T
tstoll
Guest
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Indiana
I am looking at a plot of ground that is essentially a long ridge. The property is about 600 feet long and anywhere from 200-300 feet deep. I'm estimating that only the front 75-100 feet is buildable due to the extreme grade on the back part of the lot which bottoms out in a dry creek bed. This alone would not bother me as we are just looking at putting a small weekend cabin on it and will possibly build into the hill to a degree anyway.
The thing that concerns me is that the survey discription for all six lots (each 100 feet wide) has the same easement description which states that the property "...is subject to a 20 foot right of way easement of the present existing (closed) Lynnville Ridge Road. Owner is to improve and maintain the right of way across this land. Only an appropriate, rustic habitation of at least 400 Square feet may be built. Only one residence may be built on this tract."
I don't have any issues with the building restrictions, but I do wonder about the easement. I could envision that at one point in time, a road actually existed on top of the ridge. Currently, it is in forest with no signs of a road, so if it did exist, it's been long ago, which would probably explain the (closed) notation. If the county chose to reopen the road, I could see it running right through the only real prime building area on the lot, since most of it has too much grade. This might be far-fetched as the area is somewhat remote, and has other county roads serving it. If the 20-foot easement was from the center of the current road, it wouldn't cause a problem.
I understand that if I buy and build without pinning down exactly where the easement lies, I'm playing with fire. It just seems really odd that the deed would reference building restrictions if the only place to build is on a right of way. It also seems odd that the owner must improve and maintain the right of way...what would I do...pave a road across the lots?!!! My question is, if the road is closed, and it's obviously been closed for years and years, how hard is it to cure an easement like this one?
I will pose this question to an attorney before making an offer on the property, but I was curious if anyone else had come across such a strange easement description or if anyone is operating with a similar easement on their property? I apologize for the long-winded account, but I wanted to give you all a full picture of what I'm seeing...thanks in advance for any words of wisdom...
I am looking at a plot of ground that is essentially a long ridge. The property is about 600 feet long and anywhere from 200-300 feet deep. I'm estimating that only the front 75-100 feet is buildable due to the extreme grade on the back part of the lot which bottoms out in a dry creek bed. This alone would not bother me as we are just looking at putting a small weekend cabin on it and will possibly build into the hill to a degree anyway.
The thing that concerns me is that the survey discription for all six lots (each 100 feet wide) has the same easement description which states that the property "...is subject to a 20 foot right of way easement of the present existing (closed) Lynnville Ridge Road. Owner is to improve and maintain the right of way across this land. Only an appropriate, rustic habitation of at least 400 Square feet may be built. Only one residence may be built on this tract."
I don't have any issues with the building restrictions, but I do wonder about the easement. I could envision that at one point in time, a road actually existed on top of the ridge. Currently, it is in forest with no signs of a road, so if it did exist, it's been long ago, which would probably explain the (closed) notation. If the county chose to reopen the road, I could see it running right through the only real prime building area on the lot, since most of it has too much grade. This might be far-fetched as the area is somewhat remote, and has other county roads serving it. If the 20-foot easement was from the center of the current road, it wouldn't cause a problem.
I understand that if I buy and build without pinning down exactly where the easement lies, I'm playing with fire. It just seems really odd that the deed would reference building restrictions if the only place to build is on a right of way. It also seems odd that the owner must improve and maintain the right of way...what would I do...pave a road across the lots?!!! My question is, if the road is closed, and it's obviously been closed for years and years, how hard is it to cure an easement like this one?
I will pose this question to an attorney before making an offer on the property, but I was curious if anyone else had come across such a strange easement description or if anyone is operating with a similar easement on their property? I apologize for the long-winded account, but I wanted to give you all a full picture of what I'm seeing...thanks in advance for any words of wisdom...