pappy19
Silver Member
This is a very interesting thread. I am a seasoned right of way agent that deals with easements every day. Just before I became one, I had a shared road easement with 2 other landowners. They had an easement across my property to access theirs. One of them, the 1st one was a dipstick. His claim was that since he was the first driveway along the common road that he only should pay 1/3 of 1/3, since the rest of us had to continue on. This was not only for general road upkeep, but also for snow removal, which on bad snow years, could amount to a chunk of change. Long and short is that my nice neighbor and I got together and we built a new road on my property to the county road and let the pantload have his own road.
As far as your situation is concerned, I would recommend the following:
1) Get a Registered survey on your property and register it at the county recorder's office, ASAP.
2) After the recorded survey, and assuming the grapes are on your property, have an attorney write the trespasser a letter of demand to remove the grapes by a certain date(I recommend 2 weeks), or you will charge him to remove them and put a lien on his property for those charges along with the attorney fees.
3) Unless the easement lists that the buttwipe as the recipient of the road maintenance money each year, then have your friendly landowner sign a statement, notarized, that you will be the "lead maintenance manager" for the road and you complete one of the same instruments. Your attorney can draft this up. Record both intruments at the recorder's office and after recording, send buttwipe a copy. If he is designated as the recipient of the maintenance money, then you and your friendly neighbor should send him a certified letter stating that unless he complies with the terms of the easement to fix the road, then you will cease to provide any funds for the road until he fixes the road.
4) I would highly recommend that if you and your friendly neighbor have a path to get to the county road along your property line, that you do so as soon as possible.
5) It is also possible to charge for the trespass of the grapes for the length of time that he was under trespass and bill him for a reasonable amount of rent, usually at least 10% of the value per acre of your property per year during the entire time of the trespass, plus attorney fees.
6) Once you obtain the registered survey, and it is recorded, you should talk to the county engineer, county procecutor, sheriff, and your local county commissioner and let them know what you are about to begin, why and by what means you intend to initiate your legal rights.
Good luck and keep us informed.
As far as your situation is concerned, I would recommend the following:
1) Get a Registered survey on your property and register it at the county recorder's office, ASAP.
2) After the recorded survey, and assuming the grapes are on your property, have an attorney write the trespasser a letter of demand to remove the grapes by a certain date(I recommend 2 weeks), or you will charge him to remove them and put a lien on his property for those charges along with the attorney fees.
3) Unless the easement lists that the buttwipe as the recipient of the road maintenance money each year, then have your friendly landowner sign a statement, notarized, that you will be the "lead maintenance manager" for the road and you complete one of the same instruments. Your attorney can draft this up. Record both intruments at the recorder's office and after recording, send buttwipe a copy. If he is designated as the recipient of the maintenance money, then you and your friendly neighbor should send him a certified letter stating that unless he complies with the terms of the easement to fix the road, then you will cease to provide any funds for the road until he fixes the road.
4) I would highly recommend that if you and your friendly neighbor have a path to get to the county road along your property line, that you do so as soon as possible.
5) It is also possible to charge for the trespass of the grapes for the length of time that he was under trespass and bill him for a reasonable amount of rent, usually at least 10% of the value per acre of your property per year during the entire time of the trespass, plus attorney fees.
6) Once you obtain the registered survey, and it is recorded, you should talk to the county engineer, county procecutor, sheriff, and your local county commissioner and let them know what you are about to begin, why and by what means you intend to initiate your legal rights.
Good luck and keep us informed.