Easements

[perz1103]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
I purchased a riverfront property with appx 2 acres, 101 ft wide by about 900 foot deep. I learn soon after I contracted to buy the Home that there is a 30 yr old easement for ingress and egress which runs 16ft wide across the front running 560 ft deep along the south side of the property which my neighbor and I use as a driveway. So now I have about 86 ft by 560 in the front portion of the property unencumbered by the easement. My neighbors property is the same as mine except his is appx 150 wide. We both have a road that runs directly In front of both of our properties so neither of us are landlocked even if the easement was not there. At one time I believe he might have only owned the rear 1 acre and needed the easement for ingress and egress. The builder I bought the home from built the my new house in front of the existing home then tore down the old one thus making the easement extremely close to the new home. He said he was going to have the easement removed or talk to the neighbor to see if he would agree but he never did. After I spoke with my neighbor he said he didn’t want to do away, or move his entrance because it made his property look bigger then it is. The easement terminates when they sell or move from the property. The neighbors are both in their 70’s and have indicated that they will never sell or move because they have been there forever. I’ve offered to pay him a sum and build a nice driveway for them but they have refused. Lots of advices being offered and one was; “go ahead and put up a fence Because they are not landlocked and can still access their property from the road in the front and let them sue you. The next strategy was to hire an Attorney to get it removed. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[seniorjudge]

Any advice would be helpful.

The best piece of advice I can give you is not to listen to anyone who gives you the following illegal, expensive, incorrect, and stupid advice:


Lots of advices being offered and one was; “go ahead and put up a fence Because they are not landlocked and can still access their property from the road in the front and let them sue you. The next strategy was to hire an Attorney to get it removed.

 

[FarmerJ]

Per you wrote > The easement terminates when they sell or move from the property. The neighbors are both in their 70’s and have indicated that they will never sell or move because they have been there forever. < according to what you wrote this easement will not transfer with the property , SO is there a reason your not able to wait them out ? They will not live for ever and If this easement is in writting and that well written even if they moved to nursing home or assisted living or anywhere else and allowed adult children to move in by them moving out then the easement would expire yes ??

 

[Mrs Bridges]

Tell us exactly what the grant says.

The place to start is with the grant. Tell us exactly what the grant says. That will dictate what you are legally bound to do.

I, too, own land which is burdened by an ingress/egress right-of-way easement. I am happy to share with you some of the things I have learned.

My parents were the original grantors of the easement, and it was intended to go with non-waterfront property across the street. The purpose of the easement was to give waterfront boating access to the people who bought this small piece of my parents' property. These people were family friends.

My problems with the two most recent owners of the non-waterfront property have been ignorance and greediness, fueled by over-zealous realtors and sellers eager to over-inflate the selling price and make a quick buck.

To further complicate the picture, since the original grantees were family friends, my parents gave them permission to do certain things and to use the land in certain ways which were above and beyond and outside the scope of the written grant. After these good folks died, the new owners (having heard glowing tales of how famously my deceased father had at one time allowed free use to the deceased family friends) expected to move right in and take right over with the same privileges. Without asking, mind you, and the original grantees always asked.

After consulting several lawyers, I decided that I could live with the ingress/egress grant as it was written, and intended by my parents. However, my parents had used this land as working waterfront, and it was my desire to turn it into a garden. I took a huge pile of debris to the dump -- remnants of my grandfather's boathouse which was destroyed in a hurricane in the early 60's. I planted, re-seeded, and put in a new sea wall when the old one collapsed. What I did not want to do was to continue to allow off-season float storage on my land. It kills the grass. So now they have to haul their float out just like many other people -- they drag it down river about a mile to a public landing, load it on a flat bed, and have it delivered to their home (where it kills their grass).

So what you may be able to glean from my experience and use for your own benefit is that the actual written grant may give your neighbors less rights than what you all are currently thinking. It is possible that like my parents' neighbors, they were given permission to do certain things which were outside the scope of the easement. For example, if the easement does not specify parking or storage, then they may not legally park their cars there, or store things there. Not unless you give them permission to do so. And of course that means permission on a case by case basis.

Hope this helps.