Convincing a neighbor to grant an easement
- Thread starter Turkish
- Start date
In some jurisdictions, access to landlocked property must be granted, with grantor properly compensated. Not cheap, and guaranteed to make for bad neighborly relationships.
gwm
5 year old buck +
Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but didn't you say there is already access via a better quality route?
If another access is available, and this situation has been decades old, I'd be curious if the courts would even allow the easement.
Buckly
5 year old buck +
In that case, what if there are 3 or 4 other property owners that border the landlocked piece? Who decides which property gets an easement? I looked at a landlocked property once and there was an easement across an open field and then through a large creek making it non- vehicle but, was an easement. The property next to it had a gravel road that went right to the landlocked property. An easement may not mean it’s accesss where you want.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Some folks are just kind hearted and will grant an easement. Many will grant an easement for money (like in my case). There are a few, regardless of how little inconvenience it might be will never grant an easement. Both ends of the spectrum are pretty few. For the majority, it just comes down to money.
Bill
Administrator
My father in law had a land locked parcel. I bought the property in front of it. Held it for 10 years but gave him a legal right of way to his parcel for $1. Sold mine at no profit because of the right of way reducing its value.
2 months later he sold his because it’s value went up with the legal right of way.
No good deed goes unpunished…….
2 months later he sold his because it’s value went up with the legal right of way.
No good deed goes unpunished…….
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Don't know your situation, but there is some value in good will with the in-laws...
Sucks you couldn’t afford to buy out your FiL.
I’m growing regretful of starting the thread. Thanks to those that gave meaningful input. It’s easy to understand the viewpoint of the grantor. Lol. If I’m ever approached about granting an easement, I have good advice. As for my current quandary, still searching.
Last edited:
Hahaha. Too true.
Bill
Administrator
Could have bought it 6 times over at the price he sold. Wasn’t for sale until mine was gone and I no longer wanted it.
I just made the mistake of being a nice guy for free. Again, just pointing out no good deed goes unpunished :)
Had another neighbor on the same property that I gave permission to cross my land to get to his for the 10 years I owned it. Instead of thanking me for 10 years he called a Lawyer when I listed it for sale. He wanted to sue me for legal access.
His problem was I never denied him access so he didn’t have a case.
See that good deed thing?
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
If someone knowingly buys a landlocked parcel, they have brought harm unto themselves. As they could not prove another party harmed them, I seriously doubt they could sue and force a neighbor to grant an easement. I mean which neighbor do you sue for and easement when there are multiple neighbors and why? If someone is sold a property and the easement was mis-represented to them, then they would have a case.
I know a bit about this as I have had direct experience where I was sold a roadside parcel with the seller holding the back 80 acres. They communicated that there was an easement to their property across mine. They then sold the back 80 to a new party. Both properties had a conservation easement on them and it was learned that the seller had no right to convey an easement as the conservation easement did not allow that right. The new owner ended up suing the seller, and not me. I had never contested the easement or had prevented the buyer or seller from using the easement so I was not made a party to the lawsuit. The Title company would not honor the title insurance as it was determined that the easement was not enforceable so the seller was in a real bind. It cost both parties a lot in legal costs. It was eventually resolved with me buying that 80 acres at about 40% of market value from the original seller and the buyer was made whole from the seller also.
Moral of the story ... never sue someone or get sued ... it's expensive and there are no guaranteed results. The seller was a bully and tried to intimidate me to grant an easement to his buyer. That did not work out real well for him.
I have made this recommendation before ... whenever you buy a property especially vacant land, hire an attorney to at least review the Deed & Title policy, could save you a lot of headaches down the road.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I know you aren’t getting the answer to the question you wanted, but I think you may start seeing a pattern here. Lots of bad stories with easements. So the biggest bit of information is buyer beware! My original recommendation is to get the property owner out on the land with you, tell him you would like to purchase that land, walk the area with him, explain your plans, and hopes, and ask him what he needs to make that happen, and you want his input. Threats to sue without an agreement won’t favor you. If you both can’t agree, then it’s time to walk away.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I'm not sure it is possible to by a landlocked property here. I think in order to subdivide and sell a property, they require deeded easements.
To be clear, I would never consider suing for access. Never. I’m just saying that it does happen in this area. There were a lot of things handled by a handshake 2 generations ago that need legal “shoring up” now that ownership has changed.
Thanks for that case study! So the buyer of the 80 could access because you allowed it, but he didn’t have deeded access? Am I understanding that? Certainly needed to be more deliberate assessment of that before closing. Wow.
When you purchased the roadside parcel, did you think the easement was deeded or did you think it was by permission only?
Last edited:
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Another thing to be aware of is prescriptive easements.
A prescriptive easement can be created from an open, adverse, and continuous use over a statutory period. Basically, no easement is recorded but one uses land without asking or being denied for long enough, a prescriptive easement exists. You need to make sure people are seeking permission to avoid getting screwed with that one is my understanding.
They are fairly common with 100+ year old USFS trails across private out west where they never bothered to record an easement but used and maintained a trail for many years.
A prescriptive easement can be created from an open, adverse, and continuous use over a statutory period. Basically, no easement is recorded but one uses land without asking or being denied for long enough, a prescriptive easement exists. You need to make sure people are seeking permission to avoid getting screwed with that one is my understanding.
They are fairly common with 100+ year old USFS trails across private out west where they never bothered to record an easement but used and maintained a trail for many years.
Good point and touches on what I’ve tried to describe. “Without asking or being denied…” is basically how my family has used this easement for the last 30 years. Again, though, to gain legal access by bringing this claim before a court may be successful for the eventual owner of the property, it would not be a tactic I’d be interested in.
Depending on your location yes, they can indeed sue neighbors for access. I know someone who bought a landlocked parcel....I believe the back story was the state had screwed up piecing together a state forest and cut it off and of course you can't come back on the state and sue them. Nice talks with neighbors didn't go anywhere and offers to buy access lanes at a multiple of their value were refused due to "you aren't from here" attitudes. So they were forced to resort to a lawsuit and basically the lawyer picked the neighbor they felt they had the best case against. Many dollars later the neighbor was forced to grant access, though they kept screwing with locks and things even after that.
