Amy Flemming
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? MICHIGAN
We have purchased a property (with a house and barn) in MI and it has road frontage. It is parcell #1 of 4. The remaining 3 parcells (all land with no utilities or buildings) are all landlocked. We agreed to allow a 66' ingress/egress/utility easement to the landlocked property, which is owned by the person we bought our house/property from. He intends to eventually sell the additional 3 parcells.
The easement area at the road is heavily treed and swampy (standing water) for about 200-300 feet from the road. Beyond that area, it is mowed and maintained by us, the property owners. Since it has been so hot and the area that gets shaded the earliest and most is in this easement, we put up a temporary horse fence to turn our horse out. It runs through the middle of the easement and leaves about 30' of the easement open, more than enough room to drive a vehicle accross. The owner of the property behind us has had a fit because of this. The fence is REMOVABLE in less than 24 hours, does NOT hinder him from getting to his property (which he would need to use the neighbor's driveway to get to, tresspass on our non-easement property, or WALK through THICK trees and water). We have every intention of moving the fence when he puts a road in or needs to use the whole 66'. However, he is now telling us that the fence is too close to his property line (which, after finding the iron stakes he paid a survaor to put up, HIS fence is on OUR property and our fence is fine) and he will take it down if he needs to, cutting it down. He also tells us that we cannot use the easement at all, even to drive on to access our property. I find it hard to believe that I am paying taxes on a piece of property that I cannot use.
My questions are as follows:
Do I need to take down my fence (which still leaves him plenty of access) just because he says so?
Can I use the easement as I see fit as long as he has access to his property and it does not damage utilities (which there are none at the moment)?
What are my rights?
Thanks!
We have purchased a property (with a house and barn) in MI and it has road frontage. It is parcell #1 of 4. The remaining 3 parcells (all land with no utilities or buildings) are all landlocked. We agreed to allow a 66' ingress/egress/utility easement to the landlocked property, which is owned by the person we bought our house/property from. He intends to eventually sell the additional 3 parcells.
The easement area at the road is heavily treed and swampy (standing water) for about 200-300 feet from the road. Beyond that area, it is mowed and maintained by us, the property owners. Since it has been so hot and the area that gets shaded the earliest and most is in this easement, we put up a temporary horse fence to turn our horse out. It runs through the middle of the easement and leaves about 30' of the easement open, more than enough room to drive a vehicle accross. The owner of the property behind us has had a fit because of this. The fence is REMOVABLE in less than 24 hours, does NOT hinder him from getting to his property (which he would need to use the neighbor's driveway to get to, tresspass on our non-easement property, or WALK through THICK trees and water). We have every intention of moving the fence when he puts a road in or needs to use the whole 66'. However, he is now telling us that the fence is too close to his property line (which, after finding the iron stakes he paid a survaor to put up, HIS fence is on OUR property and our fence is fine) and he will take it down if he needs to, cutting it down. He also tells us that we cannot use the easement at all, even to drive on to access our property. I find it hard to believe that I am paying taxes on a piece of property that I cannot use.
My questions are as follows:
Do I need to take down my fence (which still leaves him plenty of access) just because he says so?
Can I use the easement as I see fit as long as he has access to his property and it does not damage utilities (which there are none at the moment)?
What are my rights?
Thanks!