Is there any such thing as abusing a easement across my property?

[Sigarms]

First off, talk to the landowner, in person and on site if possible. Keep it neighborly, its the right thing to do. The last thing you want to do is ruin a possibly good relationship with the landowner by having the first glimpse of this issue come to their attention in a letter signed by a lawyer. I've been thru this, a good relationship with a long term family friend has soured to a certin degree. Talk to them!

Kind of like the neighbor did with the OP?:laughing:

The reality is you HAVE to know what you can legally do and more importantly, what you CAN'T do. You can be buddies all you want with a neighbor that your or they are stuck with per one having to use the others property, and a "gentleman's agreement" may last for a couple of years or even perhaps decades, but... sooner or later something is going to change that and you HAVE to know all your options.

 

[polo1665]

I went back and read some more. I still haven稚 read the whole thing but I致e read nearly all of the OPs post in that thread. The end result. $422,000 settlement, $90,000 interest, and over $100,000 legal fees. He did get to keep the property.

Keep reading. He was able to keep his property, but ultimately also lost the easement case on appeal.

 

[4570Man]

Keep reading. He was able to keep his property, but ultimately also lost the easement case on appeal.

Of course he lost the easement. He was in the wrong the whole time. I don’t think he had to foreclose his property to pay the enormous settlement against him. Had he not been stirring crap about the easement I really doubt it would have ever escalated to that point.

 

[4570Man]

Kind of like the neighbor did with the OP?:laughing:

.

I don’t suppose you need to get your neighbors permission to rent your property. The problems the op described could easily be unforeseen consequences and a neighborly solution might not be out of reach yet.

 

[ch1ch2]

It was two separate issues.
He won the easement issue.
The other issue was how he allegedly acted during the dispute.
Right or wrong the jury found him to have acted in a way that caused harm to his neighbor. That is why there was the judgment against him.

I hope I am not getting two threads confused.

 

[Sigarms]

I don’t suppose you need to get your neighbors permission to rent your property. The problems the op described could easily be unforeseen consequences and a neighborly solution might not be out of reach yet.

The point I was making is if your renting a house off your neighbors road, it would be nice to mention it to your neighbor that your renting the house and people he doesn't know may be using his road to get to the rented house.

At this point, the neighbor doesn't care about a solution becuase they (the neighbor) isn't aware that a solution is needed.

Tells me enough. Get a lawyer and go from there. Good chance the neighbor has done exactly that, thus they don't care.

What you get when you have to share a road to YOUR house.

 

[tomplum]

There sure are a lot of assumptions in this thread and divisive solutions put out there as well. We've all heard the horror stories of bad neighbors and how one guy can poke the bear harder than the next and eventually you have a conflict that you can't come back from on your hands. The OP is at square one. At this point, cooler heads may very well prevail. You can always lawyer up or get with the county on another day.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

There sure are a lot of assumptions in this thread and divisive solutions put out there as well. We've all heard the horror stories of bad neighbors and how one guy can poke the bear harder than the next and eventually you have a conflict that you can't come back from on your hands. The OP is at square one. At this point, cooler heads may very well prevail. You can always lawyer up or get with the county on another day.

Here's the deal. Anytime you tell your neighbor how to use his land, what he can or can not do, you are in a mine field. Tip toeing out might work, or ....

 

[Sigarms]

You can always lawyer up or get with the county on another day.

You lawyer up first...

You don't have to be a prick to your neighbor, but you darn well better know your legal rights when dealing with them.

 

[tomplum]

Here's the deal. Anytime you tell your neighbor how to use his land, what he can or can not do, you are in a mine field. Tip toeing out might work, or ....

I have a different view. I've entered into these types of discussions, having the forethought to approach the situation rationally. I've stood my ground, given a little and taken a little. I've dealt with rambunctious youngin's and grown men/ women who you would think they should know better. Generally I have the ability to make things better.

Here's how I see it. Every relationship has a beginning. Given a choice, I'd rather tee off a relative than a neighbor. Yep, I'm sure sometimes the fence needs to go up a bit higher. I've also spent enough of legal fees to buy a new fancy pickup and trust me, I'd rather have that money and energy that went into the whole system than to do it over again. I don't dislike attorneys, they have their place. You can always see if there is a solution or at least have a face to face to get a feel for the situation. Then at least you can look across the desk and tell the man or woman with all the law books behind them where you think this thing is going to go.

I don't even see where the OP has responded, or I might have missed it. His goal may not even be to tell the owner what to do or how to do or anything. Maybe he called an attorney. Maybe he called a realtor. Maybe?

 

[Sigarms]

Here's how I see it. Every relationship has a beginning. Given a choice, I'd rather tee off a relative than a neighbor. Yep, I'm sure sometimes the fence needs to go up a bit higher. I've also spent enough of legal fees to buy a new fancy pickup and trust me, I'd rather have that money and energy that went into the whole system than to do it over again. I don't dislike attorneys, they have their place. You can always see if there is a solution or at least have a face to face to get a feel for the situation. Then at least you can look across the desk and tell the man or woman with all the law books behind them where you think this thing is going to go.

I don't disagree with you, but keep in mind, the house up the road has already been sold and is being rented out, and not once did the new owner inform the OP of anything that was or is going on or looking for feedback (or at least had not mentioned otherwise). That tells me enough that the next time I see this "neighbor", I'd better know what my leagle rights are up front.

When we first moved into our area, we actually stopped by all of neighbors just to introduce ourselves and invited them to our house. We later found out that we bought our home from a local who we found out later wasn't a very nice guy to the neighbors (he moved across the field to his dads house with 250 acres).

 

[Diggin It]

I don't even see where the OP has responded, or I might have missed it. His goal may not even be to tell the owner what to do or how to do or anything. Maybe he called an attorney. Maybe he called a realtor. Maybe?

Me neither. Just looked -- of the 71 posts in this thread, there is only one by the OP. Maybe he got discouraged by yet another thread where half the posts are off topic and have nothing at all to do with the original question. Those that want to talk about some other case some other time in some other place could maybe do it on that thread. Maybe?

So, OP, have you come up with anything? We know you posted on a weekend and your local government offices might possibly have been closed yesterday.

Have you had any contact with the other folks?

 

[wagne223]

Here's the deal. Anytime you tell your neighbor how to use his land, what he can or can not do, you are in a mine field. Tip toeing out might work, or ....

And that is where the problem lies.
While technically the landowner owns the land the access easement is on, it is much easier if the landowner recognizes the easement as "common area" or the "neighbors driveway" and separates himself from it.

Example, close friend of mine has the same setup as the OP in which his rear neighbor has an access easement across my friends land. The easement is parallel to the boundary line and is 20 feet wide.

Since day 1, my friend treats that easement as "the neighbors driveway".
My friend does nothing to it. He left a swath of woods between the easement and the rest of his property and assumes that swath is his boundary.

My friend made his own driveway from the road at another location. He has his gate, with his name and address on it and the neighbor has a gate on the easement drive with his name and address on it.

They each maintain their own driveway and with the woods between, you cant even see when someone is using the easement.


My friend is cordial to the neighbors but they only talk a few times a year. With this setup and thought process, there has never been an issue in relation to the access easement.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ That's all well and good and would probably work best if only the other person used it. But suppose neither maintained it properly and a third party renter got injured or suffered some vehicle damage due to a large pothole or falling branch. Where does liability fall on either of the owners?

 

[wagne223]

^^ That's all well and good and would probably work best if only the other person used it. But suppose neither maintained it properly and a third party renter got injured or suffered some vehicle damage due to a large pothole or falling branch. Where does liability fall on either of the owners?

That, I do not know.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Maybe there needs to be a function that freezes a thread if the op has not reponded within three posts and then every few after that. Like a dead mans switch! If someone wants to discuss a particular topic endlessly, let them start their own thread.

 

[shooterdon]

Not going to read all of this, but I have very rural property. One reason is that I like to shoot and wanted something were I would not get complaints...see where this is heading???

If you can legally shoot on your property...here are some ideas...I am or will be doing these to address some issues I have with trespassers.

Post your land...all of it.

In addition, have a few signs made up. "Warning! Active shooting range. DO NOT ENTER POSTED PROPERTY" Post one for sure at the gate to your property and the others at likely points of entry.

When BnB'ers show up, if they are well behaved, let them be. If they are not, break out the guns and have some fun. Make sure you have a good back stop and are safe.

When the BnB'ers get upset, they will post horrible reviews....problem solved. You will likely get a visit from the sheriff, but if you can legally shoot on your property and are safe, LEO's cannot do anything. Check with them first about shooting on your land.

BTW, I have two ranges on my property. One has the firing positions on my back porch...how neat it that! Nothing like "needing" to shoot early in the morning or later in the evening when the wind is down to test loads for my .300 Mag. Four 5 shot groups over a period of an hour...need to let the barrel cool down you know....will get attention. Then it is time for the semi-auto pistols and some rapid fire practice.

Dressing up can add to the effect.

ALWAYS be friendly unless you find them trespassing. They have a right to be on the property they have rented.

BTW, my neighbor overpaid for 20 acres north of me to get rid of a potential problem from an absentee land owner. But he wanted to also expand his hunt camp and he is rich. I am not.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Do you really want to have to do that again, and again and again? It's pointless unless there is some kind of feeback or reviews on the B&B. BUT, you could get a bunch of guys showing up with more guns than you have and shooting til 4 AM.

 

[4570Man]

Do you really want to have to do that again, and again and again? It's pointless unless there is some kind of feeback or reviews on the B&B. BUT, you could get a bunch of guys showing up with more guns than you have and shooting til 4 AM.

The neighbor could play that game and do some shade tree electric work and then when the cabin burns use the insurance money to build a racetrack, shooting range, chicken farm, the possibilities are endless. Or he could just sell the place and the possibility exist of a worse neighbor.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Yeah, a dog kennel, that would have to be the worst, or rent it to the Hells Angels. Actually,I hear they are a bunch of stand up guys! lol