Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maine

we have had 2 summer camps on a piece of property we own in maine for 52 years. Over the years the property has been assesed for tax evaluation and no notice has ever been sent to us by the town concerning a property line dispute.The town of Bar Harbor did an extensive survey of there land while planning to install a boat ramp on the town beach which is part of the large portion of undeveloped land they own. They notified us that one of our camps is completly on town property as well as a portion of our other camp. This portion of the towns property has always been improved and maintained by the us. Over the years the town has been out to the property and has never said anything to us about this. Also we have always used an access rd that follows the waters edge across town property which connects to the town owned beach which has no restrictions of use, no gates and is accesible 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The town has also informed us that they intend on stopping us from using the rd from the beach to our property. This has always been our only access to the property. Thay even put a street sign up 3 or 4 years ago for 911 purposes.This sign says Hadley Beach lane Private. They said that we have 2 deeded right of ways to our property, so we will need to develop one or both for our future access. We have always used this rd for our access and have never been notified from the town that there was any problem. This portion of the towns land was improved 52 years ago by our family and has always been maintained by our family. We have always been aware this is town property and we have never tried to claim it as ours. Also for what it is worth about 28 years ago we installed a sea wall of boulders in front of our property to stop serious . This sea wall also extends across the 125' of town land that borders the road. This was done at our expense with the approval of the town. The town has told us we need to solve this problem. We had done nothing for a while.They gave us a deadline. We were not able to honor that time frame. The town manager went as far as printing an article in the newspaper about the issue and threatened to bulldoze our buildings down. What can we do what rights do we have.

Thanking you for your time

James Edward McKay

207-479-6052


Asked on 3/27/12, 5:01 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elliott Teel Teel Law Office

James,

This is a very complicated question, and a review of the available documents including the deeds, survey and correspondence from the town will be needed to give a proper assessment. Unfortunately you are not able to claim prescriptive easements or adverse possession against town property. But you will be able to challenge the boundaries of the properties and the limits to your rights. You should retain an attorney to address this problem. Feel free to contact me to discuss this further.

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Answered on 3/27/12, 6:31 am


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