Should I grant an Easement?

[ADC]

[Bulletsnbrains]

And what if you want to plant a tree or two? or place a driveway to a "new garage" in the back. And years down the road, the roots damage the sewer pipe, and you'll be in court to see who is going to pay roto-rooter guy or replace pipes. Plan on never expanding onto the land which has the sewer and water. Because someone will eventually complain about the inconvenience.

In my neighborhood, the lots are about 50ft.wide. Houses are 10 ft apart. As in my case, both the neighbors have their driveways on opposite sides of the house from me. That leaves me without driveway access to the back yard. A few doors down, the same problem applies to another. He worked with person next to him and was able to get a concrete driveway laid that goes right up against both houses. Sure hope he doesn't make a drive thru of the house!!Now the neighbor moves out, and the other dies from cancer. Houses are sold off. Unfortunately, couldn't tell you how well the new owners feel about the drive now.

Else, sell the property he needs at a fair market value.

Luck, Brian

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I am just wondering what kind of municipal government is doing that kind of planning? Tony

[Harry K]

Agree. Grant an easement for say a waterline through your property, you are stuck with it. If he needs to dig up the line he can do it at any time without consulting with you.

Harry K

[bill]

By "neighbor" you mean someone who already lives rather close to you? Because he obviously doesn't live on this lot just purchased. If he is already in the neighborhood, then he certainly knew, or should have known, well before his purchase that water and sewer are a problem for this lot. All of which makes me wonder if he grabbed the lot at a very low price, thinking he could talk you into this easement, thereby greatly enhancing his purchase. There's no question he will greatly benefit from the easement; I guess I would want a piece of that benefit, particularly if he is building a house on the new property with the intention of reselling it.

easement? I

[Abe]

Being a homeowner that has had to do with easement issues in the past, my very strong advice is not to grant an easement, for any reason, whether you are compensated or not. I can't emphasize this strongly enough.

Anything that reduces your sovereignty over the property you purchased is just asking for trouble in unexpected and unforeseen ways.

So, draw up a contract where:

1. There is a specific start and end date for the work.
2. Specify a per diem charge of XX dollars (100 is usually pretty good incentive) for each day the work extends past the end date, payable in full to you, by the homeowner, at the finish of work.
3. You will be made whole for any damage the work does to your property. Specify that the quality of work must leave the land in the same condition that before the work was begun.
4. You are not responsible for any costs arising from Item 3 above in the case where the land was left in 'better than original' condition.

[Norminn]

Being a good neighbor is not the same as being a sucker. I would be very reluctant to give up, permanently, any right to property that I own. If the owner of the other property is a speculator (which I've had unhappy experience with), he has no concern with detriment to the neighborhood or residents. He will make his money and run.

[Banty]

Curious, though - - apparently he *bought* property which would make it necessary to run lines through others' property in order to build on it. Legally, how much weight would that self-imposed fait accompli have?

Banty

[willshak]

A couple of other thoughts: Because the property could not have the services required for building a house, he got it at a steal. Now he gets an easement from a neighbor for those services. This increases the value of the property considerably. He can then just sell the property at its now increased value, pocketing a nice profit, or build a POS basic house on spec and realize a greater profit. He may never intend to be a neighbor at all.

[ClaudCar]

IMNBHO, yes, you "should" grant an easement and yes, you "should" get paid for it. The easement should be REAL clear as to who is responsible for this sewer line and that if trees planted subsequently grow into it, or driveway or future construction causes problems with it, it is HIS problem, not yours. How much? well he pays all legal to draw up easement agreement. and gives you the going rate per square foot for unimproved land in your area - which he knows since he just bought some. ______________________ Claudia Totus Tuus

[Andy Asberry]

Others have addressed the easement proper. I would be concerned about possible liability for anyone on your property; the neighbor, inspectors, construction workers, meter readers, etc. Both during the initial construction and subsequent repairs.

I would not be content with anything less than a liability policy that names you as an additional insured. It would really suck to lose your home in a lawsuit because you helped someone out.

[HA HA Budys Here]

Not likely, as he already has his sewer and water hookups.

[HA HA Budys Here]

True - see my other post.

[HA HA Budys Here]

Or possibly, hasn't bought it yet, unless he finds out wether or not he can even get an easement. See my other post.

[HA HA Budys Here]

I had a similar experience. I have a lot 125' wide, and next door was a 50' lot which was unbuildable in my municipality. Lots must be 75' or better street frontage to build.

The owner of this lot tried to sell me this lot 4 times between 1981 and 1992, and also to the 3 neighbors on the other side who've come and gone since 1981.

In '92 I had occasion to look up the lot owner as someone had dumped a load of junk and asphalt on the vacant lot and I wanted it cleaned up. As it happens, when I got home with the owner's address and phone number, a gentleman was parked IFO my house, wanting to purchase 25' of my side yard abutting this 50' lot. He *said* he was the owner and wants to build *his* home in a similar fashion to mine, only smaller, but not so small as to only fit on the existing

50' parcel.

(But just having been to town hall, unless he closed on the property that day, I knew that not to be true, and found out it wasn't)

To make a long story short - his plan was to convince me to sell 25' of my land so he could build and live in a decent size home suitable for the neighborhood, or else he'll build a home nobody would like and I'll forever have to live next to a dinky cottage.

Well, this is how speculators work my friend. They lie. He did not buy or own the land, he was testing the waters. He lived in an exclusive waterfront community nearby. He could not build on the 50' lot anyway, w/o a variance - unattainable when 2 property owners abutting the property object (which we would) only the original owner could build IF the ownership pre-dates zoning laws, which it didn't.

In the end, I purchased the lot myself for 8000.00, added my extra 25' and built my own investment home. Not because I wanted to, but because If I didn't, some greedy speculator would figure out a way.

[Trent©]

It depends on the terms in the easement. I doubt if he would agree to what you suggest here.

Have a nice one...

Trent

Budweiser: Helping ugly people have sex since 1876!

[Chet Hayes]

You know what I find interesting about this and similar threads? Someone asks an open ended question, giving hardly any info to base advice on and then disappears. There are probably 20 posts here so far, with all kinds of good questions raised and only the original was from the person who started the whole thing and presumably has the most interest.

[HA HA Budys Here]

Quickly, hire HIS really good, politically-connected lawyer for something stupid, minor, and cheap. Then he can't use that lawyer against you!

[Andy Asberry]

I was thinking that and it brings up an interesting question. One that maybe should be asked on a legal group but what the heck, we're not short of opinions here.:)

Suppose the one seeking an easement has Super-Lawyer on retainer but hasn't discussed this matter. Our OP visits S-L for advice on this situation; lays out his strategy and then informs S-L who his adversary is.

Can Super-Lawyer represent either one? If so, which one?

[Chet Hayes]

If that were to occur, it would be unethical for SL to then represent either client on the easement issue. What would be really funny would be to get a free initial consultation. Many lawyers offer this and it would certainly be funny if he gave you one before he was contacted by his client. Or he might even have been contacted, but not make the connection until after you told him too much.