Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts
driveway
For over 30 years my neighbor has been allowed to park her car in our driveway. This was a verbal agreement by my parents and was in good standing until recently. We decided to repave our driveway a few months ago. Our neighbor decided she would finally make her own driveway. After this was done she decided she does not like how her driveway came out. She has still not payed the company for their work and she wants to use our driveway again. She has contacted a lawyer who says she has rights through prescriptive easement or adverse possesion by common law. does she have a case?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: driveway
Does she have a claim? yes. Can this claim be defeated? yes. Prescriptive easement or adverse possession only occurs when a person uses the land without permission; they are legal ways of taking someone else's land away without paying for it. As long as your parents can testify that this was by agreement, your neighbor cannot assert PE or AP.
Re: driveway
Based on the limited facts presented, it does not sound like your neighbor has a good case (which does not mean that will stop them from filing it!).
For one, you cannot gain by adverse possession that which you have 'permission' to use. An easement, on the other hand, generally must be in writing to be enforceable.
That being said, you should probably hire an attorney immediately to preserve your rights as soon as possible with the hope of preventing costly litigation before it is commenced.
Please feel free to contact my office.
Re: driveway
Possibly, depending on whether there is evidence that permission to use the land was revoked or her continuous use was objected to by the rightful owner. Feel free to contact me for a free initial consultation.
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