is private property and not an established road (county assessor confirmed). Now, if the county assessors records show there is no established road and only two lots with a utility easement then can the current property owners claim a grandfather clause and demand continued snow service as they have received in previous years?” I want to build a fence across my property line which would result in me building a retaining wall and filling in my part of the pond. Do I need to file some sort of easement with the property owner to be able to build a retaining wall even if the said wall would be solely within my property line?” I desperately need to have some termiting done, and the tent would have to be dropped into their back yard to get full coverage of that side of my house. I have had nothing but problems with these people and anticipate having to sue for easement access to be able to have this done. How would you recommend I handle this? We have been in several disagreements with the next door neighbor and he is the president of the HOA for our section of the community, but not for the whole governing community. What are my options, I have even offered to obtain the permits from the city and install a 12 inch pipe. This seems like a vendetta and not justice.” Last year our neighbor asked us when we were going to move our septic system. He said that he would never be able to sell his property with our septic on it. Would an easement be a good solution to this problem? Or should we move it? One more note, our neighbor poured concrete and put a carport right on the property line after finding out what the surveys had shown. Shouldn’t it be at least 3 foot away from us? I’ve lived in a duplex for 10 months now. The main problem was the heating vent in the master bedroom did not work at all. Time went by, nothing was fixed. We called the health department and building commissioner on him and they have recorded pictures and written evidence from when they inspected the building. Can we file anything against him for refusing to fix anything, especially the heating vent? The City has recently developed upstream and the State has widened the road in front of my property and added drainage that runs through this ditch. Since flow has increased, should either entity have obtained an easement? We are in the process of selling our land and want to make sure the new owners have access to the water shut offs and sewer lines if neccessary. The lawyer won’t write up the easement with out the city noting where the water and sewer line lay. So is it legal for us to write up an agreement and have it notorized and signed by our neighbor? “I have a contract to buy a piece of property. During the survey, it was determined that a portion of the driveway is on “the brothers” (referred to as 2B’s from here on) land next door. And does the gas company have any rights to my land even though there is no pipe on it, a large (90′ pines with other tall vegetation under them) vegetative buffer barring the use of it, and no recorded easement (there is one on the 2B’s land and the previous owner was compensated for it; the 2B’s purchased their land with the easement already there)? Currently, the only people who use the easement are neighborhood children, many of whom ride their bicycles (and on one occasion, a gasoline-powered motorized scooter) through our front yard, past our house, through the backyard, and into the trees beyond. Our lawn is suffering serious damage because of this. Is it possible to vacate the pedestrian easement, and if so, how? The language of the easement grants the servient estate owner the right to relocate the easement. Does this allow the servient estate owner to create a separate right-of-way for each easement holder; thus requiring each easement holder to construct and maintain a separate roadway? I bought my property in October 2008 and I was told at signing that I had lot 14 and 14a. I have the lot 14a on my deed and then when i was putting up a fence on the opposing side of my ditch I ran into a conflict with my neigboor about this. I called the deeds office in the county and they say that the deed shows 14 and 14a as mine but it is an easement. What does this mean? Is this portion of land of 14a mine? They damaged my water line, causing damage to inside plumbing of house. They then came out of easement and installed cable on other side of my property, where there is no easement. Am I entitled to payment from the cable company for using my property for financial gain (charging neighbors for cable service while illegally using my property)? We have been contacted by one of the family members of the person who once owned both plots of land. They believe that they own the 50 foot easement even though our deed says that it is part of our property. Do they really “own” this property? We built our home and the City dumped a large pile of dirt and broken up concrete and the end of the paved road so that we could not use the dirt road to get to our house. They said the road is not maintained and therefore we are not allowed to use it. If we have an emergency or a fire we are out of luck since a firetruck or ambulance will not be able to get to our house. Please help. Our neighbor built a block wall and crossed our property line in 2 places. We paid to have a survey done by a registered surveyor. It has been one year, eight months since we showed him the results of the survey. What is our next action? Do we have to file a civil suit? If so, can we recover the cost of the survey and the cost of filing the suit? My neighbor and I decided to put a fence between our properties, he paid half and I paid for half of the fence. I want to put more protection up on my side of the fence that ajoins to the gate. How do I know which end of the fence is mine and which end is his? Can I put up a barrier on my side of the fence? Our Township just recently adopted zoning. We lived in a mobile home and also operated a business at the property. We recently closed our business and we removed the mobile home that was in disrepair from wind damage and just being old. The new zoning lists our former business property as Residential Single Family Dwelling. The township lot size ordinance says that that property is too small to build on. Am I protected in anyway as far as being able to put a home or another mobile home back on that lot? What are some options that I have to sell this property? If i have a friend staying in my shed can the cops tell him he cant live in there? or the city? We recently purchased a 5 acre piece of property. Unfortunately we did not have access to the language of the document when we purchased the property. This is what was “told” to us about the easement when we purchased the property. Our neighbors have recently brought to our attention that we were mistaken about the extent of the length of the easement. They have stated that they intend to put a road the entire length of the easement– nearly 400 feet. Do they have the “right” to do all of these things? I am a disabled person Researching the Subject of Homeownership. HOA’S(lots of bad press and relative materials) I have service animals and for years Public Housing has fought tooth and Nail… What are my Rights to accomadate, Do I have any legal Recourse if anything should arise. They removed the easement from the property, I have letters from the HOA and township validating this. The problem is that the water issue was not mitigated. My question is, since we were misinformed about the easement and the necessity of it, and since we have a major water issue and would not have purchased this home had that been disclosed to us, can we hold the HOA responsible to resolve this issue at their cost. In addition, if an easement is required on this property, can we hold the HOA liable for the dimished value of the home as a result? I have a property in the Hollywood Hills that is landlocked. Does anyone know if this is the right course? If so, how do I apply for an easement? Which department in the county do I need to contact? I own a home in an Arizona subdivision with an HOA. Recently, the HOA amended the CCRs to redefine the common area to include the sidewalks. Can the HOA legally claim ownership of the sidewalk on my property? To get into our property we have to cross two other properties. Last fall when we paved our part of the driveway and the man in the middles driveway the contractor had some extra material and asked us if he could put it on the top of the driveway, of course we liked the idea of getting in and out easier but warned the contractor that the man on the top is very unreasonable and he would have to get his permission. Several months later we received a letter from his attorney who is also his nephew saying we had to remove the asphalt and take it back to dirt and gravel. Please give me some feedback on the situation. My neighbor runs a large landscaping business on two residentially zoned contiguous parcels behind my property. He is allowed to operate a business on these parcels by the Township because one of the parcels is considered “grandfathered-in” with non-conforming business zoning. Although this landscaping business has direct access to a road behind his property which runs through a neighborhood, all his traffic uses my driveway, which I share with a neighbor on the east side. My family and I have been harassed and intimidated since the day we moved in five years ago with four police reports to prove this. My question, how do I get back control of my driveway and ideally, make the business go out the other entrance? The HOA had my car towed from my car port while i was overseas because of termite tenting that I did not know about. Can i be reimbursed for towing and other fees involved to get the car back? Can government entities explicitly grant Easement by Necessity to private landowners, particularly if the government entity may have created a landlock situation? How do we now establish access/egress to our lot? Do we stand a chance of convincing the Bureau of Reclamation to explicitly grant us use of the easement, which should satisfy the permitting requirement for the other bridge? My neighbor has an ingress and egress easement through my property. Can I have the neighbor sign a liability waiver? Would it be possible to have waiver written up to protect myself in California? What are my legal rights as a homeowner in regards to this situation? My HOA has served me with legal papers stating I’m being sued for HOA dilinquent fees, where at least 70% of the amount owed are attorney and legal fees? I got behind my HOA payments, and then made an arrangement to pay $1000 a month to get things caught up. But, the lawyers paid by the HOA have convinced the HOA Board that I need give them a signed and notarized Stipulation for Judgement by both my husband and I. My husband does not need to know of this debt, and I can pay the money on my own. Is a Stipulation for Judgement legally required to pay off this debt? We are a townhome community with a private road that connects to public streets on each end. Though we are responsible for all repairs to that private road, probably 90% of the traffic is cut-through traffic between the public streets. Could we legally close one end of this road permanently? Hello, I am an international student currently working in Newport, RI for summer. The owner demanded deposit $500 before I came to USA. Next day I went to a real estate agency and they found me new housing, cheaper and clean. So I logically decided to leave the house after 2 nights. However, the owner has not given me the deposit back yet and he has told me he is not going to do so since he declared he lost time and money from June 15th to June 25th till I came to USA, so he used my deposit money to cover his “expenses”. What should I do? Is there any chance I can get my money back even without signed lease? If I have receipts for land that say “paid in full” can court order seller to turn over deeds to buyer? Originally my husband and I entered in to verbal agreement to purchase 10 lots from this individual, we have paid for 5 lots in full and paid last years taxes on all 10 lots have receipt stating so signed by the seller. There is no written contract stating a specific date by which all ten lots had to be paid for. Wouldn’t these events look suspicious enough to any judge and the out come be in my favor if in fact I have to go through legal system to obtain deeds for property I have paid for & be allowed to purchase the remaining lots? The owners who lived here prior to us painted the fence and now the fence paint is chipping. Our HOA is now contacting us stating that the painting of the fence is a violation of the Declaration of Covenants and we are responsible for replacing the entire fence. Why should we be responsible? Should the HOA have held the previous owners responsible when they breached the Declaration? The new property was under renovations at the time and the landlord said in order to hold the property so no one else would be able to lease it to give them $850 dollars (that money would be applied to my lease when it was signed, for which I have a receipt). The landlord’s representative specified a date the property would be for move in. That time has come and past and the property is not ready as specified and no lease has been signed. I have asked a return of the $850 and there has been a refusal of the landlord to do so. Do I have a legal course of action to obtain my money and reimbursement of expenses and hardship this action is causing and that such a legal action would encumber? I am the owner/landlord of this property & have a court-order, dated 6/13/08, from the magistrate, Order of Possession/Removal: Wrongful Occupation of Residential Rental Property, giving me back the right to my property as of midnight, 7/11/08. The occupants did not move out, so the locks were changed. My question is, “do these previous tenants have the right to come back & claim their personal belongings, even after the date that was ordered to vacate & should the police be defending the tenants while I’m standing there with a court-ordered “order of Possession/ Removal”? Years ago a Water District acquired a residential parcel for construction of a water tank. The residential property has an easement for ingress/egress to an private road shared by over twenty other residential properties. The Water District (public utility) now is permitting a cellular company (private business) to apply for County permits to construct a cellular antenna facility on the property. Can the Water District give permission to the cellular company to use the private road to install and maintain the cellular facility when all of the other easement holders are in opposition? We bought a house/land 6 years ago and signed an ingress/egress easement with the previous owners to allow them the use of our driveway to access their property that adjoins ours. We are having major problems with the renters (& parents of the daycare children) speeding up and down our driveway and forcing us to get out of their way when we are on it. In an effort to slow down the traffic we have put up a nonlocking gate at the end of the driveway where it joins their property. The property owners are now saying we have no legal right to install the gate. The parish of Iberia were I live was going to build a road that would have gone between our lots and the easement was 60 foot but they decide to do away with that easement and went with the 30 foot drainage easement on my side of the boundry line. I want my nieghbor to remove a septic drain line that runs onto my side into the ditch. Do I have the right to make her remove it. I own a 70 acre parcel of zoned farm land. Which was a farm for 75 years. The town notified me 4 years ago and said that I had to remove my cows from the property because the cows were affecting a near by natural stream I got rid of the cows. Now the town is charging me a 1,000.00 per day fine saying my cows contaminated the stream. Can they do this to us? What about the farms they had all these years elsewhere? I have 3 3/4 acres of land. Approx. 2 acres are in a 15 acre manmade pond. Once in awhile, a trespasser rides down the road and decides to throw a boat into the pond ignoring the “No trespassing” signs. Once in awhile, they challenge the ownership by saying, “You can’t own water.” and we have to call the Police. The Police have always asked them to leave and there has never been a problem, until recently. What should we do? My neighbor has asked me to grant her an unrecorded easement that would provide emergency egress from her back yard, through my back yard, to the street. What should I watch out for? My neighbor has asked me to grant her an unrecorded easement that would provide emergency egress from her back yard, through my back yard, to the street. It seems that I would be giving up substantial property rights were I to grant the easement, and that the unrecorded quality of the easement seems sneaky. What should I watch out for? recently i started to bull doze a road through this property at one point i encountered a wet spewage area that keep my road wet since i could not have this wet place in my drive i hired a backhoe to come and dig down and insert a pipe under the ground to try a channel the water away to the road ditch. when they dug down they encountered a 1 inch water pipe that was broke— the pipe was cut and capped–i then contacted the water district and surrounding homes to see if this line went to any of them—-no one claimed this water line— 2–months later a plumbing man contacted me—to ask a question about the water line—–seems that a house that had been for sale for a year bordering my property needed its water turned on—when they did — they had no water– i contacted the owner and he agreed to trench in another line if i would let him. i said ok—now 3 weeks later i get a summons that i am being sued in small claims court for not fixing his water line- what can i do? We and our adjacent neighbors are in a dispute over a 4 foot high concrete retaining wall that straddles both of our property lines. We’ve had large clay terra-cotta pots sitting on top of retaining wall with lattice in the pots to obscure the neighbors privacy fence, which is few feet back from the retaining wall. Recently (last week), they decided to start objecting to the clay pots (which are on their property, according to their survey). Would mediation/arbitration be a better, less expensive way to go? The easement borders my entire property line, I have a private driveway off the easement to my house. The neighbor who lives directly behind me says that when I pull off the paved part of the easement over the grass part of the easement (approx. 10 ft) to get to my front yard, I am tresspassing over his property. He has called the police 4 times in the past 6 months accusing me of trespassing when I park my car in my yard. Do I have the right to access my property from the easement? Does he have the right to call the state police to my house everytime I park in my yard? I have a 1 acre peice of property in a gated community. There is a 14 ft utility easement at the front of my property as there is a transformer there. The HOA came in on my property and installed Electrical power panels to service a gate for back entry/ exit to the sub division. They did not have my permission. They also dug a trench completely across my property about 2 feet wide to reach the transformer for power to the gate and when finished left my property in a mess. My question is, did the HOA have the right to do what they did without my permission? I purchased a commercial building in Maryland and attempted to get an occupancy permit for a tenant. The town conditioned approval with a request for me to grant easements to the town for the maintenance of sewer lines running under my property and to enter my property to inspect them. These easements, if granted, would severely limit my ability to add on to my building and park in my lot. If they don’t agree to negotiate more favorable terms (to me) can I cap off the sewer lines with impunity? May they condition an occupancy permit on an unrelated grant of an easement to them? Have access to irrigation water via a pipeline across neighbors property. Helped to pay for pipeline that supplies water to their parcel, and to our pipeline. New owner says since pipeline is not specified or noted in title search, there is no legal basis and his lawyer has notified us that unless we can show legal basis they are going to remove the pipeline. I believe our basis is implied easement. Am I correct, an what is the best way to establish this? I recently discovered that a contractor has run a water line to the house that he is building on property adjacent to ours. The contractor has placed this line inside the 10′ easement on our property rather than disturb the paving that covers the 10′ easement on the adjacent property. Is this legal? City wants a pipeline easement across a small section of the backside of the property. Now heres the question – if I take their ca$h, and later after the work is done , water or gas line leaks show up, say in my yard, is the city liable? What is a “non-assignable and exclusive easement for ingress and egress over and across the following described lands:…” New owner says since pipeline is not specified or noted in title search, there is no legal basis and his lawyer has notified us that unless we can show legal basis they are going to remove the pipeline. I believe our basis is implied easement. Am I correct, an what is the best way to establish this? Because we’ve lived in the house (for 12 years) and maintained the retaining wall before and after it was rebuilt, and paid entirely for the reconstruction of the wall, does this give us a right to a prescriptive easement (i.e. right to own the wall completely) overriding the neighbor’s survey, which they claim gives them exclusive ownership rights? Would mediation/arbitration be a better, less expensive way to go? I live in a small (15 home) community outside Charlotte, NC. The community developer controlled the HOA initially, though within the past couple years, several new homes have been built and sold, and the new homeowners were told via realtors and at closing that there was no HOA and no fees due. The rest of the community has been living under the CC&R documents and paying lake access fees. Do we have an actionable HOA or not? If not, what do we need to do? Do the original CC&Rs stand? bought a house with my ex-girlfriend three years ago and she has not resided in the house for two and a half years. I am engaged to get married to someone else and I want to buy her out, but she refuses the buy out or to take her name off the deed. She stated the only way to get her name off of the house is to sell it, but I do not want to. What can I do to get her name off the house without selling it? My yard is fenced with entrance gates at the front and back of the property. I have found during recent weeks that a neighbor has been opening the front gate where the sidewalk is and entering my yard to allow her dog to use lawn and sometimes that side of the house as its personal toilet. Since my yard is gated and the neighbor is entering through a latched gate, can it be considered trespassing? I have been speculating in land for a couple of years now and own Warranty Deeds to 4 lots of various acreages in both New Mexico and AZ, all from seemingly reputable Sellers. What I wanted to find out is how if possible, can I try and obtain title or insurance on these properties. It also seems there is much controversy about the real worth of these parcels especially now since we are all in a RE downturn market. I entered into a partnership agreement with one individual to purchase rental property. Over two years ago we purchased a duplex in Michigan and paid cash. Now I want out of the deal. My partner verbally agreed to get a Mortgage or buy me out when when purchased the property. Now he refuses to do so. What do I do now, what City department do I approach to settle this issue. I need to divide the duplex (side by side) property and get a mortgage so that I can get my money back as I now am cash broke. My deceased husband is still listed on my property ownership, I do not have a mortgage, It is fully paid off. I want to quit claim my house to my daughter so when I die the Property will be hers. Can I do that without his name being mentioned on the quit claim deed? My house was sold and I feel it was wrong. I have my receipts for all my payments I had been given a sale date for May which they said it was cancelled . I called this morning to make sure my payments were posted (sent via western union) it was then that I found out my house was sold . I have not stopped sending payments Do I have any rights? I bought a house 2 years ago, first time buying a house. And in the inspection of the house it stated that the roof on the house was 2 years old, which I found out I need a complete new roof after getting an estimate on the roof it has 4 layers of shingles which is a fire hazard, also the basement leaks, and backs up, the wiring in the house is faulty, I have carpenter ants. Basically I got stuck with a lemon. Is there anything that I can do. My deed states that an adjacent landowner has a strip beside my property that is “as wide as a road”….their deed says a 60 foot wide strip. In 1924 the two deeds said the same thing, but the next time the land changed hands, the 60 ft. was specified. Since it was not recorded on both deeds, can this be legal? The electric and cable companies apparently have an easement on our property although I am unable to find proof of this in our deed and abstract. We do not subscribe to cable and our electric is fed to the property from another line (not on our property) have asked the companies to please fix the cables/wires that they are encroaching on my ability to use my own property and it poses a safety risk. What can I do? We live in Texas (north central); the developer in our subdivision had to add a retaining wall as a result of the City requiring them to install a detention pond. The retaining wall was partially installed on our property. The question is do we own the portion of the retaining wall that was incorrectly (we think) installed on our property line. We do not think we should be responsible for the repair and maintenance of the retaining wall. What do you think? Recently there has been a change of ownership on one of the properties. The new owner has a teenage son. The parents leave town often and leave the son alone. While the parents are away the son has been throwing parties where there is teenage drinking. We are concerned that at some point one of these underage drunk children will cause and/or have an accident that will result in death or injury while crossing our property. Can we be held liable if something like this should occur? Other than calling law enforcement to alert them to the party is there any thing else we can do to protect ourselves? As a small Home Owners Association in Washington state, we have a plated 60 foot access & egress easement which has existed for over 20 years. The easement in question passes across a tiny segment of the 5 acres of a single member’s property but they are exceedingly resistant to expanding the margin of the easement though the expansion will be into a completely unused area of their property and out of sight and will fully address their and our membership’s concerns of liability/risk. Given the facts above, within reason, and without damaging in any way the associate member’s property or its value does our Homeowner’s association have a right to demand the expansion of the easement margin? I have a private lane in the bottom land of my property, (grass/ gravel) and it is listed as “Private” in the local county courthouse (Garrard Co., KY.) It is also “Private” with the State Transportation Cabinet. I have lived here for 20 years and recently placed a gate on the lane, because a 4-wheeler almost hit one of my kids. A farmer, who has no easement or right of way, and is NOT landlocked, decided he didn’t want the gate there because he wants to get to his back hillside that way, (even though in 20 years I have never actually seen him drive down my lane to get to his hill.) They came and cut my gate down with a blowtorch. Do you think this could be a case for the ACLU? During our purchase of a home, we asked the buyers to pay to have a radon system installed. They agreed and had somebody come out and give an estimate. The sellers signed the contract and then subtracted the estimate from their earnings and put it aside for us to use when we decided to have it installed. After running around our house for an hour, they gave us a choice, we could run it on the outside of the house, or we could run it through the inside of the house, hidden from view. Obviously, we chose to have it hidden from view. Then finished their work and left. The next day, the owners called and said that we owe them 500 bucks because THEIR installers did not follow what was written for them to do on the contract. They said WE are responsible for not making sure that the installers were following what was contracted. Who is at fault here? Them or us? My Father and mother-in-law live with his elderly widowed mother and all three are listed on the mortgage. In this instance, who owns what portion of the house, considering that my in laws are the only ones that pay the mortgage? If the elderly parent was to pass away then what happens to her portion of the property? If she has no will, then can the house be contested by all of her five siblings? I am having an issue with my next door neighbor that has been ongoing for two years. I have tried to talk to the management company, but they have not been helpful. I am one of seven owners of a private pond. It is not on the list of Public Waters owned by the state. We each pay taxes on the land we own under the water. About 25 feet of the pond comes close to a town road. Can the town give public access to the pond using their right of way that falls to each side of the road? I purchased a narrow lot two houses from my house in 2005. My neighbor whose house next to my narrow lot bought his house in 1998. He constructed sliding iron front gates on track in front of his house sometime after which I am not sure. But it is very likely that was more than 5 years ago. About 8-10 feet of the track is on my property(I have a survey done). Now my question is would it still work if I give notice of permission for him to continue to use it to park his cars in order to prevent a potential claim of prescriptive easement? My question is I must notify my HOA that I plan on renting out my home. I can not rent it for more then 2 years in accordance with the HOA. Can the HOA say no to me renting out my home? What rights do I have? Help! The bank has said that they are going to foreclose on my house! What can I do to stop foreclosure proceedings from my bank? I really want to avoid foreclosure if at all possible. What can I do to prevent foreclosure on my house? This family has settled this land 100 years ago. At the turn of the century loggers started this road to reach the top of this ridge which crossed thier land as will as someone elses. When the second generation owner sold 30 acres next to this 500 feet she recorded an easement back in 1968. So that they could still use this pathway. Now the current owner of the 30 acres complained to the forest service and the have recently de-constructed the pathway, and put up concrete barriers. The question is does the national forest have to recognize perscriptive easements? A piece of land I am thinking of buying is land locked but has a deeded Right of way that is 10ft wide and 50 feet long in PA. Can I pave or lay gravel down on this section to help my vehicle get thru. Can an HOA hold a homeowner liable for cutting down trees on HOA property when eye witness proof does not exist and the only evidence is circumstantial? I live in a Association Property with communal parking space in front of my backyard gate. We keep our trashcans in the back yard and bring them through this gate and the parking space to the communal street for trash day. Recently, a neighbor parked in the spot on trash day and did not leave much room between my house and his car. When my minor aged son took the trash out, after dark, he scratched our neighbor’s car. Who is liable for the damage to our neighbor’s car, us or the home owner association? How long is a builder responsible for defects in the house he built? The house is six years old. The furnace and hot water heater vent underneath a deck, which causes moisture to be trapped underneath the deck in winter, causing ice build ups where it melts the snow above and then moisture and mold form on the interior walls under the insulation. When our home was built in 1989, there was suppose to be a drainage ditch installed behind our property on the boundary line. . The City started the ditch but never finished the plans. We have contacted the property owner about putting in a drainage system and he has said that the water does not come close to his house so he will not do anything about it. The city has said they will put in a system if he gives them an easement but he has refused. Do we need to pursue the City to solve the problem or do we have to go after the property owner behind us? What type of lawyer handles these types of issues? I Live on a Busy Street and my Neighbor with Easement Access Leaves my Gate Unlocked and Open, What can I do? My neighbor wants an easement on my property for his proposed sewer line. We will be selling our property within the next nine months. Are there any legal, physical or real estate sales issues if we grant the easement? What is the value of this easement? I own a building with another company and there is an easement on the property. There is a restrictive covenant which states I am to provide “reasonable permanent access” to this easement. What is meant by reasonable permanent access? The owners of the land over which our easement runs is in the process of having a home built on the second parcel and one of the conditions of their building permit is that they must run sewer lines back to the house (we are on septic) and the only place where the sewer lines can run is up the middle of the 150′ easement road. The builders informed us that when the sewer company puts in the sewer, that we will not have access to our property for three days. The sewer installers have further said that they will not put down the steel plates common to such an installation as the expense is too great. Can the owner of the easement and/or their contractors deny us access during this process? For past few months, My neighbors (12 people) are now constantly using their basement door and my driveway as their main door, even their guest use it as a entrance door even though they have their front door and it is becoming extremely difficult to use my driveway where I park my cars(because of their constant presence, sitting in the driveway, children playing in the driveway etc), when I ask them to stop sitting or playing, they apologize, but keep repeating, them blocking my driveway with their cars is also becoming a problem. How to solve this problem, Is their a legal way? Can I stop them from using my driveway? I just recently moved out of my apartment on Sep. 11th because my lease was up and I did not want to renew it. When I moved in I paid a 250 dollar pet security fee which was said I would not get back just in case there was any pet damage done they could use the money for the repairs. Also I had been living in this apartment for almost 3 years and every month they charged me 10 extra dollars on top of my rent for having a pet. Well when my lease was up and it was time for me to move out there were a couple of places on the edge of the carpet where my cats had clawed and unraveled the carpet some but I did not take any actions to replace the carpet on my on because I was under the impression that the 250 I paid when I moved in that I wasn’t getting back and the 10 dollars extra I had been paying every month for the whole time I lived there would cover it. What can I do to avoid paying this or it being reported on my credit because if this was the case then they should have told me during the first inspection so I could have had it replaced myself because like I said the apartment is very small and I could have got it done for way cheaper than 900 dollars? I live in the state of NY and I have a right of way on a piece of property from 1970. This was used for a turn around and a place for the kids to play. It is 50-100ft, we are at the end of a dead end street. The town just abandoned this piece for a neighbor to have a driveway to get to there new house. Can this be legally done? My right of way was also included with the deed given to the town when they took over the road in 1992. My single brother has lived in our family home all his life. My father left the house to all seven of us kids. The deed has all our names on it. My other brother and his whole family have moved in on him and refuse to help pay the bills because they feel since it is the family home they should get a free ride. Can the rest of us sign our share of the home to our brother so he can tell them to leave and have it be legal? My mortgage company may go under. Who owns the house in that instance? The mortgage company’s creditors? How will it affect me? I am all paid up and in good standing. Should I refinance now or not? My partner and I recently purchased a home 6 months ago. The verbal agreement was that once they started their job or their deceased mothers property sold they would repay me half the money. They now wish to sell the property after 6 months and have left the state. They state that they will not repay me the money and that they will force me to partition the home and force me to hire a realtor to do so. Can they force me to sell using a realtor and what do I do about the money they said they would pay and now refuse. My husband and I have joint ownership of our house. To insure that if something happens to either of us (sickness, accident, death…) the other could sell the house or do whatever with it, do we need to set up a trust or would a will be enough? I bought a house with my ex-girlfriend three years ago and she has not resided in the house for two and a half years. I am engaged to get married to someone else and I want to buy her out, but she refuses the buy out or to take her name off the deed. She has only made a few payments towards the mortgage within the last three years and has no interest in the property. What can I do to get her name off the house without selling it? There are 2 condo’s in the building, only. I own the upstairs condo. I need to construct an egress stair from my upstairs unit to provide it with a second means of egress as required by the State Building Code. The downstairs unit owners said they will not allow the rights to the use of the rear yard for the proposed egress stair, Can the owners override the State Building Code. My current tenant gave me 30 days notice that they were vacating the property. I found another tenant and told her she was approved to move in. The current tenant came back and said she does not want to leave now. Can I force her to leave based on her 30 day notice? Does the new tenant have any legal recourse? I live in a Condo association in Pa. Our community is approx. 25% full and our condo documents state 2 members of the association should serve on the board at this time. Therefore the residents have elected 2 board members (one being myself). However when we have board meetings the developer (who supposedly is the other 75% of board) has no communication with us an never shows up at the board meetings. Instead the property management company is there in his place. They never let us decide anything, and they adhocly do what they want without even consulting us. Is there something I can do about this situation? My daughter’s boyfriend was sleeping over my house after attending a party earlier in the evening. At that party, her boyfriend apparently had gotten in a fight with another boy. At around 5:00am in the morning two state police knocked on the front door of my house. They asked her where her boyfriend was and when she told them they proceeded to go upstairs into her bedroom and seize her boyfriend. This all happened while I was asleep in my bedroom. Further, they didn’t just enter the house, but proceeded to go upstairs and enter the bedroom of a minor without my consent or knowledge? What action can be taken if any, and what impact could this have on the arrest and the case? Is a verbal easement legal and binding? We are planning on building a home with our frontage being on a private road that has five homes on it. We have a written easement with our neighbor right across from us. But we have had a verbal easement with our neighbor that sits at the start of the private road for about three years now. Dose a verbal easement eventually become legal or our we going to be having problems? Do we even need a written easement from him with us all ready having a easement to our frontage? We live in a site built condominium association. We share a drainage/walkway easement with our next door neighbors according to our plat map which is what our township considers. A state park trail runs along the east side of our development. We have always invited the homes in the development to access the trail by walking through our yard. A few in the association now want to put a sidewalk through to make the walkway more official. Do we have to go by what the township says about where the easement is or by the Master Deed? Do we have to allow a sidewalk through our yards? Does a Condo Association have the legal right to build a sidewalk on a walk-way easement? An easement was approved by the township to allow residents access to a public walking trail, this easement was defined as a 20ft area between two adjoining lots. Does a Condo Association have the right to make such improvements; even if the owners of the lots do not agree with this (assuming it properly approved by a majority of residents)? I am buying a home on 1.34 acres of land and should be closing on it in about a month. The owner of another acre directly behind my land would like to sell the land to me the land is currently landlocked. What would I have to do to purchase this land? I’m assuming this means that I need to have an easement? If so, is this costly? My question is that my wife’s uncle , who resides in Texas, gave only verbal permission to some residents who were landlocked, next to his property, to use his land to get to theirs. What if anything can we do to get rid of them short of selling them property or an easement? What is the difference between an easement for INGRESS AND EGRESS (not exclusive) as opposed to an easement “OVER AND ACROSS” lands? The easements run through a gated community to a river. We are not a part of the HOA. WE recently bought a 2nd home on the river. The property has a boat ramp on it. The latest Platte chart, only shows the outline of our property, no indication of a boat ramp. AND there are no easements recorded to date. BUT, everyone allows everyone to share… We’ve asked that they sign a waiver of liability in exchange for permission of using the ramp, since this is our 2nd home and we cannot maintain the ramp non-stop. We’ve been indirectly threatened that an easement by prescription will be placed on our ramp… What are our rights? My husband and I purchased a piece of land 17 years ago which consisted of a working commercial fish hatchery, buildings and 3 homes. There is a piece of property between us and the county road on which we have “a non-exclusive easement for ingress and egress over and under a piece of land 20 feet in width”. We now have a new owner of the property on which we have the easement who is claiming that we don’t have the right to have this business as the easement is for a single family residence access only. Can he stop us from having this business which has been in existence since 2004? We have always been aware that our property extends roughly 20′ feet past the perceived boundary marked by a row of boulders (our deed is very specific to our property lines and there are no easements). Recently the town has started a survey of this property line the surveying company seems to be dragging their feet and is unwilling to talk with me. I believe it is because they were unaware of the actual property lines. My question is should I stake out my property lines before the survey is complete? What should I do to protect myself? I own an undeveloped 5 ac parcel in California. Upon having it surveyed, I learned that my neighbor’s driveway falls as much as 20′ outside of the easement. The easement is 60′ (30′ of which is on my property) for a one lane gravel road. Can I insist the road be moved to regain my property? Is it my responsibility to rebuild it, or the responsibility of the neighbor? I moved into a new apartment a few months ago, and it was supposed to have air conditioning. However, it is only good enough to heat 340 sq ft. My apartment is 840. I have complained to the management multiple times; however, they only send the maintenance guy to look at it, who, of course, says it’s fine. Is there any way I can get them to add one that’s the appropriate size to cool my apartment? I recently purchased 9 acres of land that has an easement attached to it. There is a 40 foot public road easement that was granted back in the 70’s on the property and has never been used. We want to build a new house on the property. The only access is a driveway tile installed right on this 40′ easement. We have been told that if we build there and use this drive as our access we could possibly be sued or the owner of the easement could put a lien on our property. Is this true? If we are not blocking his access in any way, are we not entitled to use this drive to get to our house? I just bought a house and decided to install a privacy fence next to my neighbors house. After digging the post, we discovered PVC piping on my property. Apparently the neighbor says he did not know about the piping which happens to be his sewer and is in the process of trying to get an easement. Can I make him move the sewer line? Can I cut it off my property and cap it off? What are my options? The fact is that Mother was told she was signing over part of her pasture and that it had nothing to do with the House but in reality it is her 6 acres with all improvements. Is there anything my Mother can do to have this revoked? Can she sell her property or take out a government reversal loan? Mother also looked at the deed that was filed and stated it is not what she signed. Can my parents change their real estate deed to “joint ownership with rights of survivorship” with them, my sister and myself as joint owners even if my parents still have a mortgage on that property? What happens with the mortgage if they pass away together (like an auto crash), can it be “assumed” by my sister and I or will we have to pay off the mortgage in order to keep the property for future generations? Have any laws been broken when a condo association board member is also a realtor representing sellers in that complex, and having those units that are for sale (specifically those units represented by this person) reshingled etc. before other units in the complex which were ahead on the list? The neighbors across the street who are personally known to both myself and my husband and who were, at one time, friends have put me in a position, that I am considering a slander/malice lawsuit. A potential buyer was doing a walk about around the property when they were approached by the said neighbors and told “not to buy this house, the roof leaks and the walls leak”. I have suggested to my husband that if my realtor could get a signed statement of exactly what was said, the date and time and a description of the parties stating these malicious words, I may have a case. That is my question – do I have any rights to protect my reputation and as well the potential loss of the sale of this house? A friend of mine borrowed $10K. The collateral for this loan was the equity in his house, however, his house has been foreclosed on now. I have a legal Loan Document signed by him. Besides a copy of the Loan, what other documents do I need to file at the local court house in order to file a claim to try to get some money back from the sale of the property? Deed of Trust? “Intent to Lien” form? “Intent to Redeem” form? My home is landlocked but has a road easement for access purposes. I know want to subdivide the property into 4 parcels. Do I need additional easements for all the new properties? I live in a home with a 20 ft easement driveway from the main road to a semi public lake. Home owners have been granted ingress & egress to the lake. There are 3 houses and 1 duplex on the easement driveway. About 20 years ago the owner of our home built and maintained a dock that sits just off the natural water line of the lake and it meets all state codes and is legally there. We bought the home 7 years ago and we have maintained the dock and keep our boat anchor during the summer. Can the owners of the duplex give their tenants the right to use the easement to the shoreline? Can the tenants of the duplex give anyone (i.e., friends, neighbors, relatives, etc.,) the right to use the easement to the shoreline? Do we have the right to prohibit the tenants from the dock even though we have no paperwork showing ownership of the dock? Can the Board of a HOA enter a private property within the community that happens to have the waterfall circuit board and the sprinkler system control panel located on their property? We can’t find anywhere in the documents or bylaws where the board was given a utility easement or access easement to get to these panels. Do we have a right to enter a backyard to access the control panels without a documented easement? Can this homeowner forbid us access to the panels? My neighbor has planted a hedge that is growing across my property. I asked him to trim it back so it would still look nice, but be on his property. He not only has let it grown further (he claims he’s using the easement, which half happens to be over MY boundary line). He called the police on me, and they said I could be arrested if I touched his plants Why can he cut my bushes on MY property, yet he can continue to encroach on mine? Does he have the right to let his plants grow over the easement that is on my property? We own a property on a private road with 14 homes. We all have septic and wells. We have an irreparable septic problem. We have been denied a permit for a new on-lot septic option. Our neighbors have reported us to county and local government. Thus causing us to enter into the legal system to fight it. We have a developer who is ready to put in a private line to a sewer main. All that we need is for the neighbors to sign giving us an easement to put it in along the private road. They are giving us a hard time about it and will not sign. Is there anyway to force the easement through so that we can fix our problem? At the time we purchased the home we picked the lot, style, and elevation of the house specifically so we could enjoy the view. Our lot sits atop a hill, and overlooks the pond, and hills that are in the community. The people that live directly across the street from us are planning to build a garage which will effectively block the view we enjoy. The HOA board (which I am a member, as well as the homeowner planning the garage) says they cannot deny the request because there are other (2) detached garages in the community. However, neither of these garages obstructs the view of others. Is there anything I as a homeowner can do to prevent the garage from being built. There is an access easement on my property so that my neighbor can access his yard (they use my driveway). I am wanting to build a fence on my property line which would cross a small portion at the end of the easement. I would not be hindering his access to his backyard, but he is against my building the fence. Would I legally be able to build the fence as long as I am not keeping him from getting into his backyard (egress and ingress)? We have allowed our neighbors to use the back portion of our yard for almost five years in exchange for the landscaping they did for us. Their house is directly behind ours, and they did not have room for their son and daughter to play. They have paid the water bill, but no insurance, property taxes, mortgage, etc. Do we need to have a formal easement agreement? Can they take over our property and assume ownership after a prescribed length of time? The Dominant tenant has a right to cross my backyard to access her own backyard. The easement is 6 feet wide. Am I allowed to develop this area of land at all (low wood deck, asphalt, concrete etc). I do not intend to impede her access at all. My brother and I both have our names on my grandfather’s home, but he has lifetime conservatorship. If I file bankruptcy, can my creditors do anything with that property? Also, if he passed away within a few months of filing bankruptcy, can the creditors do anything with my brother’s half of the inheritance? The original property owner gave an easement and “right-of-way for the purpose of ingress & egress and to run with said land and to be transferable therewith; reserving unto the grantor the right to use said road & grant others a like easement and right-of-way.” I am putting an underground sprinkler system in the front yard but the neighbor insists that it will be in the easement area. The sprinkler heads will be flush with the ground and will not impede traffic flow. Is this allowed? There is very little likelihood that the road will ever be paved or taken over by the state. What are my rights? My wife’s mother and father purchased a property that has since then turned into a very successful lodge. About ten years ago they divorced, but he did not sell his half to her-nor was she awarded it in court. He later died. Now My wife’s mother and current husband are trying to sell the place. We think that my wife’s father’s half ownership of property would go to his daughter (my wife) when he died, and therefore she would be half owner of the property. Is this the case? My problem is we were in the process of refinancing to a 30 year fixed mortgage. In the Good Faith Estimate there was no Yield Spread Premium listed at all. I get a call two days before we were to close stating that our current mortgage company said we signed a Prepayment penalty and we would need to come up with $8000.00 more if we are to close. Anyway the current mortgage company said it would need 90 days or more to negotiate this prepayment to reduce it or do away with it. Now the new company said they will leave it open and we pay a higher interest rate and additional fees to leave it open or if we cancel it we need to pay the Yield Spread Premium of $1700.00 in addition to the $375.00 application fee that we have already paid. The new mortgage company I was getting the fixed rate with changed the name on our insurance policy before the closing papers were signed. HELP PLEASE A few years ago, I asked my wife to move out of the condo that we purchased together, and she asked for some equity out of the property. We have since divorced. After filing the quit claim deed with the county, it was returned to me indicating that more detailed information is required to identify the property for recording purposes. Is the quit claim deed therefore invalid, or does the fact that she signed it at least show that the intent of the exchange of money and property between us still intact? Can I file an amendment to the original quit claim deed with the additional identifying information for the property requested by the county without her signature? My wife and I were in signed over the Deed to our house about 3 years ago. The person in control is an investor and basically gets property through this process. The first 6-8 months was fine, as he made all the payments and leased out the property to build more equity. Over the past 28 months, it has been a nightmare. We are constantly getting phone calls from the lenders stating late payments. Do I have any legal rights regarding this situation? I own a house with three of my brothers – it was written over to us from an uncle approximately 10 years ago. The house is a two family house. One brother lives in one apartment and the other apartment is where our mother lives. We made an oral agreement with the brother, lets call him John, that he would pay a discounted rent to take care of the property as well as take care of our mother. John has not paid rent in three years and has not taken any of the responsibility with our mother. John has broken off all communications, and we cannot even sit to discuss possible resolutions. He will not admit real estate professionals into his apartment and that would make selling the home impossible. Is there a possible way to evict him, buy him out, etc? Three homes drive over our properties this easement . On the deed its state non exclusive easement for ingress and egress. I been having a bad time with a neighbor that drives over my land and the neighbors land, his dogs attacked me on my property and I find him. Now he wont stop driving past my house fast and he will come to a complete stop and peel out right in front of my house on this easement road. Is there any law that will help me on private easement roads with endangerment or damages. The dog attack is on record .the police wont touch private roads in Washington state. They told me that he has to go out onto the public road. Is this right? I have speed limit signs and a speed pump on a gravel road which we all agreed on even him, so I want to know what I can do by law to stop him, is this harassment? An easement through an unincorporated HOA community in Yavapai County, AZ allows access through the community to landlocked abutting Property. Easement metes and bounds describe a route somewhat different from existing roads. Owner has unfettered access. Adherence to the described easement would require demo of some existing construction and construction of new roads. What are respective rights of community and easement grantee (Property owner)? For example, does the law allow the Property owner unrestricted rights to treat the route of his described easement however he deems necessary irrespective of the current use of that property? We purchased a new home from a buyer/developer. The walls are cracking above all doors, the windows howl at every wind ( we called the window installer out and he told us the window jams are too wide and the windows don’t fit) and now the hard wood floors are actually coming up from the floor. What options do we have short of spending alot of money in the court systems? I have recently purchased 20 acres of land in Indiana that was considered landlocked and was given a proper easement to said land for ingress and egress and utilities. The problem we have run into after residing here for 1 year is there is no signage or notification of where our easement begins off of a private drive. Am I allowed to put signage (my family name, private drive, no trespassing, etc…) at the beginning of our easement to recognize what the easements intent is and to deter unwanted traffic? The owner of the land has forbade us to place any signage on their property (our easement) at this time. My house (primary residence) is on a lot without well defined borders to my neighbors. The grassy yard flows right into my neighbor property and there are some trees that act as a division but according to the plot plan my property runs well past them. Her lawn service cleans part of my lot (the part after the trees) and I worried she might think her yard is bigger than it is. How do I make sure after time she does not claim rights to the part of the yard she cleans? A piece of property that my grandparents owned now owned by my uncle and myself, my uncle doesn’t want to work with me or talk to me so he wants to sell it. The property has a cabin on it. I’ve tried to get a loan on it but every mortgage company says the property is substandard. My uncle won’t let me get a personal loan to fix the property up so that I can get a loan to pay him off. Is there something I can do to stop my uncle from forcing a partition action? Also in the will of my grandparents they stated that the property was to go to their grandchildren not their children does this help. I recently purchased property that the driveway goes through my land, and continues to my new neighbors property. The “neighbor” is already giving me a hard time about keeping up with the driveway such as plowing snow up to the end of my property, not just where my family needs to park. She also stated that the “right of way” was in their deed. My deed has no information pertaining to giving them “right of way” through my property. If I have to give them access, shouldn’t it be stated in my deed also? 30+ years ago, our grandfather bought 320+ acres of pasture ground. Soon after, he deeded 160 acres each to two of his children, one (tract 1) being our dad. 5 years ago, the other (tract 2) acreage was sold to our brother. Sad to say, relations are not good at all between the two brothers that each own a tract. The brother of tract #2 threatened to bulldoze over all the terraces on his side of the fence and dam up the water so that it could not drain down through on his side. Just last week, in anger over another issue, he followed through on his threat and bulldozed the terraces and diked up the dirt 3-4′ on his side of the fence so it would retain all the water on our side. We do not want to take a brother to court, but are at a loss as to what to do. Do we bend and just pay the expense and go on, till he gets all hot about another issue? My father passed away 2 years ago and his estate was set up in a trust. His home was left to myself, my sister and my brother. My question is can my brother and I just quit claim the home to my sister? I am a member of a Homeowners Association and I have discovered that the Management Company and a member of the Communications Committee have been manipulating the website to cover up violations of the bylaws. What can I do? I am paying my brother in law for a van. I just bounced a payment. He is asking for the check payment, five overdraft fees and a return check fee. I wanted to know what was i legally responsible to pay back? Do multiple heirs all have to sign a contract in order to sell property left to them (there was no Will left)? My father died over 15 years ago and left my mother, myself and my 5 brothers some land (in Texas). The problem is my father didn’t have a Will, 3 of his children are from a previous marriage and 1 of them refuses to participate in the sell of the property. I need to know if there is some way the remaining 6 heirs can sell the property without him. An item was stolen out of my vehicle in a parking garage in New York City. I contacted the garage and asked to see their surveillance video, but was denied of this request. Do I have the right to see this video? What are my options in pursuing the matter? I asked my X-girlfriend to watch my dog for a few weeks and now she has refused to give him back, are there any laws pertaining to a situation like this? Perhaps animal theft or kidnapping of a animal? I have a problem, the neighbors do a german shepard keeps coming into my yard, about 8 times now within 2 weeks. He has weakened my fence so much it is beyond repair, the neighbor who owns the dog says he is not going to fix the fence because it is rotting and the wind blew a section down, needless to say open access to the do. Well today I came home at lunchtime and the dog came running up to my gate in my yard and started barking and looking mean, I wasn’t going to take a chance so I went to inform the neighbor again to which he did not answer the door or the phone so I called animal control, they took the dog away and left a note on his door. Well that only made matters worse, he decided to yell at me to say I was going to reimburse him the money it is going to cost to get his dog back since he was going to be neutured and he planned on breeding him also he wasn’t going to fix the fence he wants to go in halves with me to build a new one. There was nothing wrong with my fence before his dog started coming into my yard should I be involved in fixing the fence or should he have to fix it since it was his dog that cause all the damage? I am wanting to know if we had allowed an easement across our property for another property owner to have access to their property behind us and now they are selling their property and the buyer is an adjoining property owner that will now have access to the property from his own property will be still have to allow access or use of the easement that is running through our property? My son has taken a new job and must relocate. He currently has approx. 3 months left on his rental lease agreement but needs to get out of the lease early. The lease agreement has no provisions for terminating the lease early but the landlord’s representative has told my son he is responsible for the rent payments until the end of the lease. My son acknowledges there should be some penalty like losing his security deposit but to also have to pay the remaining 3 months seems excessive. I am buying a mobile home in FL. I live in PA. My mother is dealing with the owner. The closing will be on February 11,2007. I will not be there yet. Is my mother able to sign the papers for me? If not, can we do this over the phone so I can give my verbal permission for her to sign the papers? My neighbor drilled a well by accident on my property. He now wants to enter the property to decommission the well. Is the well now mine and he can he trespass with equipment to do the work? Recently, we had an issue where a tree died in a homeowner’s back yard. The tree was actually on the property that the HOA (Home Owner’s Association) owns. The homeowner cut the tree down due to the fact that it was a hazard to him and anyone in the lake in that area if the tree should have fallen. This homeowner has asked for reimbursement from the HOA for the cost of the removal of the tree due to the fact that the tree was on HOA property. Would the fact that lakefront owner’s have “property rights” to the water’s edge affect the legal responsibility of the HOA to pay for the removal of the tree? In 1965 my parents gave my sister an acre of land from the family farm. In 1977 they made an notarized land agreement with my sister stating that this land was never to be considered a part of their estate in the event of their death nor could anyone take it from her plus the description of the land and location. My mother died before she could finish. My brother is building on the land that has been my sister’s for 40 years. I went to courthouse for a copy of the deed. There are page nos. missing in the deed and they can’t find them. I think they are the ones my brother did not sign at the lawyers office giving my sister her land. How do I stop my brother from taking my sister’s land and what can I do about the attorney who failed to do as my mother asked? What does it mean when they tell me at the courthouse there are these pages they cannot find? Does the lawyer hold the papers and how do we get my brother to sign as agreed? The landlord posted a notice on the main doors for a few days, that anyone caught letting in others that do not live here will be evicted. This was never added to any lease. My husband came in with another tenant and another man who, we thought, still lived here. At the time we did not know that this other man no longer lived here anymore. Now the landlord wants to evict us for letting this man in. Can he do this? I live in a Condominium and I am having trouble with renters not abiding by the associations rules. The renters are running in the hallways, which causes loud noises and vibrates our walls that face the hallway. The association is saying that since we are it only ones that are complaining, that is doesn’t happen many times a day and that the only happens in the daytime, that they will no longer try to control the renters behavior. This has been going on for over 2 years. What recourse do we have to reclaim our peaceful living environment? We have given a 60 foot road easement for the purpose of ingress and egress to an adjacent property which is landlocked. The easement is situated on a steep sand hill which washes out easily. Previous owners have maintained the road and did not destroy the 60 foot easement. The current owner had not maintained the road and now are driving from side to side of the 60 feet to avoid the ruts that they have created. We have placed barriers on the side, leaving the previously maintained road clear. We have been told by one source that we could place gates at each side of the easement as long as we do not lock them without giving the adjacent property owner a key. Do we have the right to do this or do we have to allow these owners to destroy our land. 15 months ago I sold my Illinois home and moved here to Whitney Point, NY with my 80 yr old male friend. He didn’t put a penny towards this house before, during or after the sale yet I loved him and thought we’d always be together. Now he’s in Missouri with a married daughter. He left here 3 weeks ago. I Also have durable Power of Attorney and regular POA over him. All he has contributed these past 15 months is paying half a mortgage the total mortgage is 455. it includes taxes and insurance If I continue to pay on my own there is very little or no money left for me to buy gasoline, pay my utilities, buy food, pay for care of out 8 pets, make the car payments which is in both our names it is 187.00 a month. My mother owns a two family house with her brother in law that is fully paid for, so presently their is no mortgage. They both are presently living in the house. He recently remarried and his wife wants to sell his half of the house so they can buy another house out of state. My mother does not want to sell. I was thinking of buying his half so my mother could continue to live there and rent it out to my sister. ( or would it be better if she bought him out)? Do I need an attorney, and how do you go about doing this legally? How do I determine a fair price especially since it is an old house and I do not want to over pay for it? I am Tenant in common with my girlfriend and we are breaking up. The mortgages are in my name and the deed is in hers and mine as tenants in common. I paid all mortgage payments, Taxes, Insurances and down payments with the exception of $1500 towards the down payment. The house is worth basically what I owe if not a little more. I wish to keep the house and have her name removed from the deed. If she refuses and all she can show is contribution towards Electric bill, will I be forced to go to court to sell the property and have partition done? What are my rights. I live in Texas, the property that I bought had an unrecorded easement. I would like to know if it is possible for the people using this easement to legally have the width of it extended from about 12ft. to 20ft.? I have an Easement on my land that specifically states for ingress and egress purpose to a land locked piece of land. The location of the easement lies in an area that one can only access the land locked land by foot. My question is, what can I do and what can I not do with that land that belongs to me? Can I erect a building, On the Easement, that dose not hinder the travel to and from the land locked land or can I not? My now ex fiance and I purchased a home in June 2006. Now, in a year he wants me to refinance again so his payments can be cheaper and he can stay in the home. My question is, does he have to buy me out when he refinances and what exactly does that entail? Me and my fiance purchased a home years ago, I have been out of the house going on two weeks, I was told that the locks has been changed, not allowing me into the home, we have no court order for anything, we live in Florida is this illegal with what she has done, we both are on the deed to the home I was in love with the house so ask my girlfriend to be that small percent with her income to help me finalize the house. I put all the money down and some of the papers are in my name and some are in both. We are split now and want the mortgage in my name, what do I have to do? Do I have to take a new loan out or is there a way to just have her name taken of the deed. I am selling my house back to the County I live in due to problems with the house. The County originally had the house built years ago. They are buying the house back for the exact amount I owe the bank and forgiving the grant I owe them. As you see I am not making any profit at all so I am trying to keep costs down. I have lived in my house for 15 years the HOA requires that you have at least 4 trees on each lot, about 5 years ago a man bought the lot next door ,then he started putting in trees along property line trees that have lots of big leaves. I try to keep my yard looking nice but now I have to get up these leaves 3- 4 times a year. Is there anyway that I can make him pay me for my time and using my equipment? My Mother wants to leave her house to me when she passes away and has decided just to leave money to my brother. Can she put that in her will and just go to Superior Court to change the name on the real estate transfer tax declaration and remove my brother’s name on the card? A Real Estate Developer wants an Easement to my property. The Developer wants an easement to install a sewer line. Since, the Developer stands to gain capital from the installation of the sewer lines. Shouldn’t I be compensated at a commercial rate? Do I have to allow this easement? The auto insurance will only cover damage to the vehicle, and we don’t have renters insurance. There were no “park at your own risk” signs. Is the bar held liable in any way? Could their insurance pay for the stolen items? The first time I submitted the plans to the planning commission of El Monte, they rejected it, citing 2 issues. I have been trying to subdivide a property that I own for over a year. I have been given wrong information by city employees and have been caused over 25000 in damages. I also have had 5 or so claims against the city in the last 4 years that I have lived here, based on harassment, discrimination and wrong information given. Please help. When I arrived back home ~9:00pm I had an envelope taped to my front door. It was on letterhead from the HOA, ( not signed by any person) saying that I was in violation of a sign covenant and if the sign was not removed by 12:00AM (3 hours later) I would be fined $500 per day until it was removed and no longer visible. I doubted the validity of the letter but removed the sign before midnight as per the letter to avoid the chance of any penalty until I could check on the validity of the letter. I have never had any interaction with the HOA before this and do not understand how such a swift assessment/violation can be accessed without some understanding of the issues. Two neighbors and I went together and put in a well for the purpose of irrigating our yards. We equally divided the cost of the well, pump, etc. Now the neighbor on whose property the well is located is selling her home. How can my other neighbor and I retain the legal right to use the well after the property is sold? I live in Maine and have house with a deeded right of way through someone’s property to get to my house. My deeded right of way is stated as 50 ft. My driveway is very narrow, only about 8 ft. wide. Could I tar the rest of the 50 ft. if I want? What are my rights? We have been paying the full mortgage for 7 years now and my father in-law since paid for an in-law apartment to be added to this house and moved in with his girlfriend. Then, he married her last spring and changed the Will for her to be 50% owner when he dies. We have put every extra penny into this house and have increased it’s value more than double. His father also added value by adding an addition. e now want to sell and buy a new home so we don’t have to worry about losing our home to a nursing home someday or his new wife etc. My question is “do we get 50% equity”, so we can put a down payment on a new home?? The deed is a quitclaim deed as tenants in common, with no rights of survivorship. What type of laywer do you recommend for a situation like this? I have a property management company that handles renting my house in NC since I reside in SC. The last tenants they placed in my house did over $2700.00 in damages and threw all their house hold garbage in the woods behind the house. The management company had sent me a copy of their house inspection while the tenants were still residing there. They reported with good remarks about condition and cleanliness. When I did my inspection after I was informed that the tenants vacated the house was in shambles and it was obvious that it had never been cleaned while they resided there. Do I have any rights to hold the management company responsible for mismanagement and possibly not physically doing a house inspection but showing they did? Right across the road from my property are my and one neighbor’s mailboxes. They turn come from their home and turn around in my driveway when they get their mail because it is more convenient for them to do that. Recently, they accused me of some things and I told them to not come on my property anymore. I have a number of questions concerning a private road easement which goes through our property along the floor of a steep valley. A mid portion stretch of the road goes through our property. I would like to access the property at the bottom of the hill for recreational activities and for maintenance (i.e. removing debris that periodically gets washed down, or dead trees that may have fallen). I have verbally asked the neighbors if it was OK for me to use of the road and they have declined. My sister (B) is dying from a stroke. Her daughter is not sure what to do with the house her mother now owns in Anchorage, Alaska. B did not have medical insurance and her bills are quite extensive from the hospital as well as creditors. What to do a When a Party goes Against Verbal Agreements Made Concerning Property I had a recent emergency with my health and had to go to the hospital and ended up staying overnight. The bill was over $7,000.00 and I have no health insurance. Now I’m getting letters in the mail from Medical Revenue Services ( a collection agency) saying that they’re checking into my assets, bank accounts, owning real estate, etc. I received a letter from a man (I’ll call Mr. Smith) who purchased property owned by a descendent of mine who owned the property in the 1800’s and died in the 1890’s. Supposedly there’s a missing document and there’s no deed showing this property transferred out of my descendant’s estate. Mr. Smith bought this property from someone who had a flaw in the title. He wants me to “release and grant all my right, title and interest in ANY real property in which my late descendant held any right, title and interest at her time of death. Do I have a case to sue for damages since he’s withholding information and misled me and my relatives. He came onto her property the other day and weed wacked one of her gardens and then said “I hope you didn’t mind.” Several occasions like this have taken place, and every time, she makes sure that he understands their property boundary and states that she does not want him to cross (he mows every week over her vines ON HER PROPERTY and is constantly leaving tools on her property on top of her plants). The city came in today and painted the curb in front of my house red as well as stuck a big “no parking” sign directly in front of my house. I was never made aware this was going to happen and it now draws away from my house, possibly devaluing it. The easement in question was recorded in 1983. This is all news to us. We never were asked or notified. We bought property in 1977 and title search at that time showed no easements. I only have liability so my insurance refused to pay for it or to cover it under my home policy. The tree leans into my property and I feel that the neighbor is aware of the danger because his neighbor’s tree fell on his garage few years back. I have a drainage easement (swale)running the back 20 feet of my property. Because of the overwhelming water we have been recieving, the “swale” is causing the water to pond, and as a result, my backyard is collapsing rapidly, and my basement is flooding during heavy rain. I am trying to determined how much to charge for easements that one of my neighbors wants across our property. This is for the purpose of developing his property and he is requesting three separate easements across our property. I have a car on my property that belonged to my boyfriend who died at my home of natural property. His son has not settled the estate-it has been 1.5 years since his death. We share a reciprocal driveway easement with our neighbors, they park on our property and we drive across theirs. The easement documentation provides that we share in the costs of paving the easement. Some of our trees hanging over the area where they park have old, thick branches that could fall and damage their cars. Who is responsible for trimming the trees and keeping them safe? We have painted our remodeled home on three sides and our neighbor is denying us access to use the area beyond the 12 inches (which is on his property) to paint the wall. My neighbor has recently erected a barrier preventing us from driving across that portion of “her” driveway. It’s almost impossible to drive in 1 of 2 cars into the 2 car garage with this barrier. We have the deed and have had our property surveyed which clearly show our property line, however the property line is adjacent to an easement for a driveway. Our neighbor decided to pave the driveway which is on our property. Our deed has nothing in it about an easement being on our property. I fully own a home, and have sold half of it to another party, holding the title as tenants in common with that party. The purchaser has not made timely payments, and I am considering foreclosure proceedings. I do not want to share the property with anyone else at this point, but do not want to “overpay” for the borrower’s interest, the majority of which will come back to me as the lender. The person does not want to quitclaim the deed to me. We have a neighbor who is hell bent on reporting any tiny violation of HOA covenants to the HOA, and takes pictures to email them. The pictures they have taken include the basement bedroom window of our roommate, who is not happy about pics being taken. Somehow I feel like this is an invasion of privacy, but don’t know what to do. I live in Scottsdale Arizona, rather than sell my business and property can I legally raffle it or have an essay contest to get a better price. What recourse do I have if I think I have made a contribution of land to a “bogus church” My son had a card game at his home last night. Two young men got into a fist fight. One fell backward over the couch and injured his face. My father purchased land in California in 1977, he had my mother’s name added to title also. My mother deeded the property to me a few years ago and now, she wants to take it back and sell it for her own purposes. Although we weren’t married at the time the property was being purchased, we both contributed to the down payment. Everything was done in my husbands name only, and his name is the only name that appears on the mortgage. I am a Board member of a private swim and tennis club. We were recently sent a letter from the local sewer authority requesting that we sign the attached right-of-way agreement and grant of right-of-way for an existing sewer line on our property for the sum of $1.00. The letter states that they have entered into a consent order with the local health department and the state department of environmental protection to eliminate sewage overflow into waterways. If a leasehold interest is temporarily relocated and given advanced money to relocate and the leasehold never relocates, can you get the advanced monies back? I used to sit on a Homeowner’s Association, and then I resigned following a lawsuit which named me as a defendant. They had a new assessment, and brought in a new management company. Now the new management company is harrassing me. How can I get them to stop? We were recently sent a letter from the local sewer authority requesting that we sign the attached right-of-way agreement and grant of right-of-way for an existing sewer line on our property for the sum of $1.00. Should we do it? After this new owner had his land surveyed he realized that I, and my neighbor, drove across a ~ 250 sq. ft piece of land in the nethermost corner of his 93 acre holding. This small piece of his adjoining property has been used continuously as a driveway entrance to our properties since their development 40 years ago. I purchased a lot about 12 years ago and all I received was a Quick Deed (quick claim deed) from the seller. We have a 10 foot easement on the back end of our land as likewise do the owners of the field in the back. They would have to cut down 2 30 (foot) trees that are in our yard to do this. They told me at a meeting that if I did not give them the right of this easement through my property that they would condem that part of my yard and use it anyway. The roof on my Unit was repaired personally by the previous owner of my Unit as a requirement before I purchased via FHA and is not in need of repair however, we were all assessed the same amount. My neighbor has 2 large dead oak trees leaning toward my property, with the possibility that at any time they could fall causing damage to my home and/or cars. My father purchased land in California in 1977, he had my mother’s name added to title also. My mother deeded the property to me a few years ago and now, she wants to take it back. If the land is in my name, in California, am I the sole owner of this property? I am a joint tenant with my boyfriend on a home. We are both listed on the first and second loans. If I quick claim (quit claim) the deed to him, does this relieve me of my responsibility for payment on the loan? Our sewer line goes across our neighbor’s property. It was that way when each of us bought our properties. Now I need to replace the sewer line, and we can’t find any recorded easement. If our neighbor tries to keep us from replacing our sewer line, will we be able to prevail based on a prescriptive easement? I was asked to sign a deed immediately following surgery. I don’t remember signing this deed, but it gave half of my house to my mother. Now out of the blue I have just put my house on the market and an attorney for my mother has notified my real estate agent that she does not agree with my selling my house. What can I do? My neighbor has planted a tree next to my pool wall. The tree will have a minimum width of 25 feet. It will shed leaves and nuts into my pool, and will also shut off my sunlight. What can I do? I have recently moved in with my boyfriend who is on a month-to-month lease with his landlord. His landlord has told us that he will not let us live in the apartment because we are not married. Is this a form of religious discrimination? In California, who is required to maintain an existing roadway easement across my neighbor’s land that allows access to my house? What happens when you can’t afford mortgage payments and have to move out of the home? My husband and I bought a home about a month ago. We haven’t signed the mortgage papers yet but he wishes to have his name off the mortgage and I would like his name off the house as well. How can we do this? Can a voting HOA member also act as a developer for the development? We recently acquired a piece of property that has an easement running on one side of it for 2 property owners to pass to get to their houses. Now a third person wants us to sign an agreement for an easement. We want to know what is the normal procedure for an easement? My mother’s will stated that when she died her house would be sold and the profits divided between me and my sister. My half was to go in a trust fund for me and my sister gets the other half outright. My question is: Can I buy out her half and obtain the property for myself? Our neighbor has an easement across our land, which he has permission to use. However, we just found out that all along he has been using property which is 5 feet outside of the permitted easement area. Now he wants to pave it. Does he have a prescriptive easement for the area which he was using which was outside of the original permitted easemenet area? My husband’s grandmother gave him $25,000 of his ‘inheritance’ as a down payment on his first home. This also placed her on the mortgage and the deed in the state of TX. Now we need to relocate due to my husband’s job and his grandmother refuses to cooperate, and allow us to sell the house. What can we do? Can we force a sale of the house (known as “partition”)? Our property has an easement to the adjacent land to allow for farming. Now they are selling that land and intend to convert it to residential with “road” access down our easement. y brother asked our parents to sell their home and move in with him so he can provide any care they may need in the future. They immediately listed their home for sale. Once our parents sell their home, all their equity will be used on the large down payment for my brother’s house. How can we protect their assets and financial interests? My neighbor’s chickens are constantly on my land. Is there any kind of easement that they could acquire over time on my property if I continue to allow this? My sister and I co-own a home. She wants to take out $25,000 in home equity for personal use because she is unemployed. She told me if I won’t sign, she will force me. Can she do that? My village took some of my property. They advised me to get a survey to challenge it. Now they have eminent domain proceedings against me for that property; can I get my expenses for the survey back during the proceedings? How can we get someone who inherited our right of way (ROW) easement to deal with us? James and Mary own 70+ acres in Wyoming. Son notarizes note for $75,000 for this property to be paid to James and Mary. James and Mary die, and Son inherits the property. Does Son still have to pay back the note to James and Mary’s estate? I am trying to sell some property, and the neighbors keep claiming that they own the property (they don’t), and scaring off prospective buyers. What can I do? I have a question about who is responsible for property damage due to a neighbor’s retaining wall that fell down on their property and caused my fence to partially collapse. I want to move soon and rent out my house. Would I reduce my chances for keeping an easement I have on a neighboring lot if the other owner decides to bring a lawsuit to disclaim the easement and I don’t live here? The City told my excavating contractor that my sewer was located in the front of my house, a day and a half was wasted digging. Eventually the sewer was located at the back of the house, and eventually the sewer was replaced at my expense. Can I sue the City for the amount of time that was wasted because the contractor was misinformed? My family has some property located in TX that we all have a divided interest in. One of the family members has informed us that they wish to sell their divided interest, and they are giving us 30 days notice. Can they do this? The easement across our land is unusable. If I cut a road for my needs on my property (not on the easement) do the easement owners have the right to use my new road? I live in the Texas and want to know what size easement is required for an electrical line? My mother wants to quick deed (quit claim) her house to me. Do we need a lawyer to do a quick deed (quit claim deed)? What is an easement in gross? If you have paid a neighbor for use of a strip of land can they put a 4 foot high post at the corner of it, even though you were very clear that you were going to use it for a drive for your cars? Someone has built a house down the block from us and has decided to put a dock 20 feet from us, and instead of making his own access to his dock he has decided to use ours. What can we do? The Home Owners Association of which I am a member is submitting for approval an amendment to the current Covenants which would proscribe the keeping of horses. Since horses were specifically allowed when I purchased my property and I have already invested in stalls and tack. 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? Several months ago I decided to put my fiancé on the warranty deed to my house. Then I found out that he is involed in some illegal doings, and changed my mind. The deed had not yet been recorded, but the lawyer said that she would not stop it because my fiancé was the one that wrote the check to pay for the deed to be written and recorded. But it’s my house. What can I do? We want to change an existing easement by moving it 3 feet. This will not fundamentally change the easement owner’s access. The easement owner does not want us to make the change. Can we change the location of the easement under the circumstances described? My husband and I were evicted by our landlord a couple years ago, we were late in payment when evicted. As we were evicted does that still mean we need to pay? Does an Implied Eastment of Necessity exist? I have lived with a man for a year, and have contributed a lot to the household. Can I take anything when I leave without getting into trouble? I am trying to determined how much to charge for easements that one of my neighbors wants across our property. Is a prescriptive easement through notorious use automatic? The small town where I’ve lived for 15 years is now telling me that the “city mainâ€? is really a private service line. Over the years I have replaced all my outside sewer lines – this was before I realized the line ran across neighbors’ yards and where the actual problem lays. How do I go about getting an easement that would provide my home future protection? I feel like I’m being forced into giving the county a drainage easement. Can the county force me to give them a drainage easement? Can I do anything to get something back that I gave to someone, since they have ended the friendship? “How do I claim heir to the property?” What should a tenant for commercial space do when the landlord refuses the tenant a pre move-in walk through, and refuses to provide proof of permits and other documents for work which was to be done before move-in? I would like to know if I can fight an easement that is already in place on the land I purchased If two people co-own a home, and one has abandoned the home and paid nothing toward the mortgage for months, then comes back but still pays nothing, does the other have the right to kick them out? Just because a deed is in the name of “a married person, as their separate property” doesn’t necessarily mean that the property is really their separate property. Most states require that in performing a service of process, the person serving a legal notice be a) over 18, and b) not a party to the action themselves, but most do not require that service of process be performed by an attorney. Generally speaking, co-signors have no property rights, but a lot of responsibility. A question about tenants rights where a landlord kept a tenant’s security deposit after they moved out, and used it to fix problems which were there when the tenant moved in, and about which the tenant had complained. My next door neighbor keeps calling the police, what can be done? When a non-married couple splits up and both people are on the lease, what can they do and what are their property rights? And when one of them threatens the other and pins them down, that meets the definition of domestic violence. An agreement between a townhome homeowners association and a neighboring condo homeowners association includes financial contributions for upkeep of property easements. Can one demand financial accountability from the other? When opening a liquor store, the prospective liquor store owner should check to make sure that the location that they have chosen is zoned for selling liquor. What is a good asset protection strategy if you believe that someone is going to sue you to retaliate for implicating them in your own lawsuit? A property owner has posted no trespassing signs, but hunters still trespass. His mother, who lives on the land, is also granting permission to some people to use the land. What should he do? Can a next door neighbor be held responsible for property damage caused by their sprinkler? The bank foreclosure process on some foreclosed property accidentally omitted a small bit of property from the property records. What are property rights in this scenario? Just before opening a liquor store, it was discovered that there were zoning legal issues. Whether their attorney was responsible will depend in part on whether they were hired as a business set-up and zoning attorney, or something else. Can a homeowner be held responsible to her neighbor for damage done to the neighbor’s yard by the homeowner’s daughter’s dog? The answer is, most likely. An easement is a right-of-way you grant to someone to cross your land whenever they need to. Governments can force easements through the use of eminent domain law. Private groups have no such power. Our nine unit ocean city condo association has recently voted to add boat slips. The association also added an addendum to this vote that states the boat slips can not be rented out. I personally don’t own a boat, and I have no plans of purchasing a boat as with several other members not on the board. Is the association legally allowed to extend to other members the expense of a luxury item like a boat slip? If they are, can they forbid anyone from renting their unused boat slips?
