Legal question about an ingress/egress easement-any input?

[home4school]

We bought our home about 4 years ago from the previous owner. We have 5 acres and our driveway, which is about 1/3 mile long is shown on the plat as an ingress/egress easement. There is a house at the corner of our drive that has their driveway on the same main road as ours. There is a 3 acre tract of land between that house and our house that can only be accessed by our driveway. Our driveway is our land, we are granting the easement to the 3 acre land owner. I contacted the company that did the survey and verified that point. Here's the problem:

 

The family at the end of our drive constantly uses our driveway to access their backyard. We didn't care and were happy they could use it to their benefit. But, they have turned out to be the worst neighbors. They have a son about 14-15 who rides his dirtbike and a golf cart up and down our drive, spinning the tires and slinging what little gravel we have out. He throws down drink bottles and any other trash he has whenever he wants. My dh has talked to the dad a couple of times, asking him to see that the son wouldn't spin his tires or litter. The dad gets an attitude about "the easement". I think he believes HE is giving US the easement. A fews months ago he called me and asked to stop my boys from riding their dirtbikes up and down "the easement", bc the dirt was so dry it was blowing in their pool. I didn't bring up the issue of "the easement", just told him I would stop them from coming up too close to his place. I try not to rock the boat.

 

The day after Christmas my boys, ages 10 and 12, were riding up and down the driveway, only about halfway. We told them to NEVER go up to their property again. The 14-15 yo neighbor's son and his cousin, who is even a little older than him, were parked in the woods along our drive and jumped out and started shooting paintballs at my boys! Great kids, huh? My boys came home and told dh, who went to their house and talked to the parents. He told them to just keep their son off our property from now on. That "easement" is our driveway and those boys better not get back on it. Well, it wasn't 10 minutes later, they were back out there again. I managed to keep dh from going back up to their house, telling him we would find out for sure about the easement and was legal rights we have.

 

How do you find out about an easement? We were never given any kind of papers regarding it. To me it is only for the man who has no other access to his tract than our driveway. These people have their drive coming of the same main road as ours, so to me, they have no need for the easement, except it gives them easier access to the back side of their property. They use our drive instead of going across their property.

 

Is there a paper filed somewhere regarding this easement? How do I find out anything about it? Will I have to get a lawyer?

 

Thanks for any help you can offer. I am just so fed up with these people's attitude and their punk kid intimidating my boys.

 

Blessings,

Kim

[TraceyS/FL]

My driveway is an easement.

 

I was told during a recent event by a police officer that it is a PUBLIC right of way and i can't keep people off of it. And i have no rights until i hit my property at the end. The property that grants the easement up front is woods - and he also said that only that property owner could report trespassing if they saw it. Gee. great.

 

So supposedly here the easement makes it a public road. I disagree with this - and it contradicts what another officer told us.

 

I feel your pain - there isn't anyone else that should be on "our" driveway.... everyone using it is using it as a shortcut. We had a tornado come thru and that kicked some stuff up - and then FEMA took the rest of the fence down.

 

Anyway, hopefully you can get a legal answer for your area.

[kalanamak]

I would start by looking at your city or county website and finding out what department handles property. I'd look at the names of the people you can contact. Then, with my neatest, non-hoity-toity clothes on, one very well behaved child, and my calmest smile, I'd go down and see if there is a secretary that really runs the show at that office. Befriend her, and she'll steer you to all the right people.

 

Be calm, curious, slightly concerned, don't vent, don't trash, but find out the real rules of your city/ county. Be patient and grateful. These people are so delighted to deal with non-nuts. At least that has been my experience in more than one state.

[5knights3maidens]

My dh isn't home right now but he is a surveyor. I'll ask him when he gets home.

[home4school]

Thanks, ladies for your replies. Gosh, Tracey, I hope we have some rights! We have let things slide for years, trying to keep the peace, but a 14-15 yo shooting paintballs at my 10yo on MY driveway has been the last straw!

 

Guess we'll head to the courthouse tomorrow. Just seems like there would be something somewhere. This seems like a gray area right now.

 

Blessings,

Kim

[Tammy]

The has to be paperwork on that easement 'somewhere'.....I would look in your zoning department....

[Tammy]

Also....I have a canal behind me....which the county has easement rights to....that doesn't mean anyone can use it....only the county. That is why I would look up the original paperwork on your easement....

[TraceyS/FL]

Thanks, ladies for your replies. Gosh, Tracey, I hope we have some rights! We have let things slide for years, trying to keep the peace, but a 14-15 yo shooting paintballs at my 10yo on MY driveway has been the last straw!

 

Guess we'll head to the courthouse tomorrow. Just seems like there would be something somewhere. This seems like a gray area right now.

 

Blessings,

Kim

 

You should since YOU are granting it. I wouldn't hesitate to call the non-emergency police number next time. I have it programmed into my phone! Our guys were able to get the info on the easement, so i'm guessing it's in the computer. They might be able to give you some info too.

 

Hopefully you can get it worked out - i know what you mean totally.....

[Dee in MI]

The county is a good idea. However, at most these people have the right to use your property for the purposes of ingress and egress. Not for recreation. Not for the purposes of assaulting your children!

 

I have power lines on my property, and the power company has the right to come and trim trees. They don't have the right for their employees to set up a picnic.

 

Next time they SHOOT you CHILDREN, call the police. Regardless of the easement issue, they have no right to do that. And they have NO right to keep you off of your own property.

 

And if you do end up having to hire a property lawyer, it probably won't cost you thousands of dollars. They could probably spell out your rights and send a nicely worded copy to your neighbor for a few hundred dollars. I know this is money you'd rather not spend on this, but just consider it part of the cost of owning that home.

 

I'm venting, because I have neighbors who believe they have the right to dump trash in my woods. Yeesh.

[newbie]

We are having easement issues right now too. In California it is listed on your title docs.

 

It states all easements, and whether they are private or public. If public, sheriff is right, if private, it states addresses that have access. If that easement is private, and does not state your neighbors add. they can have no access.

 

On our current prop, our side road is our prop. but it is a public easement which means anyone can travel and I dont think we have any rights. But, if those boys were causing trouble, I would call cops for being a nuisance.

[StaceyinLA]

We have a right of passage for ingress and egress as well on our property. You need to see how it was recorded at the courthouse, and exactly what it was granted for and who to. I am sure if that property is land-locked, they WILL have the right to use that for access, but they do have a responsibility to the owner of the property (you) to keep it in a certain condition.

 

I will tell you that if it is for ingress and egress ONLY, their boys probably do not have the right to use it for play. It will just depend on how it is worded on the recorded docs.

 

And yes, you may have to get a lawyer for clarification purposes and to send them a certified letter explaining the situation and their responsibilities, but it probably wouldn't be really expensive, and the results could be WELL worth it in the long run. Be sure if you do get a lawyer, to get one that deals with those issues. Otherwise, they may not be on top of any current laws in that regard. Our guy was great!

[In The Great White North]

There are certainly papers filed recording the easement. They should be wherever your deeds are stored; ours are at the town but some states keep them at the county.

 

Easements are specific legal rights to use someone else's property. "Public" easements are usually to things like lakefronts, not a lot. Your easement should list, by name or address exactly to whom you have granted what rights.

 

From your description, it sounds like you have a "flag lot" where your driveway is the "flagpole" and they are the neighboring lot (and the lot in between is vacant.) If that is the case, your neighbors likely have NO right to any access to your property.

 

They may believe that they actually own the drive and are granting you egress.

 

If they have been using the drive for some years (uncontested), some states actually grant them the right to continue using it.

 

If you bought the property four years ago, and bought title insurance (usually required for a mortgage), your title insurance company should have researched any and all possible claims to your property. You should have some paperwork from them in your closing papers.

 

Once you are able to prove to them that you actually own the property, you will still have a "neighbor issue."

[home4school]

The family we are having the problem with is not land locked. They have a drive to their property right down from our drive coming off the same main road. We can tell from tire tracks from our drive into their backyard that they have been using our drive to access the back side of their property. They have never asked us to use it. Their son is always on it in a golf cart or on his motorcycle. But the way he always refers to "the easement", I bet he thinks he is allowing us use of his property.

 

Hopefully, we will be able to find something at the courthouse Tuesday. I can't go up there tomorrow, but I may even try to call to see if I can find anything out over the phone or at least where I need to go to.

 

My dh and I hate that its come to this, but I hope we will be legally able to keep them off of our drive permanently!

 

Thanks for all the help!

 

Kim

[StaceyinLA]

if this is a private easement granting access to only certain property, and it's not THEIRS being granted the access, they have NO RIGHT to be on it - you can mark it private/no trespassing and call the cops if they are on it. And like I said, even if it IS granting them access to their property, they still might only have it for coming and going, NOT recreation.

 

I know about hating it to come to that. We hated our situation too, but our people were just being absolutely ridiculous about what they thought they could do with OUR land.