Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin
Property lines pertaining to old streets no longer there
Our abstract shows the land connecting ours as a 60 foot wide street, therefore all this time we have treated it as a street (although there is no longer a street there). We have 205 feet of land we own one way, and then beyond that, we and previous owners for sixty years mowed and used as our own yard up to where the street would have started had there still been one (as does everyone else in our town who actually does live near a street).
We've done this because in our abstract, it is shown as a street so therefore assumed (and the previous owners also) this is what we should do according to laws and all that.
Now we have neighbors whose land is on the other side of this ''old'' street, and they want to buy the entire 60 feet of it. This would cut way into our yard, and if they can buy it, then it would mean that 30 foot easement to this ''street'' that should be our yard, they would be able to buy.
This does not seem right at all to us. Seems if anything is done, half should be ours, half should be theirs, just as if there really were a street there.
This neighbor is now disputing this and wants to buy up the 60 feet worth of property. Had there been an actual street still there, this would not be an issue.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Property lines pertaining to old streets no longer there
You don't say where you live - city, village, township, etc. You don't say whether the street was created as part of a plat. You don't say from whom the neighbor is trying to buy the land. WIS Stat 66.1035 identifies the rights adjacent landowners have in streets. WIS Stat 236.43(4) identifies the ways in which streets can be vacated. You probably have legal rights in this "street" but it is not a simple matter. You should contact an attorney to help you investigate the facts and determine your rights before the neighbor is allowed to go any further in trying to purchase the land.
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