Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Easements On Private Land
Hello-We live on rural and remote acreage. A neighbor has a deeded easement for roadway and utility purposes through our land. He has his own road that needs work to be passable in the worst of winter. He uses his own road about as much as the easement. He offered that if we paid to get their road fixed they'd deed us back the easement. Our lawyer sent them a letter saying we were interested but a year later they have not replied. As their easement enters our land encompassing 3 sides of our house as close as 75 feet from it, can we move their easement to another location on our land that is equally as accessible for them? If so, what if they don't want us to? Is there any way for us to get the easement extinguished and just pay him money? Lastly, his actual easement states that it is 50 feet in width over existing roadway. Existing roadway is 18-20 ft in width and on the side of a hill, besides also partly being in our front yard. Does he have a valid right to widen the road and if so does he need to inform us first? We are 5 miles from pavement and much of the road getting here is not even 15 feet wide. Thank you,--name removed-- PS:Do you know of any good literature or websites that address easement issues in California
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Easements On Private Land
You need to discuss this matter with the attorney that is already working on the case for. Your rights with respect to the easement are governed by the document that established the easement. Any response you receive here by someone who hasn't revieweed the grant of easement would be speculation. But it would be a safe bet that you couldn't just simpLy "move" the easement because it was inconvenient to you.
Re: Easements On Private Land
In general, an owner of an easement has the right to use and maintain it. Thus, if the easement is 50ft wide, he likely has the right to utilize that much space. There are arguments in defense of that, however, but without more facts, I would be speculating.
You should continue to pursue purchasing the easement, or following up on your previous offer.
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