I've got a problem here, and I am wanting the best and quickest way to resolve it so my client won't hold my check hostage.
I surveyed a tract along a gravel road. This road used to run past the property on both ends. However, a bridge collapsed and was never replaced, so the driveable road stops at the subject property line. From the subject property to the east for 4000 feet, the road is a regular gravel road. However, this section has been abandoned by the county. At the end of the 4000 feet is a public road. My client is insisting that this property has to have some sort of recorded access easement. My contention is that when a road is abandoned, those that join it still have use of it as long as there is a road bed there.
Is there some way to convince the lawyers involved that I am right, or is there some other way, without having to go to all the road adjoining owners and getting them to sign an easement?
When you said abandoned, is there a written document to support that? I would check with the County Road Manager to see what the current status is. If an easement would ensure the clients safe passage to his parcel, it should be done. Proivide him a good service and expect prompt payment upon job completion.
Government abandonment or discontinuance of maintenance does not do away with property owner's rights. You will need to research specific laws and / or court decisions in the state in which this roadway is situated.
In Virginia there is also the idea of "Easement by Necessity" which simplistically states that a piece of property can not be land locked and the court is authorized to grant an easement as a last resort.
> I've got a problem here, and I am wanting the best and quickest way to resolve it so my client won't hold my check hostage.
>
> I surveyed a tract along a gravel road. This road used to run past the property on both ends. However, a bridge collapsed and was never replaced, so the driveable road stops at the subject property line. From the subject property to the east for 4000 feet, the road is a regular gravel road. However, this section has been abandoned by the county. At the end of the 4000 feet is a public road. My client is insisting that this property has to have some sort of recorded access easement. My contention is that when a road is abandoned, those that join it still have use of it as long as there is a road bed there.
>
> Is there some way to convince the lawyers involved that I am right, or is there some other way, without having to go to all the road adjoining owners and getting them to sign an easement?
I can't understand why it would be your responsibility to handle this. You've presented them with the facts, shouldn't the "lawyers involved" be handling this legal access matter? It sounds like the lawyers are trying to get you to take responsibility for this so that, if say somewhere in the future, one of the neighbors up the road decides to block assess, they'll have a surveyor to name in the law suit. Tread lightly, here.
> ..... one of the neighbors up the road decides to block assess, they'll have a surveyor to name in the law suit. Tread lightly, here.
Yes; covering (blocking) your a$$ is always a good idea....:snarky:
There are too many unknowns in your post to provide a definitive answer. I am willing to bet that this road, like probably 90% of the county maintained roads in Mississippi, never had any dedicated right of way. At best, the county had a prescriptive easement, or implied dedication to the road. Mississippi counties have been mandated by the state to maintain an official road registry for only the last 15 years or so, so it may have never been on the "official" list. Odds are that the attorneys are aware of this, and know that for your client to have legal access, an easement from the adjoining property owners is needed. With the information provided, it is hard to say what needs to be done, but from past experience, my advice to the client would be that they need it to protect themselves, and that the extravagant fee (in their mind at least) that I am going to charge to survey the easement and provide them and their attorney with a plat and description is a small price to ensure that nobody can deny them access.
The easements may have transfered from public to private when the road was abandoned, usually determined by a judge.
It appears you need to show the road/driveway because of your standards.
l. Visible encroachments onto or from adjoining property or abutting streets with the extent of such encroachment. No sub-surface encroachments are required to be located unless their existence and location is furnished to the surveyor by the client.
m. All public and private rights-of-way or easements which are known or observed adjoining or crossing the land surveyed.
Sounds like its attorney problem not yours ..but I would as the land owner want something in writing before I purchased the property .. whats to stop the next land owner up the road from gating off the road,