Author Topic: I think I have to sue my neighbor. (Read 1603 times)

sluggish · « **on:** February 05, 2008, 02:56:39 PM »

We bought five acres and split it, sold the back half and put an easement down one side for access to the back lot. My driveway is off the main road. I don’t use the easement. It’s just so the neighbors can get to their house. They insist that since half the easement runs through my lot, I should pay for half of the snowplowing – even though I don’t use it. As far as I’m concerned, even if my driveway WAS off the easement, I would only be responsible for plowing to my driveway, not all the way to the property line…

So now I have to hire a lawyer to write down some mumbo-jumbo legalese and have a judge bang a gavel just because these people (first-time home-owners/life-time renters) don’t understand the concept of personal responsibility.

I know now that I should have had a maintenance agreement drawn up at the time of sale, but who would have figured that anyone would think that their neighbor is responsible for their snow removal?

Ripsnort · « **Reply #1 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:04:04 PM »

Is the easement 50% on your land and 50% on the part you sold?

trax1 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:06:50 PM »

Yeah seems like it's your land, you can plow it if you want or not, how about this, tell the since it's half on your land you want a toll fee for them using it.

BigGun · « **Reply #3 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:07:49 PM »

And you have to sue them for what? I can't imagine how you have been damaged from them asking you to pay for half of plowing costs.

trax1 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:09:27 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by BigGun
And you have to sue them for what? I can't imagine how you have been damaged from them asking you to pay for half of plowing costs.

I'm guessing they're suing him for the money, and now he has to hire a lawyer to defend him.

sluggish · « **Reply #5 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:19:59 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by BigGun
And you have to sue them for what? I can't imagine how you have been damaged from them asking you to pay for half of plowing costs.

Yeah it sounds ridiculous because it is. The guy these people have hired to plow charges $50 a pop. So far this year they say I owe them $125. Let me repeat that I don't even use this easement. It is a legal ingress -egress utility easement. Basically what it comes down to is that we need an official third party to tell us exactly where each of our responsibilities lye because we are totally on different pages.

BigGun · « **Reply #6 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:29:57 PM »

Did they just ask you for the $125 or sue you? Surely isn't lawyer material at that price. Still not sure why you whould sue them.

Fulmar · « **Reply #7 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:47:31 PM »

http://www.judgejudy.com

BaDkaRmA158Th · « **Reply #8 on:** February 05, 2008, 03:54:10 PM »

You don't want bad blood between you and people who live right next door.
And remember, only people who sue are the ones who can afford to be sued*.

Figure another way out of it.

john9001 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 05, 2008, 04:09:20 PM »

there are legal rules governing easements.

VERTEX · « **Reply #10 on:** February 05, 2008, 04:14:12 PM »

should have split the lot side to side.

usually easment maintenance responsibilities are a part of the title, and made clear at the time of sale.

think you have a problem now, wait until potholes need to be filled or it needs to be paved.

mentalguy · « **Reply #11 on:** February 05, 2008, 04:15:54 PM »

Tell them to only start plowing half of it.

sluggish · « **Reply #12 on:** February 05, 2008, 04:24:06 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by BigGun
Did they just ask you for the $125 or sue you? Surely isn't lawyer material at that price. Still not sure why you whould sue them.

$125 today. The point is every time they plow the road they expect me to pay half. This can add up to a lot of money over time. I want a legal precedence to be set so that no one is confused about who has to pay who how much.

Right now they think I should pay half of a plow bill on an ingress/egress easement that I don't even use. I think they should pay to plow their own road.

john9001 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 05, 2008, 04:24:09 PM »

Mac, are you sure you know what a easement is?

eskimo2 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 05, 2008, 04:27:17 PM »

sluggish,

I'm no expert, but I looked for similar cases. I did't like what I found; they go against intuition. Read this.

"The general rule is that you have to do all the maintenance and that he can do nothing but go in and out on the road." - seniorjudge

But this one does sound much better:

Read me too.

"We have a Right Of Way at the bottom of our property to allow one neighbor end of the road access to her home. We recently cut all trees on a small slope to allow a view. This slope is on our property and runs down to the ROW road, which is on our property and another neighbor’s. The neighbor who uses the road is very upset that her “shady lane” has been “desecrated.” She now has made many demands and threatened to put a lien on our home, which we now have on the market. She has demanded, among other things, that we take full erosion control measures to protect her road. We know that 28 years ago cutting occurred on this slope and that erosion was not an issue. We have plans to seed and hay the slope; we plan on redigging the road-edge ditch that was covered with debris. She has accused us of displacing gravel on the road, which did not occur-both road property owners agree on that. What is our obligation to her and her right of way maintenance?" - embiju

"You can do anything on your property that does not "burden" the easement. As long as you do not interfere with her access you are OK. That does not mean she can't hire a lawyer and sue you, this is America. Check the original easement to see if maintenance is mentioned." - lwpat

"Thanks Iwpat! The deed does not specify anything about maintenance. A road assoc. agreement states that homeowners are responsible for road maint. on portions edging their property, but not beyond any portion of the road used by the homeowner. The only people using this portion of road are the complaining neighbors - road ends at their property. We have no intention of allowing their access to be hampered or blocked in any way. I think we're OK as long as they don't get crazy and suit happy on us. I appreciate your response." - embiju