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I have a neighbor that bought a piece of property behind mine and the adjacent property owner sold him an easement for ingress/egress to the property although he already had an easement access from a different road. This neighbor then sold a lot to his brother adjoining his. Apparently the neighbor has allowed his brothers family to use his easement for riding four wheelers. It has become annoying having these people ride by the house.
1) My house is about 200 yards from the road and the easement is about 1000 yards to the guys house PLUS another 3/4 mile to the brothers house on the other side. These people insist on driving all the way to the road. If they could turn around maybe 50 yrds short of my house it would be a non-issue. The fact they insist on "buzzing" my house is annoying.
2) They have taken to riding around on the neighbors hayfield. The guy does NOT have an easement for the entire property and I do not think the property owner knows they are doing this.
3) I own land that is within 100 yards of the neighbors house. I could EASILY set up a "crow cannon" or some other annoyance IF I wanted to.BUT I do not want to get in a dispute.
Tonight really got my "goat" They buzzed by at 9pm. I was enjoying a quite evening at home and then these idiots disrupted it. I "think" the neighbor is not at home and the kids decided to take a "joy ride". It is my belief the neighbor would have told them not to do it if he were at home.
How do I handle this with the neighbor? I would like to point out the fact he could limit riding to a point on the easement away from my house and still have riders enjoy themselves. I would also like to remind him that I "could" do things to disrupt quiet enjoyment of HIS property but have not done so due to my desire to be a good neighbor.
I am also considering contacting the property owner and discussing what is happening. While the property is currently just used for farming the owner would likely not approve of trespassers particularly if they do not have any easement rights at all.
Again, I do not think it is the neighbor as much as his brothers children. The fact that they decided to do this when he wasn't home (this is the first time they did it late at night) is my indication.
When I bought the place there was no easement. I believe the adjacent property owner really did me a disservice by selling the easement.
If it's a real hayfield they are ruining his crop and I bet the farmer will be FURIOUS when he finds out. Let him know and he will solve the problem for you.
The neighbor's farm land? Report it. ATVs are heavy vehicles that can do damage to wet ground. I'd phrase the report in a way that demonstrates you have a concern for this person's property and not in the same vein as your complaint.
As to the riding that disrupts your peace - check the local laws for ATV use. Check for statutes concerning "quiet hours." It sounds like yours is a rural community, so there might not be anything that deals with noise outside a certain time. Go armed with facts about your right to not be disturbed. Then, approach the person who allows the ATV use and be calm-voiced and reasonable. If that person is an advocate for responsible riding, they might be accommodating, however .... be prepared for a situation where they might not be. Been there myself, with ATVers crossing my property without my permission with a clear message from me that I didn't want them there. The police were no help, I ended up constructing ugly barricades across the entrance to the trails that provided access to my woods.
I hope it works out for you, but be prepared for unpleasantness if it doesn't. There are certainly responsible riders, but the ones who aren't can make you wish that an ATV will turtle on them and send them to the hospital. The woods adjoining my property were so badly damaged by irresponsible riding that the owners had to cut down trees and drop them across the paths the ATVers used to try and stop them. They even placed thick cables, with flags hanging down to indicate their presence, across the trails and STILL those f* came on to the land. It wasn't until the woods were so covered by rutted tracks that the ATVers had a hard time riding across that they went elsewhere. *ssholes
I will talk to the owner of the farmland and inform him. My problem is the riding on the small part of the easement that passes by my house. The guy has close to a mile or more to ride where it wouldn't disturb anyone yet these people INSIST on riding all the way to the road.
I hate the things myself. It seems like everyone has an ATV but no place to ride them. I was talking to a land owner last week that owns down the road from me and he has been having a lot of trouble with trespassers riding on his land. They cut his fences and you can see the rutting in the fields. He is an out of town land owner and is not around to catch the people.
I am not sure but I believe these people have cut a path for their ATV's through the adjacent lands woodlot because I see them ride across the hay field and disappear into the woods. I do not know if they have permission from the land owner to be doing this or not.
Anyways I guess there is little I can do about it since as noted I did not grant the easement. I know it is an ingress/egress easement and I guess the user can claim he is ingressing/egressing as he rides up and down the roadway.
I think it was a pretty stupid thing to do in granting the easement to begin with. The neighbor already had one but he wanted to have a flatter drive into the place. The land it cuts through is really pretty and would make for a very nice property to build on BUT who is going to want people coming and going across their land? It devalued the property and I am afraid it has devalued mine.
I will talk to the owner of the farmland and inform him. My problem is the riding on the small part of the easement that passes by my house. The guy has close to a mile or more to ride where it wouldn't disturb anyone yet these people INSIST on riding all the way to the road.
I hate the things myself. It seems like everyone has an ATV but no place to ride them. I was talking to a land owner last week that owns down the road from me and he has been having a lot of trouble with trespassers riding on his land. They cut his fences and you can see the rutting in the fields. He is an out of town land owner and is not around to catch the people.
I am not sure but I believe these people have cut a path for their ATV's through the adjacent lands woodlot because I see them ride across the hay field and disappear into the woods. I do not know if they have permission from the land owner to be doing this or not.
Anyways I guess there is little I can do about it since as noted I did not grant the easement. I know it is an ingress/egress easement and I guess the user can claim he is ingressing/egressing as he rides up and down the roadway.
I think it was a pretty stupid thing to do in granting the easement to begin with. The neighbor already had one but he wanted to have a flatter drive into the place. The land it cuts through is really pretty and would make for a very nice property to build on BUT who is going to want people coming and going across their land? It devalued the property and I am afraid it has devalued mine.
I hate people!
As an farm land owner who lives hours away from the farm where we grew up, I second the plan to call the farmer right away. Our good neighbors are our eyes and ears to protecting the land.
There could be tremendous damage being done by those ATVs, deep ruts in fields can be difficult to fix as well as ruining cropland. If they "made their own trail" through the woods they are probably damaging hundreds of young tree, scaring or killing forest creatures, and again ruts in soft soil can be very hard to fix. Another thing to consider is liability. If someone is killed or injured on someone else's property their insurance may be liable. If I was the land owner I would want to know pronto.
Also, if someone that I gave an easement to was bothering other neighbors I would certainly want to know so that I could "read them the riot act". Depending on the type of easement, as a responsible landowner and neighbor I may revoke it or add something to prevent them from driving so close to your house.
I have a neighbor that bought a piece of property behind mine and the adjacent property owner sold him an easement for ingress/egress to the property although he already had an easement access from a different road. This neighbor then sold a lot to his brother adjoining his. Apparently the neighbor has allowed his brothers family to use his easement for riding four wheelers. It has become annoying having these people ride by the house.
The people involved, own the right to use that easement, having paid money to obtain the easement. When one buys an easement, they have bought the right to use it exactly as they would if they actually owned the property itself.
Thus they have the right to use that easement, no matter how the OP feels.
The person that sold them an easement, no longer has the right to tell them what they can use to go up and down the easement which they own unless it is stated in the easement rights. Unless riding ATVs on private property is prohibited/controlled in the area by laws and regulations, those young people going up and down the easement are not breaking any laws.
However the question is, Do they have permission to go through the hay field, and woods, etc. That is the thing that only the property owner themselves can answer, and either allow to continue, or demand it cease immediately. If they are local residents, then one can expect them to know this is happening. If they are out of town, then they may very much appreciate the OP letting them know.
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