Hi, I know nothing about law and I'm a first-time home owner. We bought our place a year ago, we're in Central WA state. It has some interesting issues as it is an old orchard settlement. Basically it turns out that we own a road which 2 neighbors depend on. One needs it to get to his barn, which he has spent a lot of money on improving. The other needs it to get to a rental property and another barn where he keeps his orcharding equipment. The former neighbor has drawn up an easment which he insists we sign ASAP. I refused to sign because he didn't even give us a copy, but made dinner reservations with a notary to have us sign (Oh, by the way I made reservations for you guys to have dinner with us and sign the easement). I suspected alterior motives because we don't have any intentions of blocking his access. After he gave us a peice of his mind (he's pissed) he finally told us he's refinancing and to get credit for his barn he needs guaranteed legal access in writing. Basically the easment (he finally gave us a copy) he had drawn up makes the property(road) and a buffer of our bordering land his propertiy; i.e. we can't do anything with it he doesn't agree to, including landscaping.
The thing I don't like about it is it feels like we should be calling the shots - not him. It is our land. We don't really like this guy too much as he had guests rallying snowmobiles around on the road in question and on other neighbors property as if it were a freestyle course. We like peace and quiet. I don't really trust him, but don't want to start a war. The easement is two pages long and includes his right to improve the road, bring whatever utilities, prevent our landscaping etc. He's so insistent and treats us like idiots because we are young and inexperienced with this kind of thing, and it is this attitude that make me not trust him. It's a gravel road and I want to keep it that way.
Now the other neighbor is a different story, as far as we know we don't have any sort of easement with him, yet he could not earn a living farming without our road and another small section of our property which is in front of his barn which he uses to load fruit, and his workers sometimes park there on our property. This I don't like. Fruit harvest is just 1 week out of the year, but we have the workers parking there frequently. I feel that this guy should buy the road from us, or we should get something in return for putting up with all the activity. Considering the importance of the road I feel like we're getting taken atvantage of. I get the feeling that they have always done it this way so they just assume, yet they have never spoken with us.
Any suggestions on how to deal with this would be appreciated. In my mind all the first neighbor needs is a 1-paragraph document saying that we're not going to prevent him from using the road. Right-of-way as opposed to easment?
Thanks very much. Sorry so long.
The thing I don't like about it is it feels like we should be calling the shots - not him. It is our land. We don't really like this guy too much as he had guests rallying snowmobiles around on the road in question and on other neighbors property as if it were a freestyle course. We like peace and quiet. I don't really trust him, but don't want to start a war. The easement is two pages long and includes his right to improve the road, bring whatever utilities, prevent our landscaping etc. He's so insistent and treats us like idiots because we are young and inexperienced with this kind of thing, and it is this attitude that make me not trust him. It's a gravel road and I want to keep it that way.
Now the other neighbor is a different story, as far as we know we don't have any sort of easement with him, yet he could not earn a living farming without our road and another small section of our property which is in front of his barn which he uses to load fruit, and his workers sometimes park there on our property. This I don't like. Fruit harvest is just 1 week out of the year, but we have the workers parking there frequently. I feel that this guy should buy the road from us, or we should get something in return for putting up with all the activity. Considering the importance of the road I feel like we're getting taken atvantage of. I get the feeling that they have always done it this way so they just assume, yet they have never spoken with us.
Any suggestions on how to deal with this would be appreciated. In my mind all the first neighbor needs is a 1-paragraph document saying that we're not going to prevent him from using the road. Right-of-way as opposed to easment?
Thanks very much. Sorry so long.
