Nobody wants to be caught up in a dispute with their neighbors, but if an issue regarding a shared driveway becomes contentious, the best course of action is to consult with an attorney.
A: Since your neighbors are responsible for half the wear and tear on the driveway, they ought to offer to pay for half of the maintenance. But — bottom line — they are not obligated to pay for repaving the portion that’s on your property.
As such, if you are interested in purchasing property which involves a shared driveway, it is a very good idea to learn up front what your rights, obligations, and opportunities are for relief before closing on the property.
A: Since your neighbors are responsible for half the wear and tear on the driveway, they ought to offer to pay for half of the maintenance. But — bottom line — they are not obligated to pay for repaving the portion that’s on your property. So if they’re willing to pay only one-third of the bill, they’re not being unreasonable.
The driveway can be used by the neighbour for one purpose i.e. to access their own property. These easement rights cannot be removed unless all parties agree for the easement to be removed. However, in the case of shared driveway this may be unlikely because the neighbour will need it to access their property.
One option for dividing property lines down a shared driveway is to install chain link fencing. A chain link fence is a relatively inexpensive fence to have installed, and can readily be placed over asphalt. Asphalt is soft enough to allow fence posts to be sunk into the driveway.
Generally, a shared driveway is owned by all parties with the section of the driveway a party uses owned by them. However, the maintenance of the entire driveway area should be shared between all parties.
The easement is an agreement giving someone the right to go onto someone else's property within certain boundaries. An easement can specify that each homeowner owns part of the driveway but has the legal right to use the full space to drive to and from the garage.
Neither neighbour has a right to park their car on a shared driveway, as such it's something that must be worked out privately between both parties. There's little legal protection on this issue as whichever way you slice it, your car will either be illegally parked or blocking a right of way.
If you wish to install a gate, wall or fence anywhere along the perimeter or at either end of the shared driveway, you should gain permission from your neighbour.
A Any substantial interference with a right of way is a nuisance in common law. The owner of the right (known as the “dominant” owner) can apply to court for an injunction and damages if the landowner (or “servient” owner) blocks it.
Answer: Check your title deeds and those of your neighbour to establish the boundaries of your property and how the driveway is owned. You could each own half of it, or one of you could own the whole of it. Either way, as the driveway is shared you will each have been granted certain rights of access over it.
These include access, parking, drainage, overhang of signs or vents and pasturage of animals. A public right of way, however, can only be a right of access. Another distinction is that a right of way has to be a specified route or path which is defined as leading in a line from point A to point B.
Generally, when a driveway gives access to two or more properties, then the responsibility for its maintenance is shared jointly by the owners of those properties. Under the Land Transfer Regulations the cost of general repairs and maintenance of a right-of-way should be shared equally by users.
Shared Access means access of two or more applicant authorised undertakings to separable functional resources or capacities of a specific element of electronic communications network.
While driveways are on private property, they are easily accessed by the public.
The easement prevents the parties from prohibiting the other from using the driveway. The easement should include the purpose, the legal description and boundaries. Generally, easements are recorded with the appropriate county office in the county where the property is located in case there is a claim against the property.
Property Title Report. When you purchase a house with a shared driveway, don't assume that you have the right to use the driveway. You should read the titlereport and property easement agreement carefully to make sure you understand your ownership rights and responsibilities including repair and maintenance of the driveway.
About two-thirds of the driveway is on our property, and one-third is on our neighbor’s. But they go in and out on it as least as frequently as we do. A: Since your neighbors are responsible for half the wear and tear on the driveway, they ought to offer to pay for half of the maintenance.
So if they’re willing to pay only one-third of the bill, they’re not being unreasonable. That said, if your neighbors expect and allow you to pay two-thirds of the bill, they also should expect, and allow, you to decide whom to hire and how much to spend on the project. They can’t choose to pay for less than half of the work, ...
Tell your neighbor that if he attempts to block your driveway entrance, you will take the necessary Court action to protect your rights. However, and this is probably more likely, if the two surveys do not agree, then a problem arises. Steps will then be required to determine which survey is correct. This may require hiring a surveyor ...
Usually, an easement allowing you to use this drive way entrance has no time limitation and if there is such an easement, your neighbor cannot prevent your usage of the entrance. However, if there is no easement, but a license specified in your title policy, then, normally, your right to use the entranceway could be revoked by your neighbor ...
If you agree that your driveway entrance is not on your property, you should check your title insurance policy, which you probably purchased when the home was bought, to see if there was an easement of license which would allow you to use this driveway entrance. Usually, an easement allowing you to use this driveway entrance has no time limitation ...
Typically, shared driveways fall into one of three categories of legal ownership: (1) the entire driveway is owned by one neighbor but the other neighbor has an easement over the driveway (a right to use the driveway); (2) ownership of the driveway is divided in two , with one neighbor owning part and the other neighbor owning the rest; and (3) ownership is a combination of categories (1) and (2), so both neighbors own part of the driveway and have an easement to use the other neighbor’s part .
Basically, if you have been using a portion of your neighbor’s property for an extended period of time (in Utah it must be for 20 years), then you may have acquired a legal right to continue using the property in the same way you ( or the previous owner) have historically used it.
In Utah, the default rule for the maintenance of an easement is that, where the parties have not agreed otherwise, the burden of upkeep should be shared between the owner of the land and the owner of the easement in proportion to their relative use of the road, as nearly as it is possible to determine relative use.
In fact, Utah recognizes at least 3 forms of unwritten easements that may be helpful in this situation: (1) easements by prescription, (2) easements by necessity, and (3) easements by implication.
And if your neighbor is parking on your property, you can only prohibit him from doing so if such a prohibition would not unreasonably interfere with his easement right to use your property. I have an easement across my neighbor’s property.
If your driveway falls into category (2) then whether you can stop your neighbor from parking will depend on where the neighbor is parking. If your neighbor is parking entirely on his half of the driveway than there is nothing you can legally do to prevent it.
Most likely yes . An easement can be owned “in gross” or “appurtenant.” “In gross” means that the easement belongs to an individual no matter where that individual lives. An easement “appurtenant” means the easement belongs to the owner of the adjacent property. The default rule in Utah is that easement’s are appurtenant unless the facts of the situation clearly suggest otherwise. This means that if you buy property from someone and that person used an easement across neighboring land to access that property, then you will most likely be able to continue using that easement.
In Virginia, the owner of the dominant estate (that would be your neighbor for purposes of your question) has the duty to maintain the easement. That is well settled law. The question of snow removal has never been fully addressed where there is no question that the snow will melt and the easement restored.
I agree with my colleague. You may simply need a letter from an attorney explaining the situation and what you'd like from your neighbors. Have you reviewed the easement language? Sometimes it can be useful in making your arguments. Additionally, what did your prior neighbors do? That could also be useful...
As always these matters are delicate as you live next to each other; so an amicable but assertive solution that does cause an escalation of personal issues between yourselves is the probably the best approach to seek here. That being said, I would seek to retain a local real estate attorney experienced in property right disputes.