Alley width not on plot plan

[testor]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Our neighborhood homemade plot plan was done in 1890 with no dementions for the alley between properties. The one side of the alley has always been defined by fences and cement driveways and is not in question. Most of the deeds that border the alley state that the alley is a 10 ft. wide alley. Porblem: survay of the entire area showed an extra 8 ft. and the people on the north side want to consider the alley to be 10 ft. plus this extra 8 equaling 18 ft since the map shows no width. (This gives them parking but takes away a critical part of my yard.) I claim the written discription of the deed (10 ft wide) prevails since the plot plan does not give a measurement. I feel the extra 8 ft. was probably created due to a difficult revine behind us and that is where the extra 8 ft. should be allocated. Who should prevail?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[drewguy]

So what you have is an unrecorded easement, or maybe no easement at all, just a long-standing practice that might give rise to a prescriptive easement.

The fact that no one has used that other 8 feet for an alley in 120 years means any neighbor would have a tough time claiming its part of the alley. On that ground you should be safe.

Your problem however is that to establish absolute rights to use the existing alley you might have to bring a quiet title action that would allow you to record the easement. That's expensive. It might be cheaper to work out a compromise whereby you grant, say, 5 feet of property, they grant an additional 3, and you all record an 18 foot alley easement for everyone's benefit.