Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Missouri

I am the servient estate in a private easemnet arrangement with a building located behind my home. The building is owned by the Mason Association, which is a national charitable fraternity - not sure if the property is zoned commercial or residential but the property is used as their hall for gatherings. They have a large parking lot included on the property with an entrance off a large street and an alternate entrance via the easement from a small side street. The easement runs over our driveway and connects the street with the back of their parking lot.

The easement was granted in 1934 upon construction of thier original building and conveys the easement to the building owners for road purposes.. Since then, the building has been expanded. The owners currently lease a portion of thier building to a medium sized day care and they lease their parking lot to the City Hall (which includes all City departments, the Mayor's office, police department, and fire department). The owner has transferred the easement rights to both City Hall and the day care. This has caused a significant increase in traffic over the easemnet.

Do I have any remedies? Are easement rights transferrable via leases without permission from the servient estate? Is this unlawful expansion from the easemnet's original intent?


Asked on 2/07/10, 11:11 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sean Santoro Santoro Law Office

In Missouri, easement rights may pass by lease or sale. However, you are correct that an expansion of use may violate the terms of an easement. Your remedy, if this use is prohibited by the original grant, would be an injunction, asking a court to order certain restrictions as to use and/or traffic flow. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss your options.

Sean Santoro/Licensed in KS and MO

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Answered on 2/12/10, 2:46 pm


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