Easement to my hunting & shooting property?

[Harve Curry]

Advice about easement to my hunting property requested

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I bought 117 acres 10 years ago for the purpose of hunting and guiding, access to the Gila NF, raising my horses/livestock, training horses for cavalry and mounted shooting, a place to shoot, and building a home there.
It's situated at the far west side of a section and the deed reads I have garuanteed ingress-egress along the creek/road through the rest of the section to get to my place.
The guy who bought east of me 2 months later wrote a similar easement to himself and described it as 50' wide. Which he has violated by installling a very permanent 14' gate and now says that that is the width of the easement.

Now the problem.
He put his place in a Conservation Easement and is telling me I have to abide by his rules:
1). Gate, Use his locks and keys (I cannot supply my own as is customary).
2). I cannot loan or give out keys to friends, relatives, or business aqaintences to come visit. I would have to meet them at the main road and escort them through his 1/4 mile.
3). He recently put up a mailbox and wants everyone to sign in and out.
4). Rules on maintaining the easement made up as he goes along.

He's anti hunting, anti land use, except for his own defintion.
I have refused all his demands by registered mail and not accepted his keys. I use my own. I submit that I have a private road to my place and can distribute keys to it as I please. Everyone has to stay within the bounds of the easement, which is fenced and posted. He's paronoid about security and his privacy I checked and to date there have been no reported cases of violations that the authorities are aware of. Now I've been notified that he's suing me unless I agree to his definition of the easement.
They are not saying I don't have an easement, but are restricting how and who uses it so much it amounts to deed restrictions.
I do have a lawyer.
Any other advice or input would be appreciated.

 

[scooterthegreat]

Yes, you need an attorney. Don't just get the first one who will see you though. Get one who specializes in land/real estate.

 

[SwampFox]

Seek an attys. advice.

I have had and given easments. They are unrestricted access. ie. I can build a road or gate. As an easment, he also has full access but should have no legal standing to disrupt your passage in any way.

My guess is that he is a controll freak.

I wonder what he had to pay the lawyer to take the case.

 

[Zedicus]

Sounds like a rich California frothing at the mouth liberal...
Lawyer up dude, something tells me this bozo is looking for a confrontation to use to start something.

 

[Harve Curry]

As I understand it users of an easement are either subserviant or dominant. The property owner last on the road has dominant easement, the property owners before the last one are subservaint to that owner.

 

[brerrabbit]

It sounds like both of you are confused about what an easement is. He does not own the land under the easement, he just has right of pasage on it. Look up your own state laws on easements, and the judges decision granting the easement.

The easement is there, there is nothing you can do about it. But you can enforce the common rules that affect the easement so that it affects you to the minimum amount.

Easements were not designed to be a pain in the landowners tuchus, they were designed to grant land access to people that were landlocked. If you have valid complaints about the guy concerning the easement, take them up with the judge.

If he is still being a control freak about the easement,,,,

Many easements, especially those granted on a preexisting road or path, do not grant the user the power to improve the passage in any way. If that is the case, do not let him fix holes, ruts or anything else. As time goes by, the path will become nigh impossible if he uses it a lot especially if it is just on dirt.

Presumably the easement is for him and his family, not for the general public. Do not allow anyone other than him and his family to cross the easement without him being present. If the easement is fenced off, lock the gate open and force him to put up a another gate on his own property.

There are many ways you can push the issue without breaking the law, and he will have to pay for a lawyer each time he wants to fix every little thing.

And in the case with all internet advice, take it up with your lawyer and read up on applicable state laws concerning easements.

 

[TallPine]

the deed reads I have garuanteed ingress-egress along the creek/road through the rest of the section to get to my place

Who did you buy the land from ... the guy you are now arguing with...?

Did you have a lawyer or title insurance company handle the transaction?

First you need to make sure that your easement is legally valid (recorded at the courthouse). Then just ignore the guy

He has the right to put up a (locked) gate and you have the right of ingress/egress and to reasonably maintain the road. Best thing is for you to put your lock in series on the chain with his so that either can open the gate with their own key.

There was a sexual predator that had an easement through our land - and I couldn't even shoot him

 

[bouis]

Your description of what's going on isn't very clear. I take it that you have an easement on this fellow's property for ingress and egress to yours. What exactly does it say?

 

[gezzer]

Lawyer time, Plus cut hindges off gate evertime you use the access he cannot lock you out. Hindges cost more than locks play hardball.

 

[Harve Curry]

I do have a lawyer, I'm asking questions and gathering ideas of what to do. I don't want to depend all on one person, 2 heads are better then one and so on.

brerrabbit,
You have the story switched around. I am the one wanting to use the easement without infringements. The way it was when I bought the place. I bought 2 months before the guy that is dictating rules to me bought his place to the east of me.

bouis,
My deed went through a title company. I have a Warranty Deed and the easement part reads that the seller garuantees me ingress/egress along the creek/road through the other private property in section 17. At the time of my purchase one man owned the whole section and I was the 1st buyer there.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Lawyer time, Plus cut hindges off gate evertime you use the access he cannot lock you out. Hindges cost more than locks play hardball.

I don't think the courts will see this as appropriate and this will get him into trouble.

My deed went through a title company. I have a Warranty Deed and the easement part reads that the seller garuantees me ingress/egress along the creek/road through the other private property in section 17. At the time of my purchase one man owned the whole section and I was the 1st buyer there.

The question that comes next is what does the deed to the neighbor's property say exactly? Your beef may be more with the originally seller than the neighbor if the neighbor's deed doesn't state that he has an easement on his property or that the easement isn't as stated on your your deed. It is tough to buy property with an access easement if the easement isn't also stated as being an access easement on the property in question.

Also, is the access granted to you as a person, plus all of your appointees, dependents, etc., or is the access granted to the property? I can't imagine that it was granted to you and only you, but that is what you have written.

That access to you is not compromised by use of the guy's own lock, although it is silly he doesn't allow for you to use (and supply) your own lock.

I am guessing here, but I doubt he can restrict access to your property by stipulating you have to escort folks across the easement, assuming there is nothing hokey with the deeds. He may require only one lock on his gate and that lock be his, but I don't think he can tell you about how to handle the keys.

The notion that you bought first really doesn't come into play. It isn't who buys first, but who controls the easement and what the deeds say. Since you did buy first, you should have bought the easement if the guy was selling off the land as described.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

I bought 117 acres 10 years ago for the purpose of hunting and guiding, access to the Gila NF, raising my horses/livestock, training horses for cavalry and mounted shooting, a place to shoot, and building a home there.
It's situated at the far west side of a section and the deed reads I have garuanteed ingress-egress along the creek/road through the rest of the section to get to my place.
The guy who bought east of me 2 months later wrote a similar easement to himself and described it as 50' wide. Which he has violated by installling a very permanent 14' gate and now says that that is the width of the easement.

I suppose, like everything else, the laws are different from state to state. In my state, a right to pass through someone else's property is called a right-of-way. An easement is what you grant when you let someone run their water line or power line across your property. The owner of a right-of-way has unrestricted freedom to use the R-O-W for access just as if it was their own property. The holder of an easement doesn't have free passage, only the right to maintain what the easement lets them put in. (In other words, if I grant you an easement for your sewer line, you can enter to repair the sewer when it needs repair, but you can't use it for your driveway, and you can't run your electric line through the same easement.)

Wasn't there a map or a written description of the easement? Since it refers to a "road," it would appear that there was some pre-existing roadway, whose continuance is being guaranteed by the easement. But ... the term "easement" means passage or use over someone else's property. Who actually OWNS the land this easement runs through? The guy who is causing the trouble? He doesn't get to redefine (or to define) your easement after the fact. I hope your easement spells out, either by written word or by map or by reference TO a map, the width of your easement. If, for example, your easement says 75 feet, or refers to a "road" that historically had a fenced, 75-foot wide rifht-of-way, it doesn't matter if this dude wrote 50 feet into his easement. That's his easement, not yours. Yours is whatever you bought when you bought it, not what some third party wants to think it is after the fact.

And I do not believe, irrespective of any questions regarding width of the easement, that he has any right to demand that you use HIS lock and keys, nor does he have any right to tell you that your visitors do not have free access to your house if that's the way you want it. If you don't want to meet people down by the gate, you don't have to.

Good luck.

 

[Art Eatman]

The easement for access is part of the Warranty Deed, right? Recorded in the courthouse? Unless the width of the easement is specified, all that's guaranteed is access. A ten-foot jeep-trail can be "access". However, absent any other restrictions that specify some maximum-limit width, you could bring in a mobile home on the easement route. Check your deed for language such as "...to the Buyer, his heirs and assigns forever". If so, I'd believe that anybody you designate (an assign) can use the road to your property.

The guy to your east has no say in what you do on your land, nor does he have any control over your access. Only the seller's restrictions at the time of the sale to you have any validity. A seller's later sales to others cannot remove whatever rights he vested in your property; he has already signed away his rights to you.

Under Texas law, which may well be different from where you are, your neighbor cannot control your access, as he is trying to do via his rules. The key point is that he has no legal control of your use the easement. (Well, I guess he could specify some reasonable speed limit, or require no egregious volume of dust while you're on his land.)

Shifting over to the real world of what people have been known to do: Hardware stores sell keys that will fit any lock; I've seen them. They have handles some two feet long. "Aw, that gate was open when I got here," is the usual statement after surreptitious use of the key.

I don't know if there is a Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes (VACS) for New Mexico, as there is for Texas, but I'd do some reviewing about the laws and court decisions about access to property and denial of property rights. And, if the guy ever locked the gate on you while you're on your land, "unlawful detention" for your filing of a criminal charge. Getting some self-righteous creature's fingers rolled across an ink pad has been known to change behavior.

When in doubt, not only lawyer up but do all the homework you can.

I've gone through this sort of BS. Once with a rich Oklahoma doofus who bought land between mine and the highway, and once with Texas Parks & Wildlife when they wanted to block access to another property of mine that is inside a state park. Hey, I'm still laughing. They lost.

Art

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I bought 117 acres 10 years ago for the purpose of hunting and guiding, access to the Gila NF, raising my horses/livestock, training horses for cavalry and mounted shooting, a place to shoot, and building a home there.
It's situated at the far west side of a section and the deed reads I have garuanteed ingress-egress along the creek/road through the rest of the section to get to my place.
The guy who bought east of me 2 months later wrote a similar easement to himself and described it as 50' wide. Which he has violated by installling a very permanent 14' gate and now says that that is the width of the easement.

Now the problem.
He put his place in a Conservation Easement and is telling me I have to abide by his rules:
1). Gate, Use his locks and keys (I cannot supply my own as is customary).
2). I cannot loan or give out keys to friends, relatives, or business aqaintences to come visit. I would have to meet them at the main road and escort them through his 1/4 mile.
3). He recently put up a mailbox and wants everyone to sign in and out.
4). Rules on maintaining the easement made up as he goes along.

When you purchased your land, you also purchased the appurtenant easement according to the terms in the deed. His subsequent purchase of the subservient estate cannot terminate or alter your easement, which is a real property use right belonging to you. You own the easement, not him. Get a lawyer and make him get rid of whatever he built blocking your full use. It is a matter of law in most states that the owner of the subservient estate only has the right to "reasonably fix the location and size of the easement" if it is not specified in your deed or easement grant document.

 

[Nio]

Offer to buy the easement from him, and then annex it to your deed. I did that when I lived in rural Louisiana. I bought property that was surrounded by other properties, with no road access. I bought the 25' wide easement from one of the neighbors for a few thousand dollars, and everyone was happy.

Nio

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

Offer to buy the easement from him

Unless I have badly misread the original post, the poster is the owner of the easement across someone elses land.

 

[Firethorn]

Unless I have badly misread the original post, the poster is the owner of the easement across someone elses land.

I read it as buying the property covered by the easement, thus eliminating the problem as the land would now 100% belong to Harve, no easement necessary.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

One thing that doesn't make sense is the part about granting an easement to himself. You cannot do that. An easement is a right to use the property of another, and it must be granted by or purchased from the subservient estate owner, unless it is by prescription.

 

[ceetee]

The way I read it, Harve bought land with an easement across the rest of the parcel guaranteeing him access. That easement was spelled out in Harve's deed.

This new guy wrote up some fancy-schmancy legalese trying to limit Harve's access to whatever he (the new guy) wanted. I agree with everybody that wrote, "Time to lawyer up."

 

[Desertdog]

Get one who specializes in land/real estate.

For Sure. I'm not a lawyer but I have worked in real estate and it looks like he is not preventing you from using the easment, but is trying to control/limit access by you or your friends. To me, you really need the lawyer and if posible, sue for unlimited accsess.

Another thing that could enter into this discussion is; How many years you had unrestricted access to your property? Most states probably has a statute about you earning a right of way by continous use.

 

[brerrabbit]

I don't know if there is a Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes (VACS) for New Mexico, as there is for Texas, but I'd do some reviewing about the laws and court decisions about access to property and denial of property rights. And, if the guy ever locked the gate on you while you're on your land, "unlawful detention" for your filing of a criminal charge. Getting some self-righteous creature's fingers rolled across an ink pad has been known to change behavior.

Considering that there is more than one point of egress that can be taken unless you are backed against a cliff, I doubt if this would fly.

If you are wanting to take the topic to how to become bad neighbors,,,

There are all manner of legal ways that the actual owner of the easement property can use to mess with the guy that has the easement. Having to pay a few thousand every few months after heavy rains to maintain it to the property owners satisfaction is one. Remember that the person that has the easement does not own the property, the actual owner also has use of the easement for his use. This creates a load of situations where the person with the easement must pay a lawyer and court fees just to basically tell the landowner to quit doing annoying things.

Hmm livestock. That is a big matter here. If I get cattle, and you already have an easement to cross, I can force you to buy a cattle guard on both sides of the easement the first time I complain in court that a cow got out because you left the gate open. Or I can have cousin Bob build it and bill you. Fail to pay, and I will have a lien on your property within the week.

We have already bought out people silly enough to by landlocked property on the cheap. The courts here have short patience with people causing trouble because of an easement and most often side with the landowner unless it is obviously the landowner causing problems.

You might want to rethink screwing with a property owner, and think of a way to permanently settle the issue such as buying the land as others have said.

There are a slew of ways the property owner can screw around with the easement. It is much better to be a good neighbor. The best long term situation is to settle this amicably

 

[vynx]

New Mexico Law is unique to New Mexico in many many cases and escpecially when it comes to water rights and easements.

You have to get a land use lawyer. This guy doesn't sound too bad he could really casue trouble if he wanted to. 14' is wide enough to drive onto your property. As far as the gate open and close it - use his key so what? Just get 20 copies made. As far as escorting visitors that may be stated in the easement if not the court can decide but I would just ignore that part. You do't state the "other rules" he is making up but many courts use the "reasonable man" rule when rights are not spelled out.

Given that this is NM there are probably 1,000's of precedents on easements.

Let us know what happens. I still own a house in NM but its in a subdivision.

Edited to add: You mention you maintain you have a private road to your proerty. And, that the road is fenced and posted. If you think the easement is the road I believe you are mistaken )but I am not a lawyer)... the easement is the "right" to go over his land to access your land. It is not the road itself. Unless your easment is very specific and states specifics...I know you said it says the road along the creek but is it that specific road or could he make another road along the creek? It can get weirdly technical.

 

[brerrabbit]

post deleted by owner

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Mr. Curry, it appears that some clarification is needed.

We know that you bought first. In addition to the land you actually own, you also bought the right to pass across some land which was owned by the person or persons from whom you bought your land. (Or else THEY already had an easement to cross land belonging to a third party, which easement they transferred to you.)

Then Mr. Neighbor bought some land, somewhere between your land and the highway. It's possible that he actually bought the land over which your easement runs, but since you mentioned that he "wrote himself" an easement, it would appear that the land across which the easement(s) run(s) must still belong to some party other than yourself or Mr. Neighbor.

Correct so far?

I fail to see what Mr. Neighbor putting his land in a conservation easement has to do with anything. He can put into a conservation easement only that which he owns. His conservation easement affects only his own parcel. The easement/roadway crossing the third party's land is NOT Mr. Neighbor's property, and HE cannot attach any conservation restrictions on it. Unless he actually bought and owns the land across which it runs, his rights to it are (assuming he was also granted an access easement to reach his property) exactly the same as yours.

It seems to me that the very first thing to be determined/clarified is ... just who OWNS the land on which the easement lies?

 

[Sheldon J]

It seems to me that the very first thing to be determined/clarified is ... just who OWNS the land on which the easement lies?

At this point in time that is, but he still has the original easement and it is a legal written contract with the seller with very specific guarantees and is the primary valid doccument irreguardless of who owns the land now.

A gate is not part of that agreement, If the new neighbor is not the total land owner he has absolutely no right to hang a gate, this is not his property, if he is then it is still very questionable.

This would be like you putting a gate in the middle of the public street in front of your house to limit access, he can get away with it as long as no one challenges it, but as soon as he is it must go.