Problems with Easement

What is the name of your state? Washington

I am saying a prayer that someone on this board can give me some advice.

Here is my delima (sorry if it's long)...

We live in Longview, WA and own nearly 2 acres. The house below us has a private driveway easement on the edge of our property so they can have access to their property. (It's a gravel driveway and on a hill.) Well, the owner of the property does not live there himself, and rents the mobile home out that is on the property. We have lived here since 1994 and the renters he has now are horrible. The speed up and down our driveway (in speeds greater than 20+ miles per hour) and the driveway is adjacent to our front yard where my 6 children play. They have already killed one of our precious family pets (a miniature pinscher), hit one of black labs and started poisoning them (which we have no proof) because they did not like them chasing their cars. We got rid of the 2 black labs because this was their excuse for speeding, but still it does not stop.

We have asked them nicely to slow down, bought a speed limit sign, and continue to yell out to them when they speed. This just seems to encourage the speeding. They yell out and hand gesture obcenities to my family (including the children). I have a 4 year old son that I adopted that has Fetal Alcohol Affect and is Bi-Polar. He does not think rationally and has been within a few feet of these speeding cars and scares me to death. We keep a close eye on him, but he is fast and clever. The renters have purposely put their brakes on and step on the gas to create huge dust clouds and throw gravel just to be jerks. They throw out trash onto our yard, park in our driveway, and I believe they are doing illegal activities, due to the shortlived-many visitors to their home. The owner of the property is unwilling to get involved.

About 3 weeks ago I called the sheriff's office and spoke with a sheriff, but me and my husband thought we would try and speak with the neighbors nicely one again and give it one last amicable try to resolve this. The sheriff was very nice and helpful and said he would help out in any way. Our try did not work. I had to call the sheriff out last night again. This sheriff was very disheartening. He told me they had a right to get to their property and 20 miles an hour was not excessive! This is a one lane driveway, not a road. He told me that there was absolutely nothing he could do. We bought a speed limit sign for 5 miles and hour (thinking they would go a little faster at 10 miles and hour). If we put a sign for 10 they would go 15-20. Anyway, the sheriff said they did not have to obey it and it would not be enforcable by them. He said if I wanted to remedy the problem, to put a fence along side the easement. This runs the whole length of one side of our property and would be terribly expensive and we simply cannot afford this. He replied saying that I was complaining about keeping my kids safe, but was not willing to put any money towards it. Not only would that be expensive, but we have a circular driveway and use the top portion of it (about 1/4 of the easement), and by putting a fence up would prevent us from using it ourselves. I asked the sheriff about putting up speed bumps with "bump signs". He said that we would be liable for anything that happened to their vehicles if their vehicles sped out of control because of the bumps, even if we put up signs warning of the bumps and the speed limit signs. I have a hard time believing this becasue I drive for AirBorne and travel on many private roads and driveways that have speed bumps. How would so many people put themselves in a legal delima if this were true?

I am in tears over this whole situation and these people make our lives miserable everyday with their speeding and harrassment. We cannot live in peace and enjoy our own land or even keep our family safe. I am out options. We do not have a lot of money to battle this out in civil court. I just want to keep my children safe. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Lonni

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by Lonnita
What is the name of your state? Washington

I am saying a prayer that someone on this board can give me some advice.

Here is my delima (sorry if it's long)...

We live in Longview, WA and own nearly 2 acres. The house below us has a private driveway easement on the edge of our property so they can have access to their property. (It's a gravel driveway and on a hill.) Well, the owner of the property does not live there himself, and rents the mobile home out that is on the property. We have lived here since 1994 and the renters he has now are horrible. The speed up and down our driveway (in speeds greater than 20+ miles per hour) and the driveway is adjacent to our front yard where my 6 children play. They have already killed one of our precious family pets (a miniature pinscher), hit one of black labs and started poisoning them (which we have no proof) because they did not like them chasing their cars. We got rid of the 2 black labs because this was their excuse for speeding, but still it does not stop.

We have asked them nicely to slow down, bought a speed limit sign, and continue to yell out to them when they speed. This just seems to encourage the speeding. They yell out and hand gesture obcenities to my family (including the children). I have a 4 year old son that I adopted that has Fetal Alcohol Affect and is Bi-Polar. He does not think rationally and has been within a few feet of these speeding cars and scares me to death. We keep a close eye on him, but he is fast and clever. The renters have purposely put their brakes on and step on the gas to create huge dust clouds and throw gravel just to be jerks. They throw out trash onto our yard, park in our driveway, and I believe they are doing illegal activities, due to the shortlived-many visitors to their home. The owner of the property is unwilling to get involved.

About 3 weeks ago I called the sheriff's office and spoke with a sheriff, but me and my husband thought we would try and speak with the neighbors nicely one again and give it one last amicable try to resolve this. The sheriff was very nice and helpful and said he would help out in any way. Our try did not work. I had to call the sheriff out last night again. This sheriff was very disheartening. He told me they had a right to get to their property and 20 miles an hour was not excessive! This is a one lane driveway, not a road. He told me that there was absolutely nothing he could do. We bought a speed limit sign for 5 miles and hour (thinking they would go a little faster at 10 miles and hour). If we put a sign for 10 they would go 15-20. Anyway, the sheriff said they did not have to obey it and it would not be enforcable by them. He said if I wanted to remedy the problem, to put a fence along side the easement. This runs the whole length of one side of our property and would be terribly expensive and we simply cannot afford this. He replied saying that I was complaining about keeping my kids safe, but was not willing to put any money towards it. Not only would that be expensive, but we have a circular driveway and use the top portion of it (about 1/4 of the easement), and by putting a fence up would prevent us from using it ourselves. I asked the sheriff about putting up speed bumps with "bump signs". He said that we would be liable for anything that happened to their vehicles if their vehicles sped out of control because of the bumps, even if we put up signs warning of the bumps and the speed limit signs. I have a hard time believing this becasue I drive for AirBorne and travel on many private roads and driveways that have speed bumps. How would so many people put themselves in a legal delima if this were true?

I am in tears over this whole situation and these people make our lives miserable everyday with their speeding and harrassment. We cannot live in peace and enjoy our own land or even keep our family safe. I am out options. We do not have a lot of money to battle this out in civil court. I just want to keep my children safe. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Lonni

**A: please summarize in one short paragraph.

Neighbors below have and easement that goes through the length of our property. Owner of this easement rents his house out. Currently, the neighbors are horrible. They speed and harrass my whole family yelling out obescenities and hand gestures. This easement is in the front of our house and where my children play and this creates a dangerous problem. Sheriff is of no help at all and thinks 20+ mph is fine. It's a one-lane driveway, not a private road. He also says we cannot put up speed bumps because we would be liable for any damage as a result of them speeding over them. We put up a speed limit sign, but it is not enforcable. What can we do to make them slow down?

Also, I believe they are doing some illegal activity because of many, many shortlived visits to their house. But, it's only a guess. This is a very nice neighborhood, and these people are just horrible. How can I gain control over their speed and harrassment and keep my children safe?

Thanks.

[FarmerJ]

If you suspect illegal activity report it . If they are and they get busted they will be moving more than likely . Other wise sit down and talk to your insurance agent about speed bumps and how they would affect your insurance . THEN go talk to a local lawyer and bring your copy of the easement and if both give you there blessings then install speed bumps .

[HomeGuru]

Writer, call the police.

Thanks for the advice. I had already made an appointment with my lawyer that did our two adoptions. I never thought about calling our insurance agent though, that's a great idea. Thanks.