Articles on Easements
Can the Local Water District Allow a Cellular Company to Use a Road Easement When the Other Property Owners don’t Agree?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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 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?
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.
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 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.
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?
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?
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 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?
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?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
In California, who is required to maintain an existing roadway easement across my neighbor’s land that allows access to my house?
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?
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?
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.
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?
How can we get someone who inherited our right of way (ROW) easement to deal with us?
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 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?
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?
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?
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?
Does an Implied Eastment of Necessity exist?
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 main” 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?
I would like to know if I can fight an easement that is already in place on the land I purchased
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?
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.
