Q: As the owner of the servient estate, what are my rights wrt the dominant estates plan to grade a road on the easement?
I am the owner of the servient estate which has an easement for ingress/egress. The owner of the dominant estate plans on bringing in surveyors to stake the easement, and then an excavation company to re-grade an unpermitted road on the easement. Do I have the right to require the dominant estate to obtain a "Monumented" survey? Can I require the dominant estate to produce a plan for the work to be completed (currently he is planning on just staking and having the excavator "wing it")? Lastly, the county (Larimer, CO) has a permitting process for private roads that serve more than one property (owner may also request perm/review even when not required). The county doesn't require a permit to be obtained until someone pulls a building permit for the dominant estate. Can I require the dominant estate to go through the permitting process to do the proposed work (or just use the existing road if they don't want to permit)? The owner is planning to sell the property, not develop it.
A: You definitely have rights. An easement does not give the owner of the dominant estate unilateral authority nor does he have the right to work outside of the permitting process. If you are not able to have a reasonable conversation with this party you should get an attorney involved to assist you before he starts moving dirt.
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