Easement Granted

What is the name of your state? Washington
Seven years ago, when I purchased my current home, I granted an easement, being told it would never come back to bite me, I was obviously not real estate smart at the time! Now, having relooked the papers know I'm paying taxes and not able to use a substantial piece of property. The only saving grace I may have is that the easement was signed prior to the recording of the sale of the house. Do I have a leg to stand on with this to terminate the easement?

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Originally posted by KelliT.
What is the name of your state? Washington
Seven years ago, when I purchased my current home, I granted an easement, being told it would never come back to bite me, I was obviously not real estate smart at the time! Now, having relooked the papers know I'm paying taxes and not able to use a substantial piece of property. The only saving grace I may have is that the easement was signed prior to the recording of the sale of the house. Do I have a leg to stand on with this to terminate the easement?

My response:

What was the purpose of the easement?

Has the easement been used for that purpose?

You may have a "ratification" problem.

IAAL

I purchased the property from the grandmother of the holder of the easement I granted. There was an existing fence that I had no intentions of moving until recently when I was told by the guy that owns the property that my easement holder also has an easement with that I would no longer be able to cross his property, a side alley, to access my back gate, which prompted me to investigate the HUGE mistake I made back then. When I was looking this up and compared to my recent appraisal for a refi realized that I was being taxed on and not using this parcel. Yes, the easement was granted for "personal use" which I guess he would be doing (except for maintenance)!

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Originally posted by KelliT.
I purchased the property from the grandmother of the holder of the easement I granted. There was an existing fence that I had no intentions of moving until recently when I was told by the guy that owns the property that my easement holder also has an easement with that I would no longer be able to cross his property, a side alley, to access my back gate, which prompted me to investigate the HUGE mistake I made back then. When I was looking this up and compared to my recent appraisal for a refi realized that I was being taxed on and not using this parcel. Yes, the easement was granted for "personal use" which I guess he would be doing (except for maintenance)!

My response:

Well, it sounds like to me that you did, in fact, ratify the easement because you allowed it's use AFTER you owned the property. Also, you failed to include yourself in the usage rights of the easement, and you didn't have him agree to pay the taxes in exchange for the rights to the easement. So, you pretty much screwed yourself, and on top of all that, you're on the hook for the taxes.

What's worse, is that because of the tax situation, and the lack of ability to use that easement, you made your property virtually worthless to a subsequent buyer. I mean, would you buy your property if you knew you had to pay property taxes on land you couldn't use or convey?

IAAL

This sounds like a job for an attorney!!!! Thank you for your help and please...... wish me a ton of luck. I just want to get out from underneath before I do decide to sell because no one else is going to want this burden! Thanks again.