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Easement rights

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maryjo5

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maine

We built a 12 ft wide driveway that is 350 feet long over a neighbor's 50 ft wide easement to our house.

Another neighbor who has land behind us and to whom we gave access via an easement on our property is extending our driveway onto our easement to the back of our property and onto their land.

We have been trying to save an apple tree in front of our house that is about 5ft from our property line into the easement. Our well is also near our property line. Our road is in the middle of the easement with 18 ft of easement on either side of it. Total width of the easement is 50 ft.

Isn't it reasonable to request that the neighbor angle their road slightly so that they can utilize the extra 18 ft so that we can have some breathing room from their road? Our house is approx 42 ft from our property line at that point and we'd like them to angle the road just at this particular point only about a couple of feet with no major curve in the road.
 


BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
maryjo5 said:
What is the name of your state? Maine

We built a 12 ft wide driveway that is 350 feet long over a neighbor's 50 ft wide easement to our house.

Another neighbor who has land behind us and to whom we gave access via an easement on our property is extending our driveway onto our easement to the back of our property and onto their land.

We have been trying to save an apple tree in front of our house that is about 5ft from our property line into the easement. Our well is also near our property line. Our road is in the middle of the easement with 18 ft of easement on either side of it. Total width of the easement is 50 ft.

Isn't it reasonable to request that the neighbor angle their road slightly so that they can utilize the extra 18 ft so that we can have some breathing room from their road? Our house is approx 42 ft from our property line at that point and we'd like them to angle the road just at this particular point only about a couple of feet with no major curve in the road.
Unless you wrote expressedly in the easement agreement that they have the right to build at any point within the easement, you retain ownership rights over the entire easement. So, would you like to tell us the exact language of the easement?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
maryjo5 said:
What is the name of your state? Maine

We built a 12 ft wide driveway that is 350 feet long over a neighbor's 50 ft wide easement to our house.

Another neighbor who has land behind us and to whom we gave access via an easement on our property is extending our driveway onto our easement to the back of our property and onto their land.

We have been trying to save an apple tree in front of our house that is about 5ft from our property line into the easement. Our well is also near our property line. Our road is in the middle of the easement with 18 ft of easement on either side of it. Total width of the easement is 50 ft.

Isn't it reasonable to request that the neighbor angle their road slightly so that they can utilize the extra 18 ft so that we can have some breathing room from their road? Our house is approx 42 ft from our property line at that point and we'd like them to angle the road just at this particular point only about a couple of feet with no major curve in the road.
Maybe I am misunderstanding your situation but if I am not; the easement you were granted, you cannot grant those rights to anybody else (in most all situations, there are some exceptions, but few). Now you can grant an easement across your property if you wish but the onwner of the property you have an easemnet across would need to grant rights to the new neighbor.

Now when you grant(ed) the easement across your property to the new neighbor, you could have narrowed the easement and placed it so as to force the situation you are now concerned about. When granting an easement, you can make just about any rules to go along with it you wish.

So if I am understandiong the situation, and you have not actually deeded the easement yet (although it seems you have done so already), make the easement and rules conform to your desires. If you didn't, it is your own fault.
 

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