QUESTION
What do l do when a neighbor who verbally agreed to give me legal easement access to the other side of my land a year ago & hasn't followed through?
Asked on Mar 29th, 2017 on Real Estate - California
More details to this question:
We have 10 acres in Hayfork Ca. the majority of the land is inaccessible from the side the residence is on due to a creek in a steep ravine, but there is a road that goes through our neighbor's property from the main road up the hill, past his cabin and to that side of our property. Access that way has to be asked for each time and the neighbor does not want anyone driving past their cabin all the time, so our family and another neighbor made arrangements, and got a survey done to put in a new easement road through his property far away from their cabin. Our other neighbors who are waiting for the easement too, went to the trouble of pulling permits to build a new home, with the understanding that the neighbor who's property we would be crossing, was granting us easement through his land so that we could have legal access to the majority of our two parcels. As it is we only have access to a few acres or less each. Trying to sell our home and buyers want land, what can we do?
1 ANSWER
It is possible that if a real estate attorney researched the history of the real estate title for your property and your neighbor's, he might find that you actually are legally entitled to an access easement. It's not likely, but it's possible.
A faster, surer and more likely solution is that your neighbor would grant the easement, if someone paid him for it. He might not want to ask, and he might not have any idea how much to ask for.
Could he selll you and the other neighbor who needs an easement, a couple of acres to accommodate the new driveway? What's the current market value of an acre? If he's not going to sell you the land and just the easement, maybe the price for the easement only, could be 1/4, 1/3 or even 1/2 of the price for the land.
If he won't talk to you, maybe someone you know he likes and trusts could ask him.
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Dana Sack
Answered on Mar 31st, 2017 at 10:19 AM