Another neighbor problem.

SageBrush · Jul 22, 2003

Does anyone know if there is easement info for the state of Alabama online? I can't find much. We have a situation also, but the other way around. 23 years ago my family "bought" a 40' wide by 180' long easement for a road which connects us to a 88 acre farm with three houses and a barn. The neighbor that owns the ajacent land has become plain crazy. Off his rocker and hostile for no reason at all.

He becomes hostile when we maintain the gravel road and mow the grass, his grass he claims which he never mows anyway. We are only using about 20 feet of our 40 and he keeps on complaining even though we allow him to use the road and pay to maintain it 100%! Plus I like to mow along the county road and the powerline road wich goes through our land. The whole time never really touching his actual land.

This land was actually purchased from him. I don't want any further problems, so I would like to fence and add another gate to the road ( I have one cattle gate and one chain link gate already deeper in), in order to keep him out and clearly define the property line. Which we had no problem with untill he started the threats and target shooting and bird hunting. Shooting shot guns less than 100' from children playing in their own yard is not going to be well recieved by me. The main house is around 1000, but there are two homes under 150 feet away from their dove field. I have a shooting range my self, but I do not shoot towards homes! So we have two problems really. He can not be reasoned with. I always thought a paid for easement meant you owned the land, I see now that may not be the case.

My deed cleary shows ownership and the exact size etc.... but nothing about the road size or maintenance. The neighbor is claiming that he is the only one that can maintain my road. I just don't understand how he could be right, if so he better get started I need at least $500 to $600 worth of chert. I mow the grass about once a month and he says I'm tresspassing on my own road which also has a utility easement on his property. Why some one would not want a road maintained is beyond me. Its been about 23 years too and now the road becomes an issue? Crazy. Now he wants to use some of our 40' for his field. My other neighbor is really getting on the crazy neighbors nerves, he is fencing in his whole place and turning his woods into pasture. We are going to do the same thing one of these days. But right now we need to fix the road so we can get in with a car and deal with the land issue and I guess will have to call the police about the shooting if it continues. He pelts all the neighbors, but no one will do anything.

Where should I start, suggestions? Do I really need a law... I mean lone shark?

MikePA · Jul 22, 2003

Where should I start, suggestions? 
The first thing I'd do is get a survey of the area which clearly marks the property corners and lines. I think it should show your property corners and lines, as well as his, and the easement area.

Then I'd make copies of your deed (the surveyor/civil engineer will need these to do the survey anyway) that clearly shows your easement.

Then I'd contact a lawyer.

SageBrush · Jul 22, 2003

Are all egress easements bought?

It was surveyed recently, its pretty easy to see the lines due to two fences 40' apart. The land is fenced on all but his side of the road and in the "swamp" which is almost useless. My nice neighbor fenced the other side. The nasty neighbor removed his old fence that seperated our road from his small field. His claim, is that he controls the easement. I hope this won't cost a fortune. But, our business is growing, so tractor trailer rigs will be using the road in the future, which he dosen't like for a reason only he knows. I would have never thought about this being an issue. I didn't know that people could argue over land they do not own and never really did since the power company claimed their piece which is beside our road. Funny thing is, he put a trailer under the power lines..... and uses our road which I guess is why he is trying to reclaim the land which he sold, so he can steal it legally. But I think he's missing the point, we allow him to use it.

Ater telling him that we were closing the road to him he became all nice.... Now he says he'll maintain the road, but I'm not sure if that is wise to allow him to do so. I guess only an attorney can figure it out.

DUMBDOG · Jul 22, 2003

I am a little bit confused by your terminology, you say that you purchased an easement. If this is so, you have purchased the right to cross the land, not to fence it in and to control the land. You also may have the right to maintain the easement so that you can cross the land. You must look at the orginal purchase to clarify the isssue.

heehaw · Jul 22, 2003

i agree, i read it the same way..buying an easment is no where near the same as buying the land. in fact, in many cases, having an easment does not stop the land owner from putting a gate in, that the easment holders have to stop and open, then shut, each time they go thru...this same thing stopped me from buying 80 acres that where otherwise a real bargain.. i wouldn't get to rambunkcious to quick...check out the terms of the easement..
heehaw

SageBrush · Jul 22, 2003

Thats the question, he claims full control. The deed does not give details beyond the 40' width. I still can't figure out exactly what he is upset about. I don't think he knows either.

But I should be able to control the roads use 100%. I don't mind him using it, but now he tells me not to the mow grass? Can't trim trees, can't put gravel on the road etc.... My family paid for that road and land. For 20 years that road has been fenced, he took the fence down that he put up. This all started last weekend, so I'll have to find out how all these easments work. Maintaining the road only helps him, I guess he likes ruts and tall grass and making verbal threats. He has no real need to use our road, its on the property line.

There is no real problem that I can see, we have had only one problem with an apple tree in our 40' feet. We let it alone as a good neighbor even though its in our way and makes things tight. But, the good neighbor days are over after his big foul mouth ruined our mood. This is a tree farm, so a wide road is very important, thats why we bought 40' of width not the usual 20.

MikePA · Jul 22, 2003

Are all egress easements bought? 
I've only ever seen them written into deeds of both parcels (my FIL was a civil engineer and I used to work for him). As others have indicated, the deeds usually spell out what the easement is for, how it can be used, what can be done, etc. Installing a fence would be something I'd be surprised if it were allowed. Also, don't trust fence lines, you have to see where the survey markers are. Before you get an attorney, visit the courthouse and pull the deed for yours and his property to see what's been recorded.

yellowyj · Jul 22, 2003

I would recommend going to the county court house and pulling the property deeds, tract sketches and the tax maps. From these you should be able to see the property lines as well as the easements.

In the State of Alabama most old dirt county roads were essentially easements across the original property owners land. The original property owner on his side of the road actually owns to the center of the road.

Old easements are sometimes a grey area in the State of Alabama, especially if they were not written very well. I have seen some property lines that actually overlap in the State of Alabama. It can be very confusing and frustrating.

You might consider talking with the county DOT about making it a county road, especially if you anticipate having a lot of heavy truck traffic in the future.

SageBrush · Jul 22, 2003

I pulled the deed for ours, the easement is seperate from the land deed. It says nothing as to use, just the size and location.

I figure the Alabama law will have to fill in the rest. But the whole thing is really stupid. He can't really use the land and our road is already well established. Nothing has changed for over 30 years, the road was there before my family ever bought the land. We have always been nice, too nice. I'm not sure what he thinks will be accomplished by all this. To complain about mowing thorns and overgrown bushes is a bit looney. We are clearing some land that is well off his property line and he still fusses over that. His place is 100% cleared with no woods. For some reason its against the law for me to cut grass on my own easement according to him. Its not like we are cutting his trees down. Crazy.

Our other neighbor wants to cut down all the brush on the other side of the road, we don't really care. So, we are helping him. He wants a clear fence line, we think thats resonable. He told the nasty neighbor it was up to us. But we all don't really know for sure. It would be nice to have neighbors willing to help each other. We have that for the most part, only one bad neighbor. All the others don't under stand why someone would argue over weeds.

Spencer · Jul 22, 2003

( he claims full control )

( But I should be able to control the roads use 100%. I don't mind him using it, but now he tells me not to the mow grass? Can't trim trees, can't put gravel on the road etc.... My family paid for that road and land.
)

Most times when there is an easement you only have rights to ingress and egress. I doubt your family paid for land, they probably just paid for the use of it for ingress and egress.

I am landlocked and have an easement to access my property. Two other parties also have the same easement to access their land and of course the gentleman who actually owns the land the easement is on also has access. In our case there was never any formal agreement on who is to maintain the land and/or pay for any materials or work done on it. The gentleman who owns the land my easement is on called me over to his house shortly after I significantly inproved the driveway easement. He wasn't happy that I took all the potholes out and widened it a bit. He was concerned that people would travel faster down the driveway and that outsiders might start going down the driveway now that it was driveable. We have a school right across the street and it seems that instead of just walking over here to smoke in the morning some kids were starting to drive instead. Two days in a row of me going down there with my camera deterred the kids from coming back. I haven't done any significant driveway maintenance since, so I don't know how he will react if and when I do.

I should add that the gentleman who owns the land that my easement is on has always treated me with respect and in turn I have always treated him with respect. I hope that your situation takes a turn for the better soon.