Ingress,Egress and Utility Easement

[ldyheat]

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

I have a question about service utility work in Santa Rosa county in Florida. Can a privately owned power company come onto your property and destroy something or an item without prior notification of coming onto your property or is there a law that stipulates they have to give you so many days to move said item or correct it if a right-of-easement exists.....even if the property is in front of their transformer box about 2 feet away? Can they just destroy it?


Do you know anything about clearance laws or easement issues? If so, does the power company get 10 feet of clearance from their transformer in the front AND the back on your property or just the back?!

We moved onto our property 6 years ago and this company did not access their box for 5 years and suddenly showed up and cut down one of our bushes without our permission or notification! The bush was on the land prior to our purchase and has been there for God knows how long and all of a sudden the power company wants 10 feet of clearance and wants the bush gone and has cut it twice without our permission - they paid damages once but has showed up and mowed it down with a chain saw this time. Is there any law which states they can not damage this bush! Please help! They are killing our bush that we have maintained for over 5 years!

 

[FarmerJ]

Your public utility regulator may have some information about the typical easements util co have. If your area has underground elect some time at the time the area became built up there should be a recorded easement that you can find and read , fair odds are that the easement was granted by builder /developer or one previous owner Or that it has been there so long that its now too late to do any thing , like here at my property I have not found a written easement for the elect util to have lines/ poles along the north side of my property where they were run during the early years of REA but they have been there so long that to try to do anything about it now is pointless, yet in the mid 80s when the local phone co went underground in order to upgrade from party lines to private they sought and had written easement to locate the underground lines on my side of the twp road to my west, so they were granted formal easement by a past owner and it was in the title work for the home.

 

[ldyheat]

Did not help

All my questions have not been answered....the easement and looking for records is something that we are doing as we speak BUT does that give the right for the utility company to just come on my property and destroy the item in front of their box. If you can't answer the full question without being sure, then please do not reply!

 

[strongbus]

OP chances are you going find that if there is an easement that the company can come in and do as they see fit to access their lines. For the most part this means enough room around any poles for them to get their trucks near the poles to work on and no trees tall enough that they could take out the lines.

Also that info may not be listed in the easement info. You may want to check state/local laws. Where I live if there is something growing in the easement for the power company and they think it needs to be remove. They remove it. If you try and stop them they hand you a paper with info and a list of laws and such that states they have to right to remove what ever the object is with out your ok.

 

[justalayman]

if they have an easement to install and maintain their equipment (which they almost assuredly do), they can rip out anything that obstructs them including the bush. They do not have to ask for permission and actually, they could charge you for their costs to remove it.

are you happy now?

You might want to apologize to the guy that offered you some advice (farmerj). You aren't paying anything so there is no need to be a jerk to somebody just because they didn't tell you everything you wanted to know, especially since you do not have all the information necessary to actually give you a complete answer.

 

[HomeGuru]

if they have an easement to install and maintain their equipment (which they almost assuredly do), they can rip out anything that obstructs them including the bush. They do not have to ask for permission and actually, they could charge you for their costs to remove it.

are you happy now?

You might want to apologize to the guy that offered you some advice (farmerj). You aren't paying anything so there is no need to be a jerk to somebody just because they didn't tell you everything you wanted to know, especially since you do not have all the information necessary to actually give you a complete answer.

**A: thanks, you beat me to it.

 

[HomeGuru]

All my questions have not been answered....the easement and looking for records is something that we are doing as we speak BUT does that give the right for the utility company to just come on my property and destroy the item in front of their box. If you can't answer the full question without being sure, then please do not reply!

**A: oh brother, not another one.
Please email the website administrator and request a full refund.
We are running a New Years special and will double the refund for unsatisfied customers.

 

[ldyheat]

Not helping

Sorry still not convinced they can do what-ever they want - if they could, the would not have paid damages to us the first time.

And all the answers here have not helped. Apparently the paperwork is the only way to go at this point since power company has NOT handed me a bunch of paperwork!

 

[justalayman]

ldyheat;2987041]Sorry still not convinced they can do what-ever they want - if they could, the would not have paid damages to us the first time.

then have at it. File a suit.

And all the answers here have not helped.

I'm sorry the most correct answers that can be provided given the limited information you provided have not helped you.

Apparently the paperwork is the only way to go at this point since power company has NOT handed me a bunch of paperwork!

a bunch of paperwork?? Unless you ask them nicely, they aren't going to hand you anything. If you do ask nicely, they might provide a copy of the easement. They tend to keep track of them quite well just for situations such as this.

If you don't talk nicely to them, they may quite possibly tell you to sue them and file for discovery if you want a copy of the easement.

 

[ldyheat]

Copy of Easement

Why should I sue them for a copy of the easement when I can find my paperwork upon purchase and check the easement use.

Nor would I want to talk "nicely" to people who are encroaching on my land and damaging my property. Anyone else with "realistic" ideas because you are making it sound like they have all the power over land you are not sure is even in their right to use. Nor does it give them the power to do what-ever they want with something that does NOT belong to them!

The power company, if they felt they were in the right, would not have apologized to us and they have. Now, is their anyone with common sense who can actually help me - someone that knows the laws of this state.

 

[justalayman]

. Anyone else with "realistic" ideas because you are making it sound like they have all the power over land you are not sure is even in their right to use. Nor does it give them the power to do what-ever they want with something that does NOT belong to them!

if they have a standard utility easement, they do have all the power over the land. They can do anything the easement allows them to do. A standard utility easement allows them to remove flora that impedes on their easement if it obstructs their operations.

Check your paperwork to see what the easement allows. I cannot read it so I cannot interpret it for you.

The power company, if they felt they were in the right, would not have apologized to us and they have.

Maybe because most of the utility companies really don't intend to piss people off. Sometimes an apology goes a long way.

Now, is their anyone with common sense who can actually help me - someone that knows the laws of this state.

as soon as you post the easement grant, we will all know what rights the utility company has. Until you do that, all anybody here can do is guess (although mine is an educated guess at least as opposed to your guesses)

 

[ldyheat]

Uneducated

I am hardly uneducated. My master's degree would beg to differ but nice try.

 

[Ozark_Sophist]

I am hardly uneducated. My master's degree would beg to differ but nice try.

And that doesn't mean anything and your posts here are evidence to the contrary.
If the bush is on the easement, the electric company not only has the right to remove it but could also charge you for having to remove it.

 

[justalayman]

I am hardly uneducated. My master's degree would beg to differ but nice try.

Well, if you are so educated, in the field being discussed since education in any other field would be irrelevant, why are you here asking questions?

Of course you realize your claim to education simply makes you look arrogant since your field of expertise is completely irrelevant, right? Either that or you are not smart enough to understand the statement was meant to speak to education in the field being discussed which shows something entirely different about you.

 

[ldyheat]

Forums

Wow - why does every forum have a bunch of teenagers attached to them? Either that or simple professionalism is dead. Thank you boys but I believe I will take my questions else where as rudeness is common place here. Thank for the so-called "help"! Jackasses!