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How to get easement??

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jgnat1488

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia
Hey all,
First some land info...18acres in central Va. I bought the land from my stepfather and he bought it 20+ years ago. When he bought it the best he remembers is that the easement was "public". The deal is that our land IS landlocked. To access it you must turn off the state road onto a logging road, that is the only way to get to it. The road has been used by everyone and doesn't have any signs about anything (private, posted, ect.). We have put in the septic and well and the next step per the county is a VDOT driveway permit. When we contacted VDOT they told us that the road cuts across someone eleses property for about 50'. They told us inorder to get the permit they needed something in wrighting saying that it was ok to use as a driveway. We have found out that the person who owns the land in question hasn't paid taxes since 1986!! Were pritty sure he has died and the land slipped threw the cracks. Now onto the questions.. Since this is the only way to get to our land what do we need to do to get it to pass VDOT? The road has been there for at LEAST 40 years!! The road is 1/2 mile long and our property is 1/4 mile down from the start of the road. All other properties that join the road have access from other roads. We are planning on going to the county clerks office to pull ALL info we can find about our land and the others that join the road to see if we can find anything about the road. What should we look for? We have asked a couple of realistate lawyers and the all say about $800 to start!! We don't have that kind of money extra. Whats the best course of action we should take??
TIA
Jason Gnatowsky
 


divgradcurl

Senior Member
jgnat1488 said:
What is the name of your state? Virginia
Hey all,
First some land info...18acres in central Va. I bought the land from my stepfather and he bought it 20+ years ago. When he bought it the best he remembers is that the easement was "public". The deal is that our land IS landlocked. To access it you must turn off the state road onto a logging road, that is the only way to get to it. The road has been used by everyone and doesn't have any signs about anything (private, posted, ect.). We have put in the septic and well and the next step per the county is a VDOT driveway permit. When we contacted VDOT they told us that the road cuts across someone eleses property for about 50'. They told us inorder to get the permit they needed something in wrighting saying that it was ok to use as a driveway. We have found out that the person who owns the land in question hasn't paid taxes since 1986!! Were pritty sure he has died and the land slipped threw the cracks. Now onto the questions.. Since this is the only way to get to our land what do we need to do to get it to pass VDOT? The road has been there for at LEAST 40 years!! The road is 1/2 mile long and our property is 1/4 mile down from the start of the road. All other properties that join the road have access from other roads. We are planning on going to the county clerks office to pull ALL info we can find about our land and the others that join the road to see if we can find anything about the road. What should we look for? We have asked a couple of realistate lawyers and the all say about $800 to start!! We don't have that kind of money extra. Whats the best course of action we should take??
TIA
Jason Gnatowsky
You either need to figure out who owns the property that you need to cross, and negotiate for an easement, or you need to file for a "prescriptive easement," which is a court-ordered easement.
 

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