Ignorant Neighbors

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

I own property along the Illinois River. The people that own the property right beside my property have easement rights to my property because there is a road that allows them access to their property.

Every time the river floods, it litters all the land with all types of garbage, mostly being sticks, branches, and trees. I always take the time to clean up my property and keep it looking nice.

My neighbors have a pickup truck with a plow on it and they pile all the garbage from their property onto my property and then do nothing with it. Then I am forced to clean up all of thier mess along with my own.

I have asked them very nicely not to do this. In fact, I have asked them at least 5 times and they continue to do the same thing.

What am I legally allowed to do about this issue? I am tired of having to clean up thier mess all the time.

Also, since the time of the easement, the city has installed a paved road that borders their property, so they do not actually need my property to access their property. Is there any way that I could make the easement go away? Do they have to agree to dissolve the easement in order to remove it?

Thank you for any help you can give me!

hennepin98 said:

they pile all the garbage from their property onto my property

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The next time they illegally dump their garbage on your property, call the police.

and after you call the police and make a report and take pics of it, move it back onto their property!!!!

Take a picture of the stuff on their property before it gets moved onto your property as well. Take a picture of the property without any garbage on it.

I wouldn't put the stuff back on their property, however, I would put it on the easement area.

Since the city has given them access to their property, is there any chance to get the easement dissolved?

hennepin98 said:

Since the city has given them access to their property, is there any chance to get the easement dissolved?

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I doubt it, then how would they access to their home?

First thing to do is contact your city /county/ zoning dept and learn what is involved with a property owner who wishes to create a driveway from his/her property to a city/county road when there has not been a driveway so called curb cut in the past. If there is a permit and fee they will tell you. then use the links above to speak to a real estate atty to help you review the easement they have to see if there is any special situations spelled out where it expires (like when a public road is available) When searching your local ords you also want to learn if they require all property that has public road access possibilitys to use it. Then last but not least to discuss the cost of going to court to ask the court to extinguish /vacate any recorded easement since they have there own access. I Do agree with one suggestion ,simply refuse to maintain it any more, if it becomes clogged with debris leave it sit BUT do take pics and if they dump on your property call the police and file a report and keep reporting it. WHY because I suspect the court may be more sympathetic to your request if your not only able to show they have a public road they can connect to and their past bad behavior. NOT perfect but its sure worth a try. BUT again this is something you can talk to atty about.

Luckily, there is no curb/gutter on this street. They have already made their own driveway that goes to the city road and they use it as well as my road.

I am going to start taking photos for documentation and notify the police each time this happens. Once I have a library of photos (which will not take too aweful long) I will talk to an attorney to see how I can dissolve the easement.

Thanks for everybody's help! Happy New Year to all!

One way to extinguish the easement is to pay them to give up their rights. It might be more costly to go to court, and the result in court is always in doubt.

As Farmer said, check to make sure there is no other way to extinguish it, then make an offer of money to them.

Banned_Princess said:

I doubt it, then how would they access to their home?

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He said above that a paved road has been installed that gives them another way onto their property. Sounds like the easement predated the road.