• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Prescriptive easement question

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Garby

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California

I established a 20-year-old prescriptive easement on what a survey proved to be our neighbor's property (long story).
I resolved the problem by purchasing the property in question from the neighbor at an agreed-upon price.
Had I not purchased that wedge of land, would the prescriptive easement go with the property if I were to sell?

Thanks for your responses in advance.
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
Garby said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California

I established a 20-year-old prescriptive easement on what a survey proved to be our neighbor's property (long story).
I resolved the problem by purchasing the property in question from the neighbor at an agreed-upon price.
Had I not purchased that wedge of land, would the prescriptive easement go with the property if I were to sell?

Thanks for your responses in advance.

**A: no, since there was no prescriptive easement in the first place. You may have had a right to file a claim to such but until you obtain court adjudication, the subject property would still belong to the owner. And now it belongs to you.
 

Garby

Junior Member
I believe, HomeGuru, that I did have a prescriptive easement, per a lawyer I hired at the time this issue came up (10 years ago, as a result of our street being surveyed to widen it). Because the neighbor was planning on selling her property, we resolved the problem by purchasing the 2700 sq. ft. of land that both of us neighbors had thought for 20 years was mine. I suspect that when our houses were built in the 50's the lot line was misunderstood.
I did not ask my lawyer at that time, however, what would happen if I did nothing and I were to sell the property some day. So, simply out of curiosity, I'm wondering if the prescriptive easement would pass on to the new owner of my house?
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
Garby said:
I believe, HomeGuru, that I did have a prescriptive easement, per a lawyer I hired at the time this issue came up (10 years ago, as a result of our street being surveyed to widen it). Because the neighbor was planning on selling her property, we resolved the problem by purchasing the 2700 sq. ft. of land that both of us neighbors had thought for 20 years was mine. I suspect that when our houses were built in the 50's the lot line was misunderstood.
I did not ask my lawyer at that time, however, what would happen if I did nothing and I were to sell the property some day. So, simply out of curiosity, I'm wondering if the prescriptive easement would pass on to the new owner of my house?
**A: my response is the same and to clarify, maybe you may have had an unrecorded unadjudicated easement but realistically, if there was no easement recorded on title (that runs with the land), you had no legal easement with respect to title. So if you did not purchase that piece of property and sold your home, that property that you though you owned would not have legally passed to the Buyer. The easement would not have been shown on your survey or title report and there would be no title insurance coverning that subject piece of land.
I doubt that your lawyer really explained the specific details to you.
 

Garby

Junior Member
Thanks, HomeGuru for your clarification.
You're right, our lawyer did not go over those specific details as I recall. We were advised to try to come to an agreement with the neighbor, which we did by paying her for the property in question. Seeing that she hadn't known that portion was hers anyhow, she agreed it was the right thing to do, and a whole lot cheaper than a lot of litigation.
In case something like this happens to me again, I apparently need to go to court to get a legal easement that I can file with our county records, right?
(Sorry to belabor the issue, but I like to educate myself).
Thx!
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
Garby said:
Thanks, HomeGuru for your clarification.
You're right, our lawyer did not go over those specific details as I recall. We were advised to try to come to an agreement with the neighbor, which we did by paying her for the property in question. Seeing that she hadn't known that portion was hers anyhow, she agreed it was the right thing to do, and a whole lot cheaper than a lot of litigation.

**A: if your attorney advised you to come to an agreement with your neighbor, then it would appear that your attorney did not think you had a sild chance of getting a prescriptive easement.
*******

In case something like this happens to me again, I apparently need to go to court to get a legal easement that I can file with our county records, right?
(Sorry to belabor the issue, but I like to educate myself).
Thx!
**A: yes, and such court action is a lawsuit.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top