City to homeowner: Make it easement on yourself | Baton Rouge ...

We came across a story this week about a homeowner's battle with city government over a road construction project. The city wants two easements, one permanent and the other temporary, and the city has offered the homeowner what officials say is reasonable compensation for the use of the land. The homeowner will have none of it, and the parties seem to be at a stalemate.

It is important to note that this is not happening in Louisiana. We think the dispute affords us the opportunity to talk about a few issues that can affect anyone who owns real estate. And, of course, we can talk about easements.

The legal definition of an easement is "an interest in land owned by another person, consisting in the right to use or control the land, or an area above or below it, for a specific limited purpose." (Black's Law Dictionary (9th ed. 2009)) The most common example is an access road running across a neighbor's property. Say your house sits on a beautiful lot out in the country. There is one public road in the area, and your neighbor owns the land between your lot and the road.

You have a couple of options: You can own the land or you can borrow it. So, you can buy a strip of land from your neighbor that's wide enough to build a private road. Your neighbor may not be willing to sell, though, because selling that strip of land will diminish the value of his property overall. Instead of one two-acre plot, he will have one plot that's a little over an acre and one that's a little under. More importantly, of course, he wouldn't be able to use that road across his land without getting an easement from you.

Your second option is to purchase an easement. You pay the neighbor for the right to use that strip of land to get to and from your property. You do not own the land, so you cannot build on it; you cannot sell it to someone else. You are not responsible for its maintenance. All of that remains with the owner, your neighbor.

Easements can be temporary or permanent, as in the homeowner's case we'll be talking about in our next post.

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Owner of home, city clash on easements," Robert Zullo, Sept. 24, 2012

We help people who find themselves involved in real estate litigation, like the man discussed in this post (and the next). Please go to our Real Estate Litigation page for more information about our practice and about easements in Louisiana.

Source: http://www.batonrougerealestateattorney.com/2012/09/city-to-homeowner-make-it-easement-on-yourself.shtml

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