Ingress and Egress Easements

[eaglerapids]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? South Carolina
Hi. I've gotten verbal permission from a neighbor to run a driveway across a small section of his property. Can anyone tell me the most efficient (both time and money) steps to legally make this happen?

He's mentioned needing an assessment afterwards. It affects a very small unusable part of his land-but I want to make them happy as they are willing to work with me and it makes my drive about 50m shorter!

Thanks in advance!
RLC

 

[drewguy]

The easiest and most efficient would be a letter agreement granting you permission, which he can terminate with some notice and perhaps for which you compensate him.

The problem with that is if the next owner changes his mind and you've built a driveway in reliance upon it. To protect against that you need to record an easement, which can be drawn up by a lawyer. You presumably would pay the neighbor a modest amount, in addition to the easement legal fees. That would give you and any subsequent owners the the right to use that portion of land for ingress/egress.