What you are never supposed to do

Parent Cafe
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<p>Besides let an ex boyfriend have access to “romantic” clips to post on youtube-</p>

<p>Ask for legal advice online. :o
Actually, I am just trying to get an idea of where I should start rather than going right to a real estate attorney.
But I trust you guys and I know that even if no one knows the answer someone might have an idea of where to start.</p>

<p>The piece of property that we own ( and occupy) in Seattle has three feet from the actual wall of our house, to the ( rental) neighbors driveway on one side & on the other side we have a driveway that is the length of our property with a detached garage ( and a side yard), however, the piece of land that the rental on the other side sits on was made into a driveway before we bought our house, and they have an easement so that they can use about a foot or so ( actually I think it is more like 2’) so to be able park cars there and to access their detached carport.</p>

<p>We knew about the easement when we bought our property although I admit, I really don’t understand it. We still pay tax on our entire property and I imagine, theirs would be worth less if they didn’t have it ( and I assume ours would be worth less if we gave them permanent use of it)</p>

<p>But… our neighborhood is very hot- land is tight and single family homes are being torn down to build condos. The rental with the easement has been vacant for one year & while I don’t have the money to buy the property ( as my H wants to do- however he also thinks we have unlimited $ or access to it), I want to regain control of our full property in case of the rental property being sold.
I know the owners and they are local, but also tricksy, and I want to have solid research about what my rights are before I go to talk to them.</p>

<p>( I have no idea why they haven’t rented it, the previous tenants moved out because the rent was being raised too high, the owner started to do renovations on the inside, but nothing has been done for months and I have a feeling he changed his strategy)</p>

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<p>Go to a title insurance co in town and have them do research on the easement- when it was written, etc. It may be that the easement was required by the city to allow the previous owners to put in the driveway or detached garage, or because of side set back requirements, or ?? A title report will tell you if you can change anything, or charge for the use of your easement.</p>

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<p>d’oh
now why didn’t I think of that?
we do have that somewhere- I bet H has it- he used to be organized that was why I married him :wink:
Thanks!</p>

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<p>You can also go to the county tax assessor’s office at your county seat and find the records yourself, if you don’t have easy access to your own title report or if you also want to look at the records for your neighbor’s property. My mom used to do title research for a living, and it’s not hard to do what the title company does in putting together a report. It’s just very painstaking, since you might have to trace records through a chain of owners to get a complete picture from the present back to the time when the easement was created. (In my mom’s cases, sometimes she needed records that were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake, but you won’t have that problem :-)).</p>

<p>It might also be helpful to compare the maps and surveyor’s data in the assessor’s records for both your neighbor’s property and your own. My mom has helped several relatives deal with boundary issues, and having all the information in hand really helps.</p>