Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Re: easement

This is an interesting question - something you hear about in law school but rarely see out there in the real world.

If your neighbor's property is completely closed-off, and the only manner to access the property is through yours....it is likely that the law automatically creates an easement in your neighbor's favor.

This is not a 100% certainty, as there are ways for this legal easement to get voided, abandoned, etc. It depends on the facts of your situation.

The general rule, however, is that your neighbor has the right to go across your property to get to its property, if that is the only means of access.

Now, regarding the sub-divided and developed component of the question - this depends more on the facts. It also depends on the regulations of that particular area.

The developer will likely ensure that purchasing of this property will not abandon any legal easements the property has to cross your property, and might explore other ways to access the property (if possible).

Interesting question, but hard to give one answer. Good luck.

Re: easement

I know that you say that you did not give your permission, which I assume means they did not come to you and ask, but you may have done so passively when you purchased your land. If you look at your deed, there is likely to be language in there which grants an easement or access over your land to the neighboring property. It may have been a condition of the deed, which was set up by the original developer.

The really fun part about all this (fun for lawyers and no one else) is that there are ways to lose the rights to this easement, or ways to take over the easement by something called "adverse possession." In any case, the possibility that the land was deeded without an easement to access it would leave the owners with being able to get their by helicopter only. I doubt the land would be worth much in such an instance, except to the neighbors (such as yourself) who may want to purchase it.

If you need someone to examine your deed, I am happy to help out, at a very reasonable cost. If it turns out that there is no easement over your land, and no easement over anyone else's land, then you may have a one in a million case, in the sense that it's a rare error by the original developer, which may pose an opportunity to you to buy the land cheaply, given that no one else would want it. You could also make a nice profit by granting an easement across your property too.

Good luck!