Easement use/damage by neighbor

[NancDan]

hello, we live in washington state, purchased a property in december of 1999, landlocked neighbor living on parcel behind us uses the gravel/dirt driveway through our property for ingress/egress which county slated as being a private road. neighbor was ok with us until we told him we did not want him to cut and take out bushes, small trees, take out old stumps along driveway after he told us what great firewood they would make, (by the way he is self retired and makes a living out of living off of other people). since september of 2000 he has insisted that we are stepping on his rights to the easement and that he has a legal right to cut a road 30 feet in width or do anything he wants whether we like it or not, because he cannot traverse a 15 ft. driveway. i have gone to our local county office and looked up every recording number on our deed and gotten plat maps for both properties plus looked up to see if the former owners had recorded anything for right of way or special easement to the neighbor and have found nothing of consequence, other than this is for 30 foot utilities easement only. This driveway has been established since 1982. I have recently put up no trespassing signs, and he called the county on us twice to put in complaints of environmental natures. We pay the taxes on it. What can we do to get it through his head that he cannot cross personal boundaries like this? Thank you for your time.

 

[HomeGuru]

Hire an attorney and sue his butt for trespassing.

 

[totallybroke]

while your at it....

make those the most expensive bushes and tree stumps ever known to mankind.

 

[ConfusedCitizen]

I am also a home owner who's neighbor has egress rights to a driveway which I own. This is documented on our deed and recorded at the county. What I'd like to know is WHAT constitutes the usage rights of this neighbor ? Appearently the previous owners had some sort of agreement with the neighbor on the OTHER side to use THEIR driveway / garage, but the house was recently sold to a party who painted a yellow line clear across the property line. He complains when even 2 inches of our car is over the line even though the car does not block the access to his property. I have quite a delima here, as we have no place to park, either in front of my home, nor in my OWN driveway !! It was suggested that I inform the neighbor with access rights that they are responsible for sharing maintainence and upkeep of the driveway, and that I intend to to replace the gravel with concrete ... if they are not willing to share this expense, I MAY be able to stop them from using this property. To compound the situation, my wife has recently suffered a stroke and I feel it is neccessary to be able to park within a reasonable walking distance from our home, instead of a block away as we are often currently doing. What can I do here ???

 

[NancDan]

To Confused State

Dear Confused Citizen,

I am not an attorney, obviously, but was talking to someone about your question and he suggested looking into the Citizens With Disabilities Act, and that you and your wife could be entitled to a clearly marked handicapped space because of your situation.
Good luck!

 

[NancDan]

To HomeGuru,

Thanks for your reply, it is much appreciated!

To all others who have replied so far, thank you also, and to all others please continue to reply, as ideas are priceless!

 

[HomeGuru]

Re: To Confused State

Dear Confused Citizen,

I am not an attorney, obviously, but was talking to someone about your question and he suggested looking into the Citizens With Disabilities Act, and that you and your wife could be entitled to a clearly marked handicapped space because of your situation.
Good luck!

**A: the ADA applies to public facilities. Therefore ADA does not apply, but Citizen could sue to resolve the issues.

 

[5geckos]

I'm not an attorney either, but I'm fairly versed in this sort of thing. If your property landlocks another's, then you must grant them a sufficient easement in order for them to enter and leave thier property at will. You may not refuse them access to thier prpoerty... at least in the State of Indiana. A qualified real estate agent or real estate attorney in your area should be able to quickly give you an answer one way or another. Also, lawsuits in land issues can get very ugly and escalate into pettiness back and forth, involving every possible governmental authority back and forth until someone gets sick of it and moves. Perhapse it would be a better decision to difuse the situation and offer your neighbor a nice meal and discuss it over coffee afterword.

 

[NancDan]

Easement problem with neighbor

I'm not an attorney either, but I'm fairly versed in this sort of thing. If your property landlocks another's, then you must grant them a sufficient easement in order for them to enter and leave thier property at will. You may not refuse them access to thier prpoerty... at least in the State of Indiana. A qualified real estate agent or real estate attorney in your area should be able to quickly give you an answer one way or another. Also, lawsuits in land issues can get very ugly and escalate into pettiness back and forth, involving every possible governmental authority back and forth until someone gets sick of it and moves. Perhapse it would be a better decision to difuse the situation and offer your neighbor a nice meal and discuss it over coffee afterword.

**A
We've tried to talk reasonably; did not and has not worked. This guy is a legend in his own mind, and wants what is not his. There is no blockage to his access, we have driven trailers and other large vehicles down and turned around with no problem; he is saying that he has the right to take out whatever he wants because it is his right to do so. We have no qualms about allowing access in or out, what torques us is that the neighbor does this stuff when we are not home, walks up the driveway to check if we are home, and if so, scuttles back into his own place. We would also have no problems to nicely trimming limbs or mowing grass strips if they were actually in the way, and if that is where it would stop, but he has brought up a backhoe and chainsaw without our permission and taken out stumps, etc., that are clearly 20 ft off of the driveway. The road surface is 15 ft, the entire driveway is 20 - 22 ft, but he insists that anything less than 30 feet is "in his way".

 

[5geckos]

Again, this is not professional legal advice, butl, if that is the case, there would be no differece between him and any other neighbor. For example, if your neighbor accross the street decided to come and paint your house, place a big hole in your front yard or burn all of your grass. This is vandalism in my book. If I were you, I would find an attorney that would sue him on a contingency fee... that is to say, he would take your case and litigate, if there was an award from a judge for money, then he/she would get a percentage of the award. Further, at least in Indiana, you could attach that judgment to his property until which time he decides to pay you the amount he owes. This would limit his ability to sell or encumber his property until the debt is paid. Additionaly, I would ask the lawyer about obtaining a restraining order to keep him from your property. If in the event he does do such things, he would be tresspassing, breaking his restraining order, vandalizing, etc. This would probably leed to criminal proceedings. >:-(

It is too bad that we can't all, always, get along. :-(

 

[NancDan]

5geckos, thank you for your ideas, we will look into it. yes, I agree, it is too bad that not everyone can be sensible, and I am afraid too that this guy will make it his life mission to be vindictive even if he is proven to be in the wrong. I mentioned to some friends before that it's like he is a five-year old wanting something, and we are the parents saying "no" to which the child throws a fit and says "I'll get you, you see!", which is exactly what he told my husband a couple weeks ago, "You guys can't put up no trespassing signs by the easement, you'll pay! You haven't seen pain like you're gonna see pain!" (Heavy sigh), so that's on top of everything else. Thank you again.

 

[5geckos]

Wow! My biggest concern would no longer be the real estate. I would be much more concerned about these threats. Peolpe who are disturbed enough to threaten violence are people who could be disturbed enough to carry those threats out. I would be on the phone with the police and notifying them of these threats. Don't let the sun go down before you register these actions with the local governmental agency. Do you have 3rd party witnesses to these threats? Real estate is just a thing. True, it can't be replaced, but it isn't a living person. There is no way to replace people. Please, for your own safety, pursue this matter with legal council and police officials. Once threatening language and violent behavior is involved, the matter no longer becomes one of a property dispute, but of your physical safety.

 

[NancDan]

5geckos, thanks for your concern, I don't think he was threatening 'physical' violence, but other things such as he called our local health dept. and fire dept., (they said he left numerous messages, one that was 20 minutes long, and kept calling back every 30 min. asking why they weren't here yet), and also put in complaints on all of our surrounding neighbors, because they don't agree with him either, but we will certainly bring it up to an attorney.

 

[NancDan]

5geckos, thanks for your concern, I don't think he was threatening 'physical' violence, but other things such as he called our local health dept. and fire dept., (they said he left numerous messages, one that was 20 minutes long, and kept calling back every 30 min. asking why they weren't here yet), and also put in complaints on all of our surrounding neighbors, because they don't agree with him either, but we will certainly bring it up to an attorney. We would love it if he would just get a clue and mind his own business, etc., one can only hope!

 

[FarmerJ]

food for thought for you get one dummy camera place it on exterior of home where its obvious get a real exterior cam installed in a 2nd place connected to a VCR that can record for 12 hours and record activity on your property and go to the trouble of posting a sign about new survelance (bad spell) system Now that spring summer is here should you actually suceed in recording his altering your property you`ll have proof and also speak with a lawyer about legal suit . >Do consult with a lawyer to try to find out if your absolutely stuck with allowing him to use that as access to his parcel . If you are stuck and cannot legally make him stop accessing his parcel thru the present area , but can record his altering your land . then perhaps rather than huge amount of money damages in a civil suit , a option would be a new easement agreement that spells out everything in clear detail about the exact width of the driveway from A to Z . Including your attorneys fees. So he has a choice lots money or a lower cost settlement , hope this makes sense to you its only suggestion