What is "Transitory Parking" in an Easement

[Dave Stevens]

What is the name of your state? CA

I have a neighbor who uses the shoulder of the neighborhood's private road as his primary parking space for two cars. The road is an easement, and he only has ingress/egress rights to use the road. I have read some laws concerning use of easements with ingress/egress rights and they seem to permit "transitory" parking. The dictionary definition of transitory basically means temporary and short-term. What does this mean for parking on the shoulder of a road in an easement?

I am the owner, I guess the servient owner, of the property and I don't really want the guy parking there full time anymore, but I am concerned what a judge would decide. The neighbor has plenty of space on his own property, but chooses to park on the shoulder of the road out of convenience.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[danno6925]

I am the owner, I guess the servient owner, of the property and I don't really want the guy parking there full time anymore, but I am concerned what a judge would decide. The neighbor has plenty of space on his own property, but chooses to park on the shoulder of the road out of convenience

So would I unless the property owner showed me the phrase in the easement where it says I can't. So, other than the "I-Don't-Want-him-to-do-that" argument, do you have a better reason (safety, inability to pass around his cars, etc) to keep him from parking in the easement?

First step is to make him aware that it bothers you. Talk to the guy. He could very well be a reasonable human being. Besides, although he's using your property for the ingress and egress, that does not make the property his to use as he sees fit. If he is using the land in a fashion inconsistent with his easement - let him know via CRRR if conversation is not one of your strong points. Most people comply when corrected - especially when they didn't know they were in the wrong in the first place.

Second step is to let him know that he may only park within the easement temporarily - I believe a judge would likely side with you on the transitory definition. Transitory parking in my state (PA) would apply to dropping off of guests, or taking deliveries - not parking the car for the night.

Is he parking within the easement or outside of the easement? If he's parking outside it, that may be trespassing. Call the cops if that's the case - provided step one didn't work out.


I am not an attorney. I have worked in PA title insurance since 2000/

 

[Dave Stevens]

Thank you very much for the reply.

I have a lot of history with this conflict and the guy has become very hostile with me. He has threatened me with harassment, in an attempt to bully me into passivity. I wrote him a letter requesting him to park one of his two commuter vehicles in his driveway and I would continue to permit him to park one car on the shoulder to make his life easy. It was a cordial letter. He has not replied to me and continues to park there. He and his live-in girlfriend have a litigious history - neither work anymore because they have made a little money on two malpractice lawsuits.

I am considering a man to man talk with him, basically apologizing for creating tension in the hopes that the conflict can be restored to a more amicable level and we can talk it through. I don't expect to get anywhere with that so I am starting to develop a plan for suing. This is why I wondered about the definition of "transitory." The few judicial opinions on court cases regarding parking that I have found seem to think that transitory parking is acceptable - but the use of that word indicates to me that any other type of parking (e.g. permanent daily long-term parking) is unacceptable. I really dont want to sue, but I will if I can't get anywhere else. This definition seems to be at the crux of my case.

To answer your question "do I have a better argument", my best arguments are: it makes use of the easement for other easment owners and other traffic (mail delivery, emergency vehicles, trash pickup, pedestrian) more difficult, albeit not impossible. My main concern is aesthetic and therefore land value. I just hate looking at the clunkers and I know it devalues everybody's property value. I own about two million worth of real estate in the neighborhood, so even a modest impact of 5% to the property value is huge to me. The road just looks like a crappy alleyway with cars parked everywhere. Without them it would be a cute little country road.

Thanks again, any more comments would be appreciated