Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana
I purchased 7 acres of property from land owner in Nov 1994 with the easement as attached. The intent of the easement was to allow a small farm operation to have easy access to the back acreage. Since then the small farmer retired and a bigger operation took over. They would use my driveway to access the back property and damage the driveway without an offer to repair the damages they did. But now the damage and usage is a regular issue. I have scraped dirt, swept corn cobs and other debris from the driveway and runway but now it is excessive and with regularity. This spring (April) I arrived home to find ruts in my driveway from a semi that was delivering 2 irrigation lines that were at the end of my runway. The next day I was able to talk to the farmers and expressed my concerns and damage. They said that they were farmers and �could do whatever they wanted to�. The center pivot of the irrigation system was at the end of my runway and I strongly expressed concern to the safety of other inbound planes.They said that they didn�t know about any runway. They have known for years that I fly out of my property and have a registered runway here. They promised and assured me that they would always park the irrigation line out of the way when it wasn�t being used. They also stated that day that they had 3 other ways to access that property and they wouldn�t need to use my driveway any more. 3 weeks later and a phone call to the property owner with emails and this picture before the line was moved. I installed 2 no trespassing signs at that time. One on each end of the property per the police advise. Then about 8 weeks ago a Port-a-pot showed up on my property and seed corn signage also appeared. The farmer said that he had an easement and �could do whatever he wanted to�. About 6 weeks ago I was home during the day and found numerous trucks and vehicles parked on my property. they left numerous ruts in the grass runway and destroyed areas of grass with vehicles turning around. I contacted the seed company and expressed my concerns with the damage and the signage and Port-a-pot placement, they said that they would address this with the farmer. They stated they didn�t know that the property was not the farmers. the farmer stopped by last week one evening and said that he had an easement and could use 26 feet anyway he wished. I showed him the attached usage agreement to which he said that that didn�t change much of what he could do. I contacted the landowner Saturday 8/3 and told her that I was very unhappy with recent events. She stated that she would like to discuss this after looking over the property again. She has stated this before but hasn�t showed up in the past ( she doesn�t live in the area. Louisville,KY). At this point I have some questions on his limits and my rights: If the land owner can �improve� the easement can they put any type of product ie; stone on my driveway or should they repair it with what I have repaired/replaced with in the past?( I use #11 coarse lime. I don�t want large stone; i.e., #53�s, railroad stone, or the eqiv.) Is there a height limit to this easement? When they harvest the seed corn in a few months they will be driving 20-30 trucks out of my driveway and they will destroy it with this truck traffic. Can they do that? Is there any way I can suspend or amend this easement to stop future problems? I am very unhappy with the recent issues and don�t see any positive improvements in the future. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Rodney Peters
1 Answer from Attorneys
This isn't a do it yourself project. The rights of the parties are governed by the original easement grant language and case law which determines extent of proper usage. If you want any resolution of a worthwhile nature, you need to take this matter to a a competent local real estate law attorney and have him/her handle this for you.