Locking an easement gate

[EddieWalker]

I realize this doesn't help, but reading this thread sure does reinforce my feeling that when buying land, NEVER have an easement to get to that land, or have one through that the neighbors can use. My brother has been looking for a place here in East Texas for over a year. There have been some great deals that he's come across, but they all had easment issues. It was the one thing that I really voiced a strong opinion on and talked him out of.

In the end, he found a great deal without any easements through the land. I think that if you are buying land to live on, or retire on, it's more important to buy land that will have the minimum amount of stress with it. Easements are stressful. Even if it's all good today, it's just a time bomb waiting to explode when trying to sell the land, or when somebody else buys the land with the easement.

I hope it gets all worked out, but by the sound of things, there's already bad blood flowing. Now it's probably only going to get worse before it gets resolved.

Eddie

 

[jbos333]

The situation at my land is similar, but there is no gate and I am the user of the easement; my neighbor actually owns the easement road. It is about 1/4 mile long log road that allows me to (more easily) access about 30-40 acres of my land that is kind of otherwise blocked off by a steep rise. I don't NEED to use the easement road, it just is the easiest, especially on a vehicle. On foot, I generally use the road on my side of the line.

So, I guess the reason I mentioned this is that I'm the "other guy" in this instance, and I try not to abuse the right to use the road. I will eventually be doing some logging in the future up on the hill and don't want to cause any problems that would prevent me from using the road. Of course, it's the right thing to do anyway.

 

[dmccarty]

Progressive Farmer Magazine has a legal column. Easement issues are covered over and over and over again.

One of the recent columns mentioned that if a parcel has multiple ways of easement one of those easements might be able to be removed. But this is a question for the local lawyer to answer.

Later,
Dan

 

[KermitWC]

Progressive Farmer Magazine has a legal column. Easement issues are covered over and over and over again.

One of the recent columns mentioned that if a parcel has multiple ways of easement one of those easements might be able to be removed. But this is a question for the local lawyer to answer.

Later,
Dan

I am checking into that. My hay guy today told me that since he was able to get to his land via other ways, that I could lock him out. I will ask a lawyer though.

 

[blueriver]

JUST FENCE BOTH SIDES OF THE EASEMENT !! a whole lot cheaper than an attorney ....

 

[Ronbo]

I would tryto just fence along the existing fence. You only have to put up one fence that way, unless the easment says that he can go across the middle of the pasture. If so, I would try to make some kind of mud hole, say feed the cattle right next to the easment.

Ron

 

[dave1949]

I realize this doesn't help, but reading this thread sure does reinforce my feeling that when buying land, NEVER have an easement to get to that land, or have one through that the neighbors can use. Eddie

Ditto that. Deeded right of ways are much clearer if there is an access issue for your land or a neighbors. You get surveyor's pins and dimensions.

Dave.

 

[MossRoad]

The immediate problem is your animals getting out. Tell the guy you are going to lock the gate with a chain with two locks because vandals are letting your livestock out at night. Put your lock on one end of the chain to a fixed point. Put his lock on the other end of the chain to a different fixed point. Make sure there is no way for him to lock the chain and bypass your lock so he cannot "accidentally" lock you out. You can do this by using a chain that runs the full width of the gate. Let him use the more convenient end by the gate latch. Tell him to buy his own lock and you will pay him for it. That way he is the only one that will have a key to his lock and he cannot accuse you of unlocking his lock. Have him meet you out there and he can install his lock himself.

Once that is done, then see if you can open a discussion about buying out his easement, or at least moving it to the property edges, even if it means giving him a longer easement around the edges of the property.

Good luck with this. Do not take it lightly. Get legal advice. Read this thread if you want to read a real horror story about easement legal troubles.

 

[JRobyn]

All this sure makes me grateful for my GOOD neighbors!! Our land shares a "common use access easement" road with our neighbors that is the boundary between the properties. Since my neighbor has only unimproved land and uses it only for occasional hunting, I do all the road improvement and maintenance. Whenever I have done anything involving the easement, I've explained to them in advance what we will be doing, and why, and asked for their approval. We installed a gate and gave them several keys. All has been "no problem".

- Jay

 

[blueriver]

All this sure makes me grateful for my GOOD neighbors!! Our land shares a "common use access easement" road with our neighbors that is the boundary between the properties. Since my neighbor has only unimproved land and uses it only for occasional hunting, I do all the road improvement and maintenance. Whenever I have done anything involving the easement, I've explained to them in advance what we will be doing, and why, and asked for their approval. We installed a gate and gave them several keys. All has been "no problem".

- Jay

It has been said ... your neighbors are only as good as you are a good neighbor. Truly I have never had neighbor problems.

 

[Inspector507]

your neighbors are only as good as you are a good neighbor.

That sounds great, but you'll always have the exception. I met my west neighbor before I bought this place. I came to look at it when it was up for sale. Within 3 minutes of me pulling in the driveway, she was there asking who I was and what I wanted. We have become very good neighbors, I watch her place and she watches mine. Her husband used to drive his MF 231S over to chat because he couldn't walk that far. She cuts part of my lawn along with hers and I return the favor. We share fruit when it gets ripe. I plowed, disked and tilled her garden after her husband passed. I always plow her driveway when it snows too.

Now the neighbor on the east side, I never saw her until I had been here a few months. She would be out mowing and if I walked in my back yard, she shut the mower off and ran to the house. I went over and knocked on the door a few times, she never answered it. The only interactions we have ever had is over our dogs. She yelled at my wife because her dog was in MY yard. Said we must have called him over. My dog got in her yard one day. I got a slurred speech chastising about how my dog was trying to kill hers. She reported us to the local Health Dept for discharging raw sewage on the ground. I had temporarily rerouted my sump pump to 100' of corrugated drain pipe. They checked my sump plumbing along with the rest of the plumbing in the house and realized it was just ground water that was being discharged.

So every once in a while, someone is going to have a neighbor that you just can't reason with.

 

[dave1949]

Inspector507

Your tale of two neighbors is so typical. I always think, there can't be THAT many barely functional people out there, but there are. Liked the LittleBlueTractor site.

Dave.

 

[MossRoad]

It has been said ... your neighbors are only as good as you are a good neighbor. Truly I have never had neighbor problems.

We have nine good neighbors and one nut job. I figure if you can get along with 9 out of 10 folks, you are doing pretty good.

 

[MossRoad]

That sounds great, but you'll always have the exception. I met my west neighbor before I bought this place. I came to look at it when it was up for sale. Within 3 minutes of me pulling in the driveway, she was there asking who I was and what I wanted. We have become very good neighbors, I watch her place and she watches mine. Her husband used to drive his MF 231S over to chat because he couldn't walk that far. She cuts part of my lawn along with hers and I return the favor. We share fruit when it gets ripe. I plowed, disked and tilled her garden after her husband passed. I always plow her driveway when it snows too.
...

We had a sweet older couple that lived next to us at our first house. The day we moved in they invited us over for drinks.... at noon! We excepted the invitation. I would snowblow their sidewalks, alley and driveway in the winter. In summer I would come home and half my lawn would be mowed. We'd go for rides in the country every once in a while and the old guy would take me fishing. They would find deals on fruit and bring us a case of ripe fruit every so often. My wife and his wife would rush to bake pies and see who could be first over the fence to exchange them. Our houses were so close together that if the windows were open at breakfast if my spoon clinked in the bowl I could pretty much guarantee I'd here "Watcha havin' Davit?" Their names were Ben and Irene. Ben passed away from a heart attack when he was around 80. Irene beat cancer twice after that, then moved in with her daughter. Their grandson moved in and we got along well with him, too. But I really miss that sweet old couple.

 

[WayneB]

Reading through this thread it just hard to believe we let ourselves get into these situation! You certainly aren't alone as over 30 years ago we purchased land that had an old discontinued road on it.

We did everything we thought was proper, like a land search, title search, hired a lawyer to check out the discontinued road, spoke to the town fathers and was told not to worry as it was a discontinued road and we owned both sides so it could not be reopened.

After we bought the land I erected a gate to prevent people from going through our property. I did not lock the gate but had a sign on it asking people to please close the gate. The unlocked gate was requested by the fire chief because he felt if there was a fire there he would have to go through our property to fight the fire.

Two years after we bought the property we found ourselves in court to prevent the use of the road as access to back land. Well, what seemed logical turned out to be shot down by the courts and legal ingress and egress was permitted to people that owned the back land. His argument was he had used the road for years to access his land. He told the judge that he loved wildlife and would go up almost weekly to see the birds and animals, but due to his health and age he didn't feel he could manage getting out of his car to open the gate and then having to drive through and get out again to close the gate. The judge agreed with him that it would be difficult.

The findings by the judge was for him and he was permitted access, to further upset the apple cart the judge indicated that everyone had a right to use the discontinued road to ingress and egress and that I had to take down my gate. He went on to say he understood this could be a slight hardship for us the land owner as the road was only about 12 feet from our home so he imposed a speed limit of 5 mph to go 200 feet beyond our home. Took me 22 years to get the town to post the speed limit, but they refuse to enforce it.

Two weeks after we received the judgment the land was sold to a person that wished to build a house on the property. Naturally, we did not want the power lines going through our land so when the Public Utilities guy showed up we told him it was private property and no poles would be aloud. He smiled and got back into his vehicle and left. We finally made an agreement with the new owners of the land to permit them to run power lines underground to their land as long as they would agree to never attempt to open the road or subdivide their property. This was agreed to and added to their deed.

We are the best of friends, but every once in awhile it is brought up in passing about subdividing the land someday and if we were to sell they wish to have first purchase rights. To this day I have never agreed to that.

As for your easement problem, I hear many people say get a lawyer and take it to court or what have you. Good advice but make sure you understand that he has this documented and depending upon the judge he might win and you will have to take down your gate (s).
Easements are a constant battle, one that causes much agony to both parties. The cattle crossing gate seems to be a good approach to the problem you have and might be acceptable to the other guy. Always best to work it out without legal intervention.

Just my two cents!

Oh thirty years ago I spent nearly 15K fighting and the land only sold for 38K, I would have been much better off buying the darn land.

 

[blueriver]

I know at some point the OP stated the road ran thru the middle of the property ... thats even tougher to deal with.

 

[blueriver]

We had a sweet older couple that lived next to us at our first house. The day we moved in they invited us over for drinks.... at noon! We excepted the invitation. I would snowblow their sidewalks, alley and driveway in the winter. In summer I would come home and half my lawn would be mowed. We'd go for rides in the country every once in a while and the old guy would take me fishing. They would find deals on fruit and bring us a case of ripe fruit every so often. My wife and his wife would rush to bake pies and see who could be first over the fence to exchange them. Our houses were so close together that if the windows were open at breakfast if my spoon clinked in the bowl I could pretty much guarantee I'd here "Watcha havin' Davit?" Their names were Ben and Irene. Ben passed away from a heart attack when he was around 80. Irene beat cancer twice after that, then moved in with her daughter. Their grandson moved in and we got along well with him, too. But I really miss that sweet old couple.

My neighbor is 73 (the one who put the bass in my pond!!) Same thing here, he and his wife where the first to greet us when we bought this place, each spring we go along with them on a 2 week fishing trip. Christmas and New Years we toast each other, each year we are invited to their family reunion ... the first year folks where asking who are those people ... my reply "I am the illagetimate son" ... that certainly has made for some good stories!!!

 

[hitekcountry]

Just wondering, is there any reason why you can't plow your pasture?

 

[Redbug]

This is my Ann Landers response...I would go with the general consensus...and get a separate lock for each of you, and I would install an obnoxious sign at the gate saying to keep the gate locked. If that won't work, then I would turn it up a notch, and start a slow destruction of the road. Action/reaction. He can then use his other way to the property or else get stuck. You are dealing with an idiot and being nice at this point is a waste of time. Just be yourself and be direct!

 

[riptides]

..You are dealing with an idiot and being nice ....

Idiots have a habit of lowering everyone to their level sooner or later. They go nuts, they go stupid, they endanger and escalate things. The problem is then, how do you deal with that?

I'd try other options and get them out of the picture. Someone mentioned cash or moving the easement. Perhaps with the easment as it stands now, an attorney could claim it to be a hardship or burden on the landowner. This might open the action of moving it.