Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

We own the property since 1992 but just found out that our neighbor has an easement "for the driveway purposes on the portion of lot 5" written in to their deed. I looked through the County land records on their property and learned that this easement was passed from owner to owner for at least last 4 sales (2006, 1998, 1990 and 1977). Is not recorded on survey maps nor by the County zoning office. It certainly does not appear in our deed. When we bought the house (and refinanced it number of times) we paid for title search but this easement never came up. I'd like to understand my rights, for example; am I responsible for taxes on that portion of my land, should someone asked me for permission to use. I'm also concerned about the property value when i'm going to sale, what should i do to straighten this up


Asked on 7/14/11, 12:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

First you should contact your title insurer to determine why it failed to

discover this easement and what it now proposes to do about it, but

if the response seems less that satisfactory, then arrange to see a local attorney in the area who handles real property law matters to discuss your options. (It would appear that the title insurer should've examined the deed of this neighbor's adjoining property in the course of conducting the title search of your property and discovered the easement at that time.)

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Answered on 9/15/11, 6:49 am


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