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Banned from an easement

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highanddry

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts

We have lived across the street from a beautiful cranberry bog for more than 25 years. We met the owner 25 years ago, introduced our children to him and received his permission to walk around this breath taking area any time we wanted. To access this bog, we need to use a deeded easement (right of way) which we have done for more than 25 years. The property the easement is on has changed hands 4 times in all these years. The latest owner had the police greet my husband as he finished his walk with one of our dogs and told him he was trespassing and if he did it again, he would be arrested. The deed for the easement dates back to 1978 prior to this home being built with no specific wording as far as who can tell whom what to do.
Could my husband have been arrested?
Is this man out of his mind by bringing in 2 policemen for this and what would be the best way to stop this harrassment.
 


154NH773

Senior Member
The easement must be spelled out in the deed of the property you are using for access, and it must give you the right to use the property for access to the bog area. The easement may be in a prior deed, as long as it is appurtenant to the property. In other words, it cannot be interpreted to mean that at some point the easement is no longer valid.

What does the easement covenant say exactly, and how does it give you a right to use it?

NH caselaw says that a dominent tenant (someone the easement benefits) of a right of way may not be blocked from using the easement. If the owner continues to block your legal access, you may sue him. If the deed is ambigious, NH allows a Quiet Title action to be brought in Superior Court. ( I just brought one and it was decided in my favor). In the Quiet Title action, the court interprets the language and decides who has what rights.
 

Indiana Filer

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts

We have lived across the street from a beautiful cranberry bog for more than 25 years. We met the owner 25 years ago, introduced our children to him and received his permission to walk around this breath taking area any time we wanted. To access this bog, we need to use a deeded easement (right of way) which we have done for more than 25 years. The property the easement is on has changed hands 4 times in all these years. .
Is the easement deeded to you?
 

highanddry

Junior Member
The easement must be spelled out in the deed of the property you are using for access, and it must give you the right to use the property for access to the bog area. The easement may be in a prior deed, as long as it is appurtenant to the property. In other words, it cannot be interpreted to mean that at some point the easement is no longer valid.

What does the easement covenant say exactly, and how does it give you a right to use it?

NH caselaw says that a dominent tenant (someone the easement benefits) of a right of way may not be blocked from using the easement. If the owner continues to block your legal access, you may sue him. If the deed is ambigious, NH allows a Quiet Title action to be brought in Superior Court. ( I just brought one and it was decided in my favor). In the Quiet Title action, the court interprets the language and decides who has what rights.
The deed gives access to the bog owner. The bog owner gave us (my entire family of 5 + 3 dogs + 3 horses) permission to use it to access his bog area 25 years ago. Does he need to give us permission in writing? How can the owner of the property where the easement is located pick and choose who has access and who doesn't? Should the bog owner (man whose name appears on the deed to the easement) take time out of his busy life to speak with this man? I just don't see how after 25 years of permissin is negated by a very vindictive, spiteful man.
 

highanddry

Junior Member
So you acknowledge that you had no rights to the land, but you still think you deserve access? We have people like you that live near us. We call them trespassers.
So you believe the man named on the easement deed DOES NOT have the ability to allow us access? Just the property owner? So if the property owner does not like someone who is working for the bog owner he can deny access? Hmmm...
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
The person /property named in the easement must have by the easements own wording the right to give a 3rd party who is dis interested the right to use it. I cannot imagine why anyone who grants a easement to another would permit 3rd party permission others who are not visiting a home that must be accessed via easement or doing some legitimate work for the owner of the land benefiting because of the easement. SO if the man who told you you could walk in his grove had a home there then you should be able to walk in to visit. IF he hired you to prune his orchard then as a worker you should be able to use the easement no differently than a furnace repair tech having to cross a easement to get to his clients home. ITS all in the wording. IF you are on that good of terms with the easements user perhaps they would be able to review the easement to refresh memory of exactly what its use is or is not limited to. BUT in the time being do your self a favor and stay off of it.
 

las365

Senior Member
Do you have any idea why the property owner is so adamant that you not use the easement? Do you pick up your dogs' feces if they poop while walking there? Do you let the dogs go unleashed?

Was the incident in which the police were brought in the very first time you had been asked or told not to use the easment? If not, how many times had the owner told you to stay off of his property?
 

154NH773

Senior Member
I agree with FarmerJ. The bog owner has no right to grant you an easement across land he does not own, even though he has such an easement. For him to allow you access through the easement, he is placing a greater burden on the land of the actual owner, and the courts have said (in some states) that no additional burden may be placed on an easement that wasn't intended by the original grant. It looks like you've lost the right to use it, which actually you never had in the first place.
 

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