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A servient estate refers to a type of estate that is in the law of easement. Usually, it is a real property that is used for the benefit of another individual through the use of easement rules and regulations and the right of way that allows that individual to gain access to an adjoining property or utility lines. Below are answers to few of the more common legal questions about servient estate issues: There is a utility easement in the front of our properties that would be used for the purpose of a paved road, power, phone, cable and irrigation in future. The pipe that serves the irrigation system on my property passes through that easement, which the neighbor has fenced. Moreover, he has kept horses for grazing on his property that has likely caused the pipe to break. As far as repairing the irrigation pipe is concerned, who should do the repair?
In this case, there are a lot of factors that would need to be considered before telling exactly who should do the repairs. To begin with, it is the easement that would need to mention as in who should fix the pipe. However, if you are not considering the easement rules and regulations, then it is usually the dominant owner which is you in this case, that should be responsible for doing the repairs to the easement. On the other hand, if you could collect enough evidence against your neighbor to prove that the damage that has occurred on the easement has been caused because of his negligence, then in that case, your neighbor would have to bear the repair. But in case, you fail to prove so, you would be the one who will be responsible for carrying out the necessary repair. Is it legal for the owner of a property to block the easement road that leads to our property without any prior thinking about how we would get into our property? The easement road is on his property and we have been using it as an entrance to our property for about eighteen years. We have a cottage on this property and it is on a small private lake in MI. The owner, on whose property the easement road is located, has decided upon selling his property and therefore has fenced it. Now he is gone and we don’t seem to have any other option but building a separate entrance to our land.
Usually, it is not possible for a servient owner to prevent a dominant owner from using an easement, even if the property deed does not mention about any written easement on it. According to the law in MI, it is termed as the prescriptive easement if the entrance to your property is through the easement land and therefore, there is no way the easement could be blocked. Thus, in a situation like this, what you could do is, write a letter to your neighbor mentioning that you have the full right to use the easement road and that even if he is the owner of the property where the easement road is situated, he does not have any legal rights to obstruct your way of entrance to your property. Finally, if the neighbor still does not remove the fence from the easement road that prevents your access to your land, you could file a lawsuit against him for any damages. Is it legally allowed for my neighbor to give out her right of way over my property as lease or rent to a commercial farmer or any third party like that?
The person who is using the easement is entitled to the easement rights. Therefore, if the owner of a land that has the easement on it wants to assign the easement rights to a third party, then in that case, he or she is usually not allowed to do so unless the person who is using the easement gives an approval on it. Moreover, it is important that you should go through the easement rules and regulations before taking a decision like this. In this case, the neighbor does not have the legal authority to allow a third party to use the easement for commercial purposes because an easement is supposed to be used for a personal reason. If you need any clarification about your particular situation on the subject, you may wish to ask a real estate lawyer for legal insight based on an expert evaluation of your circumstances.
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