What is the name of your state? NJ
My husband just bought a house in New Jersey. When he went under contract, it was understood that there was an easement to use the driveway alongside the property, which is owned by another party.
Before the purchase of the house, but after the contract was made, the owner of the driveway put a fence at the end of his driveway. The driveway is the only access to his main property, which is a large piece of concrete behind our home. Now that there is a fence there, we only have a three foot width on the side of our house, and we have no access to the car gate on the side of our back yard, where we also have a slab of concrete for off-street parking. There is a lock on the fence blocking the drive.
The owner of the driveway claims that the deed previous to his for the property, shows that in 1963, the driveway was sold by owners of our property with a "right of way to be created". He refuses to provide us with a key to the fence, stating that the right of way was never created and therefore does not exist. We are happy to have the fence there, as it adds security to my husband's property as well, but we would like to be able to access it.
The deed for the property provided to us dates to 1984, and it also shows that the property of our home includes "a point in a 12 feet right of way to be created leading to property in the rear of described premises." The survey which was done for us a month ago calls that driveway a right of way.
For most of the last forty years, the previous tenants have had free access to that driveway, and therefore had the ability to use the car gate and park the car alongside the house in an available gap that does not encroach upon the other driveway. This free access is no longer available.
We are trying to determine our next course of action. Can the title company help with this? Would there actually be a deed of easement created if it were created? Does the fact that these documents say that the easement will be created mean that the owner MUST create the easement?
Thanks for your help...
My husband just bought a house in New Jersey. When he went under contract, it was understood that there was an easement to use the driveway alongside the property, which is owned by another party.
Before the purchase of the house, but after the contract was made, the owner of the driveway put a fence at the end of his driveway. The driveway is the only access to his main property, which is a large piece of concrete behind our home. Now that there is a fence there, we only have a three foot width on the side of our house, and we have no access to the car gate on the side of our back yard, where we also have a slab of concrete for off-street parking. There is a lock on the fence blocking the drive.
The owner of the driveway claims that the deed previous to his for the property, shows that in 1963, the driveway was sold by owners of our property with a "right of way to be created". He refuses to provide us with a key to the fence, stating that the right of way was never created and therefore does not exist. We are happy to have the fence there, as it adds security to my husband's property as well, but we would like to be able to access it.
The deed for the property provided to us dates to 1984, and it also shows that the property of our home includes "a point in a 12 feet right of way to be created leading to property in the rear of described premises." The survey which was done for us a month ago calls that driveway a right of way.
For most of the last forty years, the previous tenants have had free access to that driveway, and therefore had the ability to use the car gate and park the car alongside the house in an available gap that does not encroach upon the other driveway. This free access is no longer available.
We are trying to determine our next course of action. Can the title company help with this? Would there actually be a deed of easement created if it were created? Does the fact that these documents say that the easement will be created mean that the owner MUST create the easement?
Thanks for your help...