Private Road easement question

[Looking4anout]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?Washington
We are a five house development on a private road with an HOA.
There is an additional private road off the end of ours that access three more house beyond who are not part of the HOA. The Private road infront of our houses is considered an easement in the legal plot plans.
The last house at the end of the attached private road is considering(heard through the grapevine) tearing down their house, and subdividing their lot into 5 lots.
Would we be able to do anything with our easment that would restrict the number of residences our easement allows access to, or other way stop this from ever happening?
I would assume those three houses also share in somekind of easement for their section of the road.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?Washington
We are a five house development on a private road with an HOA.
There is an additional private road off the end of ours that access three more house beyond who are not part of the HOA. The Private road infront of our houses is considered an easement in the legal plot plans.
The last house at the end of the attached private road is considering(heard through the grapevine) tearing down their house, and subdividing their lot into 5 lots.
Would we be able to do anything with our easment that would restrict the number of residences our easement allows access to, or other way stop this from ever happening?
I would assume those three houses also share in somekind of easement for their section of the road.

Sorry but I very much doubt that you can do anything to prevent it from happening. However you can certainly take the easement documentation to a real estate attorney to be reviewed.

 

[154NH773]

First of all, who owns the land the roadway is on (the servient tenant)?

That person, or entity, (and only that entity) might possibly be able to prevent the expansion of the use of the easement as it would be an additional burden upon the easement, which was not contemplated when the easement grant was made..

There is way too little information in your post to even guess at an answer. I suggest you find the owner of the land and then talk to them about your concerns.

 

[Looking4anout]

The HOA owns the private road.
Also found out they are on septic, but would have to connect to our sewer main if they subdivided, which would mean crossing the other two home owners proerty and easments on the driveway at the end of our road. I guess that could stop them right there, unless the utility easement they currently have for water and power allows for the addition of a sewer line.

 

[154NH773]

The HOA owns the private road.

Then they are the only ones that can take any action. You and the others affected must put pressure on the HOA or they might allow this expansion.

I guess that could stop them right there, unless the utility easement they currently have for water and power allows for the addition of a sewer line.

Get a copy of the utility easement and see what it says. Most generic utility easements allow the dominent tenant to give rights to other utilities for additional services (like cable TV). You need to learn what they have a right to do .

 

[justalayman]

municipal sewer is a utility and if municipal sewer was anywhere near the area, it would even be a foreseeable likelihood it would be considered within "utilities". So, unless it excepted sewer as a utility, there are already rights to install it.


along with that, if subdividing was a foreseeable or likely action by the owner down the road, it is also likely the easement would already allow such activity.

you can go back to the creator of the easement and attempt to find what the intention of the easement was. That is about the only thing I can see that might give you any traction is trying to stop this.

 

[154NH773]

"So, unless it excepted sewer as a utility, there are already rights to install it."

I can't totally agree with that statement. Although case law may declare that "utilities" are generally allowed on an ingress and egress easement unless excepted, you may have to go to court if the particular utility is not specified.
It often depends how the easement is written and by whom it was written. Of the developer wrote it, then it probably allows "all utilities". If the electric company wrote the easement it might only allow power, telephone , and cable.
It all comes down to the exact wording, and whether someone wants to challenge the sewer. If you go to court, it depends on precedent and the wording.

I agree with justalayman when he said that if the sub-division was anticipated, then it wouldn't be viewed as an additional "burden" on the easement.

There are a lot of grey areas in this situation, and it may be for a court to decide.

 

[LdiJ]

"So, unless it excepted sewer as a utility, there are already rights to install it."

I can't totally agree with that statement. Although case law may declare that "utilities" are generally allowed on an ingress and egress easement unless excepted, you may have to go to court if the particular utility is not specified.
It often depends how the easement is written and by whom it was written. Of the developer wrote it, then it probably allows "all utilities". If the electric company wrote the easement it might only allow power, telephone , and cable.
It all comes down to the exact wording, and whether someone wants to challenge the sewer. If you go to court, it depends on precedent and the wording.

I agree with justalayman when he said that if the sub-division was anticipated, then it wouldn't be viewed as an additional "burden" on the easement.

There are a lot of grey areas in this situation, and it may be for a court to decide.

I would also add that its probably pretty unlikely that the current homeowners could be denied the right to attach to the city sewer system. So I could see someone getting around that by bring in the sewer line for the existing home, and then subdividing.