I would be very cautious about an easement that is not recorded. If you are not truly landlocked (regardless of difficulty of access), you cannot force anyone to give you an easement. If you only have verbal permission to use the existing driveway, that could be revoked at any time.
I ran into that with property I owned in Wisconsin (Price County). We did not know that what was represented as the easement was only verbal permission (title insurance excluded any easement). The easement property changed hands. At first the new owners gave verbal permission, but refused to put anything in writing. Then they changed their minds and said they would lock the gate the following September.
Even the easement described on the title (which crossed a bog and creek) was not properly recorded on all properties involved. My buyers backed out, so I sold to an adjoining neighbor (not in easement dispute), who had previously made a lower offer.
BTW I hired a local attorney for the sale, which first brought the easement problem to light. But unfortunately I did not consult an attorney when buying the property 12 years earlier.
If your land extends to a public road where a driveway could possibly be built, how can the loan company "require" an easement? If the verbal easement was revoked, how much would it cost to build a driveway through the woods? That might give you a bargaining point to drop the sale price if the seller cannot provide a written recorded easement. Then let your loan company know that building your own driveway is an option if there is no easement.
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Not a legal expert, just a victim of invalid WI easement
I ran into that with property I owned in Wisconsin (Price County). We did not know that what was represented as the easement was only verbal permission (title insurance excluded any easement). The easement property changed hands. At first the new owners gave verbal permission, but refused to put anything in writing. Then they changed their minds and said they would lock the gate the following September.
Even the easement described on the title (which crossed a bog and creek) was not properly recorded on all properties involved. My buyers backed out, so I sold to an adjoining neighbor (not in easement dispute), who had previously made a lower offer.
BTW I hired a local attorney for the sale, which first brought the easement problem to light. But unfortunately I did not consult an attorney when buying the property 12 years earlier.
If your land extends to a public road where a driveway could possibly be built, how can the loan company "require" an easement? If the verbal easement was revoked, how much would it cost to build a driveway through the woods? That might give you a bargaining point to drop the sale price if the seller cannot provide a written recorded easement. Then let your loan company know that building your own driveway is an option if there is no easement.
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Not a legal expert, just a victim of invalid WI easement