Re: Adverse possession in Pennsylvanina

More | Report Post

On 6/05/09, Gerald wrote:
> We have a plot of land that has a road bordering an
> adjacent property owner. The road belongs to us, and the
> adjacent property owner has a "deeded" access to his
> property on the other side.
>
> Throughout the years, the adjacent property owner has used
> our road as a means of convenience rather than necessity.
>
> The property owner periodically grades the road, though we
> have on many occasions stated that he may not do this.
> (Though it's hard to argue with a guy driving a large piece
> of machinery.)
>
> There are now attorneys involved and his attorney is
> claiming adverse possession.
>
> Can this be correct considering the neighbor does not need
> to use the road to access his property?
>
> We were told that if we block access to the road, the
> neighbor could file an injunction. Thoughts?

You need to determine if the easement is recorded and find
out who granted the easement and for what purpose. If your
neighbor has a valid easement properly recorded the issue of
necessity is moot. Necessity is a separate issue from a
recorded easement that was granted by a prior owner of your
property.

As for adverse possession, if the easement is recorded his
use of the property was not adverse it was permissive. No
adverse possession follows from permissive use of property.

As for grading the road, if he does have a valid easement
for use of the road, he has the right to maintain the road
as necessary for his use. He may not widen the road or
probably not even pave it or spread gravel if none is
absolutely necessary for use of the road. He must
compensate you for any damage to your property caused by
maintaining the easement. Say for example you have a nice
flower bed planted along the road and he runs over your
flowers when he grades the road. Hi owes you for the damage
to your flowers.

Finally, if he has a valid easement you may not block the
road.