Legal Question in Real Estate Law in West Virginia

Re: Right of way

Is the right reserved in a deed, or only claimed and acquiesced to? If it's reserved, the deed may set out all the rights of the user. If the deed only says that they have the right to ingress and egress, they have a right to keep the road passable by putting down gravel and grading it, but they don't have the right to use it for anything else, such as a dumping ground that would actually interfere with their passage. Trees that impinge on the use of the right of way can be trimmed or cut, but no more than necessary to pass along the roadway. It is correct that you can't use the right of way for anything that would interfere with their right to go over it, meaning you couldn't build a fence across it, erect a building on it, etc. The deed might specify a certain width, in which case they couldn't build a wall on your land outside the boundaries of the right of way. If there is no specified width, and the wall is necessary to preserve the ability to go across the right of way, they can probably build it. Without more information this is all I can tell you. John Yeager, Jr., Weirton, WV.