I was intrigued by this article because it talks about buying land with a partner which is what we are planning on doing. It talks about a partnership which has a legal meaning and any partnership agreement is going to have legal implications and obligations. We have mostly talked about the other option which is to go together to purchase property with the goal of splitting the property after the sale. This can be simpler but remember to make an equitable split. One partner should not be left with all of the road frontage, all of the water, etc. In our case, one partner is a single man and the other is a family. This makes the idea of partnership difficult, but should ease the split of the land since the two parties needs are very different. It also helps that we get along very well and are like-minded. This will make the sharing of resources an enjoyable thing rather than a point of constant contention.
This article also goes into more detail on easements. People who have never lived in the country may be horrified to learn that your neighbor may have the legal right to drive across your property to get access to his own. Under certain circumstances it is possible for your neighbor to force an easement across your property by court order.
The type of easement most people are familiar with is an easement for the utility company to distribute its product such as electricity or water. I grew up in a rural area and the local natural gas utility made an easement across our property. Most of the folks along our road did not own the property to the edge of the road. There was a publicly owned utility right-of-way. We did own property to the roads edge so it was necessary to make an easement across our property. We could have held it up in the court, but it would have cost us money and we almost certainly would have lost. So we simply allowed the easement which means that our lawn was torn up while they buried the pipe. It also meant that we were able to hook to the natural gas and get rid of our coal furnace. My dad didn't have to get up at 05:00 to stoke the furnace and haul the clinkers out. It was a good thing.
Legal Land Issues: Land Easements, Shortages in Purchased Acreage and Buying Land With a Partner
The joys of living in the country are
too numerous to mention, and the thrill of buying your first (or
tenth) piece of land is unlike any other satisfaction in the world.
In the many years I have been addressing the concerns of rural
landowners, it has become clear to me that country landowners are
even more interested in their real estate affairs than their urban
counterparts. Unlike city dwellers, however, they have far too little
information available to them, information which could not only make
buying and selling vastly easier, but could go a long way toward
solving any potential problems or disputes with neighbors. I can't
begin to number the instances in which a problem easily avoided grew
so troublesome that ultimately the expense of an attorney was
necessary.
For instance: When buying or selling
real estate how much of your situation should you tell your agent?
What about buying with a partner? There are many considerations to
co-ownership, and some work in the beginning will go far into the
future, helping insure a successful relationship. Should you buy land
with an easement over it, or a parcel that is served by an easement?
Much trouble arises from easements but often they are a fact of
country life and the problems must be dealt with in order to enjoy
your land. Did you know that land ownership doesn't always include
all of the rights to that land? How can you determine which rights
you have or are buying? Often land is bought or sold on a real estate
contract. What do you do when things go awry? What should you do with
your deed?
I am a real estate broker who deals
exclusively with country land. I am also co-owner, with my husband,
of a ranch and timber tree farm. There are just about as many
questions regarding land ownership as there are landowners, and
knowing what to do about a given situation can be difficult to
determine. It' s our hope that we can begin a dialogue within this
column, so keep your questions coming. The answers will be of great
interest to others dealing with similar problems, as well as to
yourself.
There is a driveway easement through my
land that serves another parcel. The recent purchasers of that parcel
treat the easement as if it were their own deeded land, using it for
parking, storage, etc., and are careless with their litter while
crossing my land. Now they are talking about changing the location of
the easement road. Do I have to let them? What can be done about this
problem?
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