Category: Easements

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? Read More …

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? Read More …

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? Read More …

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? Read More …

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)? Read More …

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? Read More …

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. Read More …

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? Read More …

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? Read More …

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. Read More …