Can my Neighbor use Driveway easement for Commercial use (home)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So when you say the dirt patch is "in front of your fence" , do you mean facing the road?
When you say "on one side" you neighbor putting in a new driveway had most of your asphalt removed, I guess that would be beside your house but touching or nearly touching his new driveway?
I'm trying to picture how and where he had your asphalt removed when his concrete contractor was working putting in this neighbor's driveway.
At any rate, basically, if the property is yours and his contractor he paid dug it up you can sue the neighbor if the talk doesn't go well. As far as the neighbor blaming the contractor...he can then turn around and sue the contractor if he wants but your issue is with the owner of the property who ordered and signed for the work to be done and paid for it.
As far as that easement alongside the street. It usually has some utilities under the soil...have you checked? Since a professional company was doing it, they likely checked what was there.
That streetside area is generally just grass. As you say, no hard scape. In some areas the DOT will mow it something like twice a year if they have enough funding.
I did ask once about who is really responsible for that strip. I called the DOT, a lawyer, the HOA. The response was along the line of "That's the million dollar question".
It is generally agreed that if someone were to trip and fall on that strip they would sue you, not DOT or the HOA. It is generally expected that the owner of the house behind that strip will mow that strip. It is generally expected that the HOA will send a letter to the house behind that strip if the grass needs mowing or seeding.
So...it's generally yours.
At least until the next door neighbor has friends and family over and they start parking on your lawn.
Thanks so much, Cully. I had a very successful meeting with my neighbor and his contractor this morning. You and the other members gave me just the information I needed to feel confident. It's going to be put right. We'll get our asphalt (and our parking/bin storage area) back.
Thank you so much for your very helpful responses to my questions. I met with my neighbor this morning, and he was concerned, but receptive. I offered to talk with his contractor to explain the problem to him. He took me up on that and the three of us met in front of our houses an hour later. I showed the contractor photos I had (one of them an ideal Google street view that showed how we had been using that bit of asphalt to put out our bins). I told him that we designed the front of our house this way and paid to have asphalt put in there. His workers took out our asphalt and when I questioned them, they said, "Don't worry, we'll be putting it back." Obviously, they didn't. I told him I would like the area re-paved and put back the way we had it. At first, he said, "Well, we just wanted 'Dave' to have a planter box." I said, "It would be nice for 'Dave' to have a planter box, but it should be on his own side of the fence. We have already designed our side to look this way, and we need that bit of asphalt for trash bins and parking." He apologized and said he would "Make it right." He said he would re-grade our side and put fresh asphalt down over the dirt patch that is there now. Our only concern now is the potential runoff issue that could be caused by virtue of the fact that my neighbor's driveway is now about six inches higher than mine. This guy says he can solve the problem in a way that will avoid runoff being directed down my driveway toward my house. I'm hopeful.
You gave me the confidence to approach these guys. Thank you.
That's good to hear. I hope it all works out satisfactorily.
Thanks so much, Cully. I had a very successful meeting with my neighbor and his contractor this morning. You and the other members gave me just the information I needed to feel confident. It's going to be put right. We'll get our asphalt (and our parking/bin storage area) back.
Good to hear this. Post back about how it goes as the work is being done.
If it is gravel, it can handle a heavy load better than a thinly paved driveway.
I get the impression this is outside the city limits. If so, there are most often no regulations that will prevent the truck owner from parking on his land unless it is a country subdivision with covenants that prevent it. A lot of truck drivers (especially long haul owner operators), buy property where it is legal to park their truck and trailer on their own property. This way they can take the truck home when in the area, and not worry that someone will vandalize the truck, steal all their fuel, or steal all or part of their load. It gives them a chance, to really relax when they are home.
I would be about willing to bet without seeing the deeds and and legal easements, the truck driver has checked out his legal position and that is why he is living on that property, as he can legally park his truck there.
If it is legal for the truck driver to park on his land, then the OP had just better stop blocking his access, before the truck drive calls the police or sheriffs office, to order the OP to get his vehicles out of the lane/driveway. It can cost him tickets if he keeps blocking the lane/driveway access to the rear property. The truck driver has the right to use the driveway/lane to access his property if he has the legal easement the OP said he has at the start of this thread. As do any and all visitors to his property.
Excuse me..gravel roads and thaw restrictions with heavy equipment equals very damaged roads especially if it's permanent frost limestone gravel roads. In which I had to repair 3 times with a metal back because the young people felt they had no need to help repair it. I called the sheriff's and they said they would repair it and lied to the sheriff that she would even buy gravel well it was all lies.. my roads are severely messed up and you talk be neighborly really.. pissed granny here
Parking on their property on on the street? If someone had an RV carport for their rig, they couldn't park it there?
And yes, I am assuming we are just talking the truck and not the trailer part. I've never seen anyone park a truck and trailer together in a residential area. I've never seen it on acreage either. Truckers typically own the truck and then go attach the trailer. If they don't own the truck, then they are employees and I can't imagine a business would let someone take a whole truck and trailer home.
Well imagine it because it happens all the time. When I drove a company truck my terminal was in Knoxville TN and I lived in Tampa Florida. The truck came home with me several times a wk. I didn't park it 700 miles away.
Tractor and trailer. In fact it only rarely got back to the home terminal because I worked in Georgia and Florida. Almost every over the road company I worked for was the same way if you lived far from a terminal but on their traffic lane.
By the way the days of the owner operater are back in smokey and the bandit days. Most over the road trucking are company owned fleet trucks with employee drivers.
By the way the days of the owner operater are back in smokey and the bandit days. Most over the road trucking are company owned fleet trucks with employee drivers.
Actually a lot of companies have converted to owner operator system, because they have found that an owner operator takes better care of the equipment when they have a stake in the game. The company my son drives for, did that several years ago. They supply the truck, and the operator takes responsibility for it and in my sons case the trailer. He drives a flat bed, and goes all over the nation with it. They take a small portion of every load. The driver makes considerable more money, than the company owned driver makes.
It gives drivers like my son, the right to be choosy about the loads he hauls. He also does not take loads to certain states, where the toll road fees eat up the profit. He does no longer take loads to Oregon even though he lived there for years growing up. Reason, they have a mileage charge for every mile he drives in the state. He won't take loads into Southern California and some other locations, due to the traffic jams that can cut his mileage a day in half. He joined a listing service for a very small monthly fee.
If his company does not have a load back out of where he has taken a load, or available ones have too low a mileage rate, he books his own load and makes more money this way. The company he hauls for, still gets their cut of the fee.
The company finances the truck, and the driver makes the payments. They change trucks whenever the warranty is over, when the upkeep would start hurting the operator. He has helped several drivers he was friends with, get their own truck with companies that have switched to the owner/operator system.
He will only drive flat beds (open side and top) because box (enclosed trucks) the loads can involve several stops and the driver either does the unloading himself, or pays others to unload. With the flat beds, they haul large loads to one location, and they are unloaded by big fork lifts or cranes and can be done in minutes and he is ready to reload and go somewhere else. They are loaded the same way. When he switched from box trucks to flat beds, he increased his income considerably. And the loads are not to city centers, etc., which again means he saves a lot of time. And time is money in his business.
He has built a relationship with some shippers, and they call to see if he is available to take them a load or haul one away. If he is not open, then his company gets the load for another of their drivers. These shippers are scattered all over the nation and are high pay loads.
He stops by to check on his mother and me, quite often. The truck stop where he can leave his truck is only just over a mile away, so I pick him up usually around lunch time, and we give him lunch and find what is going on in his kids, and his grand kids lives. A way to stay in touch with parts of our family.
He stopped by lasts week, with a load of Bentonite going to Seattle port on it's way to China. He was then picking up a load of heavy construction wood beams to go to the midwest, at one of his special accounts. We did not see him on his return trip, as he passed through in the middle of the night.
Some cities in the east say no commercial trucks can park in the residential parts of the city. They also classify all pickups as commercial vehicles. Would not work here. In our part of the world, go to a parking lot and see about 75% of state licensed vehicles are either 4X4 4 door pickups, or medium and large SUVs. We have 2 doctors that have worked at our local medical clinic for years, and they drive 4 door pickups, and not Cadillac or BMW like they do in big cities. We drive what will get us through all road conditions on a year around basis.
My driveway and my neighbors driveway touch. There is 10 feet on both sides. On the dead to the property of my house it states touching driveways. Back in 1984 there was an easement put in order for a joint drive??? It state that my neighbors can use my 10 foot of drive and I can use there 10 foot of driveway to walk to pass around or to turn around! Now I dont feel this is right because they build a drive in the front of there home that they can turn around and access the street from. They still choice to park there vehicles in the driveway ( of course on there side) however so close to the property line my husband and I can barely fit are vehicles up through the driveway. They will leave there car doors open not allowing us the get out of are drive, they have a garage sales and let people pull into and block our drive. So with this can we get the easement revoked! Do to it states that no party is to block the driveway!
That would make me mad. I'd be pulling in behind those yard salers and take a nap. Yell to the owner we're going to try not to scratch your car door on the way out you left it open.
So it sounds like you're in the kind of place that has some upline authority. HOA board? Something similar? Town rules with an enforcer? Can you get them on it?
My driveway and my neighbors driveway touch. There is 10 feet on both sides. On the dead to the property of my house it states touching driveways. Back in 1984 there was an easement put in order for a joint drive??? It state that my neighbors can use my 10 foot of drive and I can use there 10 foot of driveway to walk to pass around or to turn around! Now I dont feel this is right because they build a drive in the front of there home that they can turn around and access the street from. They still choice to park there vehicles in the driveway ( of course on there side) however so close to the property line my husband and I can barely fit are vehicles up through the driveway. They will leave there car doors open not allowing us the get out of are drive, they have a garage sales and let people pull into and block our drive. So with this can we get the easement revoked! Do to it states that no party is to block the driveway!
It doesn't really matter what you think is right. The easement runs with the land and you bought your house subject to the easement. It sounds like you simply need to have a heart-to-heart talk with your neighbor. Some things they can control (who actually leaves car doors open?) but they can't fully control where other people park. Maybe a "Do Not Block Driveway" sign would help...but how often do they have garage sales?
This depends almost entirely on the wording of the easement document. If there is Electrical easement across a parcel for overhead lines, then the property owner has the responsibility to keep the easement clear of anything that would interfere with the maintenance or operation of those lines. Unless the easement specifies, the property owner isn't restricted from planting trees that don't interfere with the lines or placing gates along the easement provided they provide reasonable access to the facilities if necessary.
In your example, an easement for overhead telephone lines would not restrict you from putting in a septic leach field, as that would be an overburdening of the easement and overly restrictive on the parcel owner.
In 'many areas of the country like where we live, they don't have overhead lines for anything, even out in the country. We consider above ground lines to homes, kind of old fashioned and out of style.
All utilities are underground and they go through legal easements. You put nothing over the easement but grass.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
