Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I have a deeded access easement across the parcel that lies between my parcel and the main highway. The easement dimensions are 20 feet wide by 500 feet long and it is the only means of access to my property. The owner of the property that the easement is located across continually installs permanent encroaching structures like split rail fencing, block retaining walls, trees and shrubs. He also parks and stores his vehicles and landscaping equipment inside the easement. I recently had a survey done to find out exactly where the easement is located and also had them make note of the encroaching structures and how far they were encroaching. There are areas in my access easement that the width has been reduced down to 7 1/2 feet. The neighbor has been asked to remove the encroachments and his responses have been that "it is his property and he can do what he wants", "the only ones who can use the easement is people who live at my residence" and "he's been told that he only has to give a 10 feet wide access" although he won't explain, who told him this.
The access easement area is shared equally in order to access our homes and the maintenance costs are also shared. In 1999, The County building Department and fire Department required that the easement roadway be named as a private road to make it easier for emergency services to be able to find our homes. I completed this request and the street signing was done prior to the current neighbor moving in.
My question is, shouldn't the building department and fire department have the responsibility and authority to require the neighbor to remove all encroaching items and keep the entire easement dimensions clear of obstructions? Both departments have regulations regarding private road access and I feel that they should be able to enforce their regulations and not make me have to have this conflict resolved in court.
Thank you for any ideas, Ken in California
3 Answers from Attorneys
The county departments might, if they are kindly, give you some assistance with the neighbor, but more likely than not will take the position that providing and maintaining fire truck access is your responsibility, and won't go to battle on your behalf.
The holder of an access easement of definite width has somewhat limited rights to demand that the entire width be kept obstruction-free. The leading case holding that the owners of the property burdened with the easement may make reasonable use of the easement area itself is Scruby v. Vintage Grapevine (1995) 37 Cal.App.4th 697. It is "must reading" for someone with your issues, as it tends to point out the land owner's rights versus the easement holder's.
There are also cases tending to give the easement holder greater rights in the defined width of an access easement; for example, the unpublished case of Baca v. Matheson, decided in 2010. Both the Scruby case and the Baca case are readily available on line; try putting the names into a Google search.
In sum, I'd guess that under Scruby the landowner can do some of what he's doing within the 20-foot easement, but narrowing it to only 7.5 passable feet in some places is probably an unreasonable interference with the easement, especially in view of the fire-access needs, which should be pointed out if you need to go to court.
I doubt anyone at the County is going to help with this. You're going to have to sue him. If the easement agreement has a clause in it that says the prevailing party can recover attorney fees, you might be able to recover attorney fees. For now, create a log of every interference with the easement, when it occurs, how long, what it is, etc. Take pictures of every interference. Start building a case in case you decide to consult a lawyer. Also, there are statutes of limitation that could bar your claim unless you act promptly. Consult a lawyer soon.
The owner of the servient tenement can use the entire portion of the easement, as long as his or her use does not interefere with the use of the dominant tenement. The issue here is whether or not his "encroachments" truly interfere with your use of the easement.
I'd at least talk to the County fire and building and safety people, to point out and determine if there is an interference with use, especially for access for emergency vehicles. But you may have to litigate this one as a party yourself, without the County's help.
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