Deeded Easement Agreement state of Vermont

[denisebutson]

I have a Deeded Easement agreement in the state of Vermont. the agreement says my husband and I have non-non exclusive right and it also states we have all right and title forever....we are being sued for blocking the easement from others digging it up and putting in electrical which doesn't allow us to have the ability to put in our power which is stated in the agreement. My question is this what does "non-non exclusive mean to others?

 

[quincy]

I have a Deeded Easement agreement in the state of Vermont. the agreement says my husband and I have non-non exclusive right and it also states we have all right and title forever....we are being sued for blocking the easement from others digging it up and putting in electrical which doesn't allow us to have the ability to put in our power which is stated in the agreement. My question is this what does "non-non exclusive mean to others?

A misprint or typo, perhaps?

 

[xylene]

Are you actually blocking someone from doing something?

Could you spell out this situation just a bit more, because we can't interpret the wording of your easement anyways.

You are being sued, so you need a lawyer.

 

[denisebutson]

yes and no. An electrical line was put in across our driveway without of knowledge which blocked our use to put in utilities and able to maintain a drive we had to install due to the fact our original right of way was blocked by buildings, so we put up a gate to stop anymore from happening and the land owners now have brought a civil case against us saying they have exclusive rights and want the gate removed. We are also being sued about ditches and top soil which the driveway was done 6 or 8 years before they bought it. I am trying to figure out why the Lawyers put in the deeded easement agreement "non-non exclusive" and what that would mean.

 

[Zigner]

I'm thinking that "non-non exclusive" is a typo. I would suggest that you speak with an attorney to confirm.

 

[denisebutson]

it is funny that two lawyers did this deed ours and theirs, and no-one saw the typo...We actually do not care that they have a key but they need to respect the rights we have and not block us from putting in our electric but they did. The deed also says we were given all right and title forever and that the original land owner gave up their rights, it kind of contradicts itself....I feel like we were duped by possibly both lawyers.

 

[quincy]

it is funny that two lawyers did this deed ours and theirs, and no-one saw the typo...We actually do not care that they have a key but they need to respect the rights we have and not block us from putting in our electric but they did. The deed also says we were given all right and title forever and that the original land owner gave up their rights, it kind of contradicts itself....I feel like we were duped by possibly both lawyers.

If it IS a typographical error (which I suspect it is), these mistakes happen in agreements even when drafted by attorneys. Proofreading does not always catch errors. The brain can skip over (mentally correct) them in reading.

You are being sued so you will want to consult with your attorney anyway. You can check on the "non-non" then. I hope you are not hanging your defense on this, though.

 

[denisebutson]

it is funny that two lawyers did this deed ours and theirs, and no-one saw the typo...We actually do not care that they have a key but they need to respect the rights we have and not block us from putting in our electric but they did. The deed also says we were given all right and title forever and that the original land owner gave up their rights, it kind of contradicts itself....I feel like we were duped by possibly both lawyers.

 

[denisebutson]

thank you

 

[quincy]

We all appreciate the thanks. I am only sorry we cannot provide you with a definitive answer to your question.

Good luck in your dispute with the landowners.

 

[HRZ]

I sort of puzzled why if you had a right of way you didn't force the bully losing to be moved or you got an equal or better right of way ?

How does one electric line block another ...some code issue ?

 

[justalayman]

How does the installation of the others power line prevent you from installing a powerlne for you? Power lines to homes are relatively small and you could go under or over (if theirs is deep enough to allow yours to be installed above theirs and still meet legal cover depth requirements.). Your claim the presence of theirs prevents you from installing yours simply makes no sense.

Non-non exclusive makes no sense. If taken to be correct it would mean you have an exclusive easement (the double negative makes it a positive) Standard terms for granting an exclusive easement are exactly that; an exclusive easement. The opposite would be a non-exclusive easement which means anybody the dominant tenant alllows to use it can use it as long as they do not inhibit your rights.

 

[quincy]

Yes. It seems likely to be a typo.

 

[denisebutson]

We wanted the situation to end so we agreed to sign off on the original right of way to save face. In exchange, so we wouldn't get blocked again, we had a deeded agreement done because in order to access our property we had to install a way to get off the road way through a pasture so they agreed to that we were not going to spend the money we did not to have our investment safe. We were told it was iron clad and no one could do anything to the easement unless we agreed. In fact the abutting property owner used to have access to a well that went under the easement but because it wasn't in their deed he couldn't dig it up when it froze. The electric situation goes down across our easement at least 150' in a diagonal without our knowledge and dug ditches to drain water down our easement which they are also suing us for. We talked to the power company and it is possible to put the power in for our property but it would cost us a lot more money than it should have to we would have stayed in the ditch so it didn't run across the drive for many reasons. Why should they get out of it cheaper than us and it became a safety issue because we maintain that entrance and the last we knew from our install there wasn't anything going down the drive. The last paragraph of the deed states the owner gave up all right and title to us forever. How can a deed read one way and flip to another...it doesn't make sense so we are not sure if the non-non exclusive is a typo and it has a hyphen so it makes us thinks it was intended so it matched the last paragraph. I just don't know and it is very frustrating for sure. thanks all for the input.

 

[denisebutson]

I forgot to add we have hired several lawyers but the last lawyer we had for the research moved so we are not sure what we are going to do. He had another attorney review it as well and that attorney agreed with us before he did but then he researched it further and saw what that other attorney read. UGH