Mrs Bridges
Member
What is the name of your state? Maine
Never in all my born days did I imagine all the permutations that would arise from the ROW of which I am the servient estate!
My parents owned both waterfront and non-waterfront property (a city street separates the parcels). They sold a small corner off the non-waterfront parcel to family friends, and deeded them a right of way to allow them access to their boat, and to allow them to attach a float to the existing wharf.
The deed reads, "Also granting a right of way to the wharf on the shore of the River for the purpose of ingress or egress to the wharf to maintain a float, over other land of the Grantors (more particularly described as Lot 9, on Map 42, Wharf Area, Property Map, City of Bath, prepared by James W. Sewall Co., Old Town, Maine, on file in the Assessors' office."
Now I own my parents' property, and after the family friends both died, the small corner non-waterfront property, with the deeded ROW was sold to people "from away." These new neighbors are currently away on vacation, and last night my husband observed 4 teenagers crossing our property on the ROW to get to our neighbors' float which is in the river. They all had fishing poles. My husband called down to them and said, "Excuse me, are you aware that you are on private property?" One of the young men claimed to be the son of our neighbors. Our neighbors have no children of their own, but the neighbor woman has some children (who do not live with her) from a previous marriage. I do not know any of these children, or how many, or what ages. I do not know if the neighbor man has any children of his own or not.
Next we observed that two of the teenagers had come ashore to our land from our neighbors' float, and were walking around other parts of our land which are not included in the the right of way path. Specifically, they appeared to be fishing from our cove, walking across the rip rap that we paid $13,000 to have installed in the fall of 2005.
So my husband and I went down to meet the "son", ask him to identify himself by name and specific relationship to our neighbors', and to inform them of where the right of way was, and that the cove was not included. They told us that their fishing line had gotten hooked in some rocks in the cove, but that they would probably be leaving soon anyway since there were so many mosquitoes and black flies.
As it turns out, "Zack" is 16 years old, and is indeed the son of the neighbor woman. However, he lives out of state, and did not have his mothers' permission to be on her property in her absence (actually our property, but her float/ROW). In fact, she said he wasn't supposed to be in town. However, even if he did have her permission to go fishing from her float, I am concerned about a group of minors having access to a deep-water fast-current river (over my property!) without adult supervision.
Also, these neighbors are gone most of the summer and live on a big boat they own. Before they go away, they attach a small motorboat to their float. Then they invite his parents to come stay in their home during their absence, and the parents (and last year it was also an aunt and uncle who were staying there as well) use the ROW and the float.
Now for my questions.
1) Being that the ROW is for ingress/egress, is anyone allowed to fish? If no, would they be able to fish from my neighbors' float or boat, being that the float and boat are in the water, and not over my land? If yes, why?
2) Would anyone be allowed to jump off the float to swim?
3) The property is in the neighbor woman's name only. She and her husband are the only ones who live there. Are they allowed to give permission to other people to use the ROW in their absence? Does it make a difference whether or not the other people are actually staying in their house or not?
4) My mother-in-law has a swimming pool and has told her yoga buddies that they are free to stop by and use it as they see fit, whether she is at home (which she usually is), or not. Often, she is busy doing something else, and does not join them in the pool. Are my neighbors allowed to extend permission to other people to use this ROW in the same manner -- in other words, yes we are home, but we are busy, but come up anyway and use the ROW without our participation? (I know it is allowed if they invite people up, and they ALL go out in the boat together.)
5) Do we have to allow unsupervised minors to use the ROW?
I am sorry to keep talking about this ROW, but just when I think we've got everything covered, something new pops up! Maybe my saga will help others in a similar situation understand their rights.
Thanks for any light you can shed.
Never in all my born days did I imagine all the permutations that would arise from the ROW of which I am the servient estate!
My parents owned both waterfront and non-waterfront property (a city street separates the parcels). They sold a small corner off the non-waterfront parcel to family friends, and deeded them a right of way to allow them access to their boat, and to allow them to attach a float to the existing wharf.
The deed reads, "Also granting a right of way to the wharf on the shore of the River for the purpose of ingress or egress to the wharf to maintain a float, over other land of the Grantors (more particularly described as Lot 9, on Map 42, Wharf Area, Property Map, City of Bath, prepared by James W. Sewall Co., Old Town, Maine, on file in the Assessors' office."
Now I own my parents' property, and after the family friends both died, the small corner non-waterfront property, with the deeded ROW was sold to people "from away." These new neighbors are currently away on vacation, and last night my husband observed 4 teenagers crossing our property on the ROW to get to our neighbors' float which is in the river. They all had fishing poles. My husband called down to them and said, "Excuse me, are you aware that you are on private property?" One of the young men claimed to be the son of our neighbors. Our neighbors have no children of their own, but the neighbor woman has some children (who do not live with her) from a previous marriage. I do not know any of these children, or how many, or what ages. I do not know if the neighbor man has any children of his own or not.
Next we observed that two of the teenagers had come ashore to our land from our neighbors' float, and were walking around other parts of our land which are not included in the the right of way path. Specifically, they appeared to be fishing from our cove, walking across the rip rap that we paid $13,000 to have installed in the fall of 2005.
So my husband and I went down to meet the "son", ask him to identify himself by name and specific relationship to our neighbors', and to inform them of where the right of way was, and that the cove was not included. They told us that their fishing line had gotten hooked in some rocks in the cove, but that they would probably be leaving soon anyway since there were so many mosquitoes and black flies.
As it turns out, "Zack" is 16 years old, and is indeed the son of the neighbor woman. However, he lives out of state, and did not have his mothers' permission to be on her property in her absence (actually our property, but her float/ROW). In fact, she said he wasn't supposed to be in town. However, even if he did have her permission to go fishing from her float, I am concerned about a group of minors having access to a deep-water fast-current river (over my property!) without adult supervision.
Also, these neighbors are gone most of the summer and live on a big boat they own. Before they go away, they attach a small motorboat to their float. Then they invite his parents to come stay in their home during their absence, and the parents (and last year it was also an aunt and uncle who were staying there as well) use the ROW and the float.
Now for my questions.
1) Being that the ROW is for ingress/egress, is anyone allowed to fish? If no, would they be able to fish from my neighbors' float or boat, being that the float and boat are in the water, and not over my land? If yes, why?
2) Would anyone be allowed to jump off the float to swim?
3) The property is in the neighbor woman's name only. She and her husband are the only ones who live there. Are they allowed to give permission to other people to use the ROW in their absence? Does it make a difference whether or not the other people are actually staying in their house or not?
4) My mother-in-law has a swimming pool and has told her yoga buddies that they are free to stop by and use it as they see fit, whether she is at home (which she usually is), or not. Often, she is busy doing something else, and does not join them in the pool. Are my neighbors allowed to extend permission to other people to use this ROW in the same manner -- in other words, yes we are home, but we are busy, but come up anyway and use the ROW without our participation? (I know it is allowed if they invite people up, and they ALL go out in the boat together.)
5) Do we have to allow unsupervised minors to use the ROW?
I am sorry to keep talking about this ROW, but just when I think we've got everything covered, something new pops up! Maybe my saga will help others in a similar situation understand their rights.
Thanks for any light you can shed.
