Quick easement question ?

[oachs83]

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

My girlfriend wanted to put a raised garden bed in our backyard for a few vegetables. As I was building the box for it which is only 7'x6' my one neighbor comes over and says she does not want me to put it there because of the easement. She is basically trying to claim that she owns the whole 15' easement for water lines (sprinkler system) that noone even has hooked up. I assume it is just a utility easement and our development is only 2 years old so the property pins are up clear as day. I have the bed 6' into my property off the line. She pretty much thinks she owns 7.5' into my yard but I tried to explain that the property line is were my yard starts. Hence the meaning of "property line" she then started complaining about a bush I planted in the corner of my property 1' into my yard she's saying were lucky she let us plant that there. Now I am not in the wrong here am I? I just think she is really confused. She said shes calling the city and getting this taken care of. I just don't want any trouble from a neighbor or anyone else in that matter. I do understand if the utility company needs to do work they have every right to tear up what they need to within the easement. I just want to make sure I am doing everything ok and trying to stay neighborly.

 

[justalayman]

well, sure glad you didn't say it was an easy easement question.


before anybody can answer you, you will have to figure out what the easement is for, who it is granted to, and what, if any, rules or controls are placed on it.

you also need to understand that an easement is on somebody elses property, like yours maybe. You need to figure out if the easement is on your property that 7 1/2 feet but my question is:

who is this neighbor and how does it affect or include her?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

You need to find out who is the dominant tenant of the easement (who benefits by the easement). If it is a utility easement, the only danger with putting a raised garden bed on the easement is that if the dominant tenant needs to work on the their utilities, they'll tear up your garden in the process, and may charge you for any additional charges incurred due to the garden being in the way.

I seriously doubt your neighbor is the dominant tenant. If she is, she should be able to show you where the easement is recorded.

See here for more information on easements:

http://www.abanet.org/rppt/cmtes/standing-committees/community/Yi1.pdf

Also, the city really doesn't care about the easement unless they are the dominant tenant. In any event, I doubt you'll ever hear from them.

 

[FarmerJ]

You must be metro or some point south, no one up here where I live is going to start to plant veg gardens till after may 20 at the earliest and some will wait till after memorial day since its not unheard of to have hard frost near memorial day LOL, so for now yes do some research , first thing is super easy, your city public works desk can tell you if there are city water or sewer lines that run through that part of your property, second the call before you dig service should be able to tell you if there are any other utils buried there as in shallower electric , phone , CATV , natural gas line. Once youve done them then I would suggest the more detailed searching to learn if there is any easement for that neighbor recorded to the title of your property. If you find there is really no easement granted to this neighbor politely but firmly request to her in writting to show you the written easement she claims to have. ( If she cannot produce then carry on and enjoy your garden, its been nice weather for getting ready)

 

[oachs83]

Farmerj I am in Mankato but I just filled the bed to let the soil settle. We are not planting until into May. To get back to the subject. I doubt she is the dominant tennat for the easement because there is 4 houses that run along this same easement and I don't think each house owns their own part of the easement. That would mean a utility company if needed to work on something would need permission from all the easement owners. The house has been checked just two weeks ago for all sorts of lines, pipes, etc. for a phone line I just had buried and we are ok there. The water lines are just for sprinkler system that not one person has hooked up for there house. I would assume either the developer (that went belly up) or the city who owns the easement. Bottom line is if she does not own the easement and I am within my property she should have no reason to say a thing to me? Thanks again in advance.


As far as who is this neighbor and how does it affect her is a good question. I have lived here two years and only met her one other time other than today. She is a elderly lady, the other time I talked to her was when I was installing a invisible dog fence along my property and she came out to bable about the easement then but never went to far with it as the line only goes 1" into the ground. I seriously think she just stares out the window all day without much to do.

 

[justalayman]

Bottom line is if she does not own the easement and I am within my property she should have no reason to say a thing to me?

IF she is the dominant tenant (which it really sounds like she is not), she would have cause and a right to complain. Unless she is the dominant tenant, she has no standing to say or do anything about it.

It does sound like you have a busy body neighbor.

best of luck with that one..


have you ever heard the old saying:

good fences make good neighbors

 

[oachs83]

have you ever heard the old saying:

good fences make good neighbors

Funny you say that, I told my girlfriend that right after the lady left and about 10 minutes later my other neighbor who witnessed the confrontation and actually backed me up while the lady was out said the same quote. I am really starting to believe this is very true. Monday or Tuesday I am contacting the city just to make sure she is not the dominant owner which I am 99% sure she is not. I will update as soon as I know. Thanks

The funny thing about all this is she has a 12'x10' wooden floored shed just 3 or 4 feet off the line into her property.

 

[justalayman]

The funny thing about all this is she has a 12'x10' wooden floored shed just 3 or 4 feet off the line into her property.

Oh, I get it now. She figures that if whomever needs to access through the easement, since she has part of it blocked off, they can still access via your portion of the easement. If you blocked off your part as well, both of you would have to remove your encroachments if the dominant tenant needed to utilize the easement.

 

[oachs83]

UPDATE:

So i went and got the plot map for my house from the city. It actually shows that I only have a 5ft. easement (not 15' like she thought) going back into my property. So after all this since my garden is 6.5' off the line there is no reason any of this should have got started. Also she does not own the easement and I was told to just go about my business. Yesterday during lunch I saw her in my yard with a different neighbor and she was pointing all over the place. So I took my plot map out and very kindly showed her and explained everything to her. She still really did not understand it much and kept trying to say that the easement into my yard is shared. I finally got it through to her that our property line splits a 10' easement to where 5' is mine and 5' is hers. That she has absolutley no say as to what goes on beyond my property line whatsoever. She said "Oh" handed the piece of paper back and walked away. So hopefully I got this issue resolved. Thanks to all that chimmed in for advice.

P.S. I did measure her shed off the property line and it is exactly 5' so her shed is legal as well. But it is still funny as she originaly thought it was a 15' easement meaning she came over to complain about my garden while having a shed 2.5' into the easement if it was at 15'.

 

[justalayman]

it's hard to argue with facts.

hopefully this is the end.


I suspect it won't be the end of everything but hopefully at least this situation.