Land Trespassing - Set up ROW (home, buyer, tax)

[newhampgrl]

I am looking to purchase a lake front home and when I was viewing the property I noticed someone has set up their own ROW on the edge of the property. There is NO ROW on the Deed. They have made a path downto the water, have chairs, a BBQ and a dock. They even put up a No Trespassing sign at the top of the trail by the road. All of this looks like this is fairly new. The seller who is the bank will not get involved and is leaving it up to the buyer to get rid of them. I am very interested in the property but this really concerns me. Is this a simple call the police for trespassing or do I need a lawyer? Have they established any rights to the property?

[flyonpa]

Clean up the tags.

Lawyer...

[sgthoskins]

If the town has no record on it or on the property that borders the one you want to buy then it sounds like b.s.

What does the seller have to say about it?

[newhampgrl]

There is no ROW on the deed. The bank owns the property and says they will do nothing. I am going to contact the neighbor to see what they think about it because it is close to their property line. These people are basically trespassing and I am not sure if it will be simple to get them removed or a legal nightmare.

[Alfheim]

You could always see who is using the ROW and have a chat with them about it. Development in woodsy parts means that trails that people have used since childhood get broken between different lots and previous owners may have had a standing live and let live agreement with the ROW folks, or even been friends. Don't be so quick to go to the law if you don't know who's using it. I know there are spots I've walked my dogs that are technically trespassing spots now, but weren't five or ten years back, but the owners either don't know I walk there, or don't care. I've met a couple that were perfectly okay with me using "their land" for the minute or two I walk by, but if someone explained they weren't comfortable with me being there, I'd be more likely to accept it if they asked, rather than sending me a summons.

[chris410]

Originally Posted by Alfheim

You could always see who is using the ROW and have a chat with them about it. Development in woodsy parts means that trails that people have used since childhood get broken between different lots and previous owners may have had a standing live and let live agreement with the ROW folks, or even been friends. Don't be so quick to go to the law if you don't know who's using it. I know there are spots I've walked my dogs that are technically trespassing spots now, but weren't five or ten years back, but the owners either don't know I walk there, or don't care. I've met a couple that were perfectly okay with me using "their land" for the minute or two I walk by, but if someone explained they weren't comfortable with me being there, I'd be more likely to accept it if they asked, rather than sending me a summons.

Well said.

[bler144]

The age-old NH question. But I agree with Alfheim, as it seems did Frost:

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

[illtaketwoplease]

Is the ROW on the tax maps? Is this in a development or on a private road?

I agree that it can't hurt to ask and it's likely some other abutters know what is going on. It may be that they are actually not on the property even though it looks like it..

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by newhampgrl

I am looking to purchase a lake front home and when I was viewing the property I noticed someone has set up their own ROW on the edge of the property. There is NO ROW on the Deed. They have made a path downto the water, have chairs, a BBQ and a dock. They even put up a No Trespassing sign at the top of the trail by the road. All of this looks like this is fairly new. The seller who is the bank will not get involved and is leaving it up to the buyer to get rid of them. I am very interested in the property but this really concerns me. Is this a simple call the police for trespassing or do I need a lawyer? Have they established any rights to the property?

The "No Trespassing sign" is particularly irksome if this is not the neighbors property. This sounds like "Adverse Possession", but (absent a deeded ROW or the like), does not necessarily mean the neighbor has established any rights to the property; In New Hampshire the adverse possessor must maintain exclusive, possession without permission continuously for a period of twenty years to gain rights.

This is why, if you are serious about purchasing a property, you need to:

1. Carefully read the deed, including any mention of Rights of Way and easements.
2. Contract for a land survey, with at least temporary markers placed at lot boundaries.

I would never buy lake front property without a current survey. I bought my NH property without a survey, but only after walking the boundary and locating all the permanent markers called out on the deed. And recently the conservation commission negotiated easements with all of my neighbors who do have water access, so I got about 70% of a survey done for free.

[LexWest]

Yes, NH seems to be one of those stares in which 'trespassing' can somehow be allowed, so long as it's not specified otherwise (i.e. No trespassing signs). It's great during hunting season in autumn, or when people take out their snowmobiles in the winter.

And yes, it is possible for people to possess property they don't technically own if they tend to it as if it is their own for at least twenty years. You can even have easements or own landlocked property (i.e. Not accessible from a road). Be certain to become well versed in such laws of NH.