Easement Rights for Landlocked Properties

[lapurple]

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

I'm afraid a fight with one of the neighbors is in it's beginning stages. Was hoping someone could help me confirm that we are in the right.

There are two landlocked properties with Easements included in the property description. Ours has Easement A and B which is actually a private road with a street name. Our neighbor has only Easement A because she is closer to the main road. This private road is the only access to both of our properties.

There are two propeties owned by the same person on both sides of the private road with their own driveways from the main road. For years they have used and tore up the private road with their trailers. We have never said anything about them using the road. All of a sudden the property owners boyfriend thinks he can make a gravel drive through our Easement to connect the two properties! He brought in a big pile of dirt and filled in some of the drainage ditch. I came home yesterday to find a big dump truck full of gravel parked in the middle of the Easement. I talked to the guy and told him that those people had no right to be using that private road. Guess my message was relayed and the guy did not leave the gravel. The boyfriend was not happy.

Long story short, my neighbor with the one Easement has a signed Road Maintenance Agreement. The idiot boyfriend with the fowl mouth thinks he can do anything he wants. So us landlocked people want to build a fence and a gate so they no longer have access to the private road. We can do this, right?

 

[LdiJ]

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

I'm afraid a fight with one of the neighbors is in it's beginning stages. Was hoping someone could help me confirm that we are in the right.

There are two landlocked properties with Easements included in the property description. Ours has Easement A and B which is actually a private road with a street name. Our neighbor has only Easement A because she is closer to the main road. This private road is the only access to both of our properties.

There are two propeties owned by the same person on both sides of the private road with their own driveways from the main road. For years they have used and tore up the private road with their trailers. We have never said anything about them using the road. All of a sudden the property owners boyfriend thinks he can make a gravel drive through our Easement to connect the two properties! He brought in a big pile of dirt and filled in some of the drainage ditch. I came home yesterday to find a big dump truck full of gravel parked in the middle of the Easement. I talked to the guy and told him that those people had no right to be using that private road. Guess my message was relayed and the guy did not leave the gravel. The boyfriend was not happy.

Long story short, my neighbor with the one Easement has a signed Road Maintenance Agreement. The idiot boyfriend with the fowl mouth thinks he can do anything he wants. So us landlocked people want to build a fence and a gate so they no longer have access to the private road. We can do this, right?

You probably cannot. Its unlikely that you have an exclusive use easement. The owner of the property has the right to use the easement as long as that use does not impede your use. The easement is probably written up as for ingress and egress and as long as you can enter and leave your property safely, the owner of the land can do whatever they want.

 

[justalayman]

I don’t quite understand the layout but I’ll say this; Ultimately, as Ldij stated, unless you have an exclusive easement you have no right to control the easement. It would be up to the servient tenant to limit the use of their property and prohibit those without easement rights from using the servient owner’s property.
Have you spoken to the owner of the servient tenement (the person that owns the land your easement is on) about this?

 

[HRZ]

FOr starters you go read / copy all the relevant deeds inc anyplace else where an easement might be recorded....the rights of the various property owners should be there someplace ...they might or might not be exclusive easements to original properties being served...facts matter a lot. .

 

[lapurple]

Talked to County Cops

My neighbor and I were going through our deeds and take the verbiage "Together with the following Easements" to mean that we own the property containing the Easement. Also "Together with all the tenements, hereditaments, and apputenances...". The private road was not even there when the gal up front became the owner of the two properties. As I understand it, the man who bought my parcel and my neighbors parcel from the original owners (which was the grandfather of the gal up front) built that road and did all the paperwork for naming the street and getting the street sign.

The neighbor ended up calling the cops last night because the boyfriend was being agressive with her. They looked over the paperwork, but they said they couldn't get involved because it was a civil matter so the neighbor is going to call a lawyer and file a civil suit. The officers did tell us to record or take photos of any work or damage he continues, or of any agressive behavior and he will come and arrest him. So there's that. I guess the gal up front flips off my neighbor every chance she gets it. She has now started flipping off my hubby! Guess I'm next...lol

 

[Zigner]

My neighbor and I were going through our deeds and take the verbiage "Together with the following Easements" to mean that we own the property containing the Easement. Also "Together with all the tenements, hereditaments, and apputenances...". The private road was not even there when the gal up front became the owner of the two properties. As I understand it, the man who bought my parcel and my neighbors parcel from the original owners (which was the grandfather of the gal up front) built that road and did all the paperwork for naming the street and getting the street sign.

The neighbor ended up calling the cops last night because the boyfriend was being agressive with her. They looked over the paperwork, but they said they couldn't get involved because it was a civil matter so the neighbor is going to call a lawyer and file a civil suit. The officers did tell us to record or take photos of any work or damage he continues, or of any agressive behavior and he will come and arrest him. So there's that. I guess the gal up front flips off my neighbor every chance she gets it. She has now started flipping off my hubby! Guess I'm next...lol

Ouch, you mean she's giving the finger?

I suppose you could smile and wave politely in response.

 

[HRZ]

YOu are missing the point....exact details of the easements granted MIGHT matter.!

And easement granted over your land ( you are servient tenant is this jargon) to use pathway X to B
S lands behind your lands to enter and exit his lands ( he is dominate tenant ) may not permit C to do anything except visit B and for that matter B may be limited to X not Y

Details, details

 

[lapurple]

YOu are missing the point....exact details of the easements granted MIGHT matter.!

And easement granted over your land ( you are servient tenant is this jargon) to use pathway X to B
S lands behind your lands to enter and exit his lands ( he is dominate tenant ) may not permit C to do anything except visit B and for that matter B may be limited to X not Y

Details, details

I believe we are the dominate tenant. The original Easement was granted to the person who first bought this property from the original owner who owned all the parcels back in 1999. The Easement crossed over his lands.

 

[HRZ]

Look, details count ...go get them ..quit guessing.

 

[LdiJ]

I believe we are the dominate tenant. The original Easement was granted to the person who first bought this property from the original owner who owned all the parcels back in 1999. The Easement crossed over his lands.

I am guessing that the actual owner of the easement (the servient tenant) is the owner of the two properties up front. I you actually owned the road you would not need an easement.

 

[HRZ]

The easements may be different than the private road and who can use the private roads also depends on the facts. Get off your fanny and go get copies of all the relevant deeds and any recorded plat/plans ....it's a pain but not as big a pain as the bite in your wallet if your attorney needs to go on a basic hunt...sure her or she can do it better faster..but I'll bet his or her labor rate is a lot higher than yours .

YOu want your attorney to comment of the paper (!and some decent pictures of the area ..he or she may need more but at least it's a factual starting point. for a modest fee a local title searcher can probably pull together copies of relevant paperwork ..but not as legal advisor ...

 

[154NH773]

Ours has Easement A and B which is actually a private road with a street name. Our neighbor has only Easement A because she is closer to the main road. This private road is the only access to both of our properties.
There are two propeties owned by the same person on both sides of the private road with their own driveways from the main road.

I'm going out on a limb here because there are a lot of unknowns. You really need to get all the relevant deeds and review them with a lawyer, but... my take on this is:

1. You have an easement through the first and second properties. You do not own the property underlying the easements, so you are the dominant tenement on those sections.
2. Your neighbor owns segment B and has an easement across the first property, so he is a dominant tenement on the first segment and the servient estate (owner) to your easement across his property.
3. The first segment (A) is owned by the owner of the first properties and he/she is the servient owner of the easements granted to you and neighbor B.

Where it gets muddled is what your rights are on the easements, and what the first owner's rights are. For determining those rights, you need more than your deed, you need the deed(s) of the first and second owners also.

You will also have to determine if his property on both sides of the road are a single parcel, or are they two parcels. If they are two parcels, you will also have to determine if the easement runs through only one, or both, and if they have the same rights. In other words; does he have the right to pass from one to the other, or can he only access the property through which the easement passes. All this also depends on whether you have exclusive rights to the easement (unlikely, but possible).

You do not have enough information to determine whether you are justified in turning away his workers or whether he, or you, is being unreasonable. Dig deeper and get a lawyer before you talk about suing.

 

[latigo]

YOu are missing the point....exact details of the easements granted MIGHT matter.!

And easement granted over your land ( you are servient tenant is this jargon) to use pathway X to B
S lands behind your lands to enter and exit his lands ( he is dominate tenant ) may not permit C to do anything except visit B and for that matter B may be limited to X not Y

Details, details

There is not such animal as a "servient tenant" or a "dominate tenant"!

The noun is TENEMENT! Not TENANT.