B
bluemiss2
Guest
What is the name of your state? IA
I own a small house in an older neighborhood. It sits on a 37' wide lot, and a similar house next door is on a 37' wide corner lot. The houses are about 11'6" apart, with my driveway running between the houses. The property line is near the middle of my driveway and I have a 3' easement on his lot where the driveway runs. ( In my abstract, it appears as though this easement went into effect in the 60's). The neighbor moved in a year ago, and has since put up a 6' privacy fence in the driveway about 2' away from his house. Even though the fence is technically off the easement, I now have a 9' wide driveway - I can barely open the car doors! Furthermore, the fence is of no advantage to him (I think he has done it out of spite). Clearly, this do-it-yourself project of his looks out of place, and anyone can see that this area is better used as a driveway. I have read about something called an "easement by prescription" and I think it applies here because the driveway had been unobstructed for decades. Can I get him to take the fence down? Does the easement line even matter here, or is it about what makes sense? Or should I be feeling lucky that this guy didn't move in years ago?
I own a small house in an older neighborhood. It sits on a 37' wide lot, and a similar house next door is on a 37' wide corner lot. The houses are about 11'6" apart, with my driveway running between the houses. The property line is near the middle of my driveway and I have a 3' easement on his lot where the driveway runs. ( In my abstract, it appears as though this easement went into effect in the 60's). The neighbor moved in a year ago, and has since put up a 6' privacy fence in the driveway about 2' away from his house. Even though the fence is technically off the easement, I now have a 9' wide driveway - I can barely open the car doors! Furthermore, the fence is of no advantage to him (I think he has done it out of spite). Clearly, this do-it-yourself project of his looks out of place, and anyone can see that this area is better used as a driveway. I have read about something called an "easement by prescription" and I think it applies here because the driveway had been unobstructed for decades. Can I get him to take the fence down? Does the easement line even matter here, or is it about what makes sense? Or should I be feeling lucky that this guy didn't move in years ago?