Q: I won 16 acres and my neighbor that is land locked has use of a road in our lower field to access his home. He wants to
make some major changes to our gravel road like bringing in heavy equipment to dig up the road and place large rocks then gravel. We maintain this road, we use this road, we own this road going across our property. There is no right of way or easement in the deed. We have repeatedly told him that he can have new gravel placed in the road at any time. He is not happy with that and wants to do construction to suit his wants. Do we have the right to limit what he does to this road?
****Typo that i can't fix!!! I own, not won, 16 acres.
A: If you own the property, all he has is an "easement by necessity". In other words, he has the right to use the road for access, but he can't 'increase the burden" on your property. He can maintain what is already there, but he can't widen, or improve it. It sounds like the issue is going to come down to what is reasonable maintainence. He will probably say that by doing the major work now, that will eliminate future work and thus be cheaper in the long run. Its hard to predict what a Judge will do, but if its your property, he simply has a right to use it, and nothing more.
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