We've got a contract to resurvey for the federal government an easement consisting of 200 acres. This conveyance took place in 2003 and the feds are wanting it resurveyed and remarked.
Friday, I emailed the absentee land owner to tell him that we would be surveying the easement and would be on the property. We started work yesterday. While I was out of the office, I received this email:
Mr. Young-----Although I presume that you are who you say you are, I do not know you or your company.Also, I do not know that ****** has hired you, and I have no information to support the statements you make in your email. Accordingly, until further information is provided, I DO NOT consent to your entry onto our property.
Before I consent to your entry, I need the following:
1. Official written confirmation from a **** official of your assignment.
2. Written confirmation of your knowledge of the existing dangers and of your acceptance of the risk of all dangers.
3. A written Release by you and your company, releasing ************ from any liability arising out of your entry and work on the property, and indemnifying and holding us harmless from any such liability.
3. Copy of your commercial general liability insurance policy naming *********** as additional insured.
4. Copy of your workers' compensation policy in limits to comply with Tennessee law.
Now, after receiving that, my inner redneck wanted to tell him to go pound sand. I didn't and instead forwarded it to my client.
Has anyone ever had a property owner ask for all of those things? We have had to fill out a few of them, BUT, it was at the request of the party paying us, which is not the case here.
I've never had to, but it doesn't really sound all that unreasonable. Sounds like a large land owner that's had unpleasant issues, liability or otherwise, before.
You Have The Consent Of The Owner...
...of the easement. The land owner cannot require of you, working for the Federal Government, any more than he can require of the Feds. However to keep said owner in check request assistance from the Federal Marshals who could also assist you in recovering any ties on the servient parcel.
Paul in PA
Interesting question. What's the easement for? I'd think the feds would have the right to have the easement surveyed with or without his consent. Regardless, I'd also run this by your insurance company, releasing the land owner of potential neglegence may not sit well, especially when there is an easement involved. The easement owners and those who they assign to work within their easement should have some minimal expectation of safety within the easement.
Well, I'm pretty much ignoring him.
What it amounts to is this guy took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government for an easement, and now he is blantantly violating that easement. He doesn't want us snooping around out there discovering everything he's done.
That does not sound too unreasonable. The only part that might be unreasonable is where he wants you to name him as an addional insured inity. Contact the COR for your contract and get their input. I would consider it good business practice for someone to check insurance before allowing you to survey on their land.
You should have right of entry since you're being hired by the easement holder. If anyone was liable for injury it would be them. Although in society today everyone including god would be sued if something happened.
I'd do as you did and send it to the Feds, I'd also let him know that I forwared it to the Feds for their opinion.
You never know who you're dealing with.
As you know, TN is a right of entry state, and the law does not require you to provide those things. However, in your own interst, as well as your client's, it may be best to provide what you can and remain civil about it.
As far as the insurance is concerned, you're not required as a surveyor to have it (even though we all should). That wouldn't mean you couldn't legally perform the survey.
This person may have experienced this before. Perhaps he's even an attorney who's looking at his own possible liability. Maybe he's just angry with the world.
I would try not to let it get to me.
Chris B.
The TN right of entry code:
has a Section E which reads:
((e) No owner or occupant of the land shall be liable for any injury or damage sustained by any person entering upon the land under this section.)
But then, there is the question of reasonable effort towards notice. Was the notice you gave him "reasonable?" Section D reads:
"In cases in which the landowner does not reside on the property, reasonable effort shall mean notification by certified mail."
Email could be construed as not reasonable, and an attorney would likely latch onto that if this goes where none of us want it to. And it sounds to me like this guy is willing to do just that.
In the end, I'd be very careful with this guy; like someone else said, he may have already gone through a case involving liability. In that case, he may be very aware of the rights you may or may not have when it comes to surveying.
"That's what they do, just accept it.":-)
I think their email response shows even receipt of notice. It isn't a certified mail, but had they not responded, you couldn't show that they even received it.
It sounds like they are a easement-holder and don't own the property. Every time I do a survey of someone's property, I don't tell all the possible easement-holders that I will be surveying on my client's property. You went an extra step and let them know you would be there, and you know they received notice.
I guess if this person is a lawyer, they could spin it another way, and I don't live in Tennessee, nor do I practice law. But my first response is that they guy is being unreasonable, and you are being more than courteous enough. Instead of thanking you for notice and asking if you could do him a bit of a favor, he is getting awfully demanding as if you were some subordinate to him.
Just my offhand thoughts,
Tom
Several of those request are almost identical to the requirements on a Construction General Contractor hiring a Subcontractor. That may be his field of expertise.
OR, he is stalling.
You could email him back and explain that you are not asking permission, you are TELLING him you will be on his property. I don't recommend it.
You could email him back and say that due to the holidays, it will be a few weeks before you get all the information together. Then get the job done before he figures out You are stalling.
James
It sounds like you need to send the certified letter. In it, include a copy of the TN laws.
1. Include some paperwork from the FedGov about the job.
2. Point out the TN law.
3a. Point out the TN law.
3b. No.
4. No.
Except the easement he signed with the feds gives the feds and its contractors the right to enter the property.
What this guy is doing is akin to renting out a house and then barring the cable guy from entering.
Exactly what I was thinking Bill. I'd keep out of the insurance part.
I may add the ever so truthful comment that I am locating boundary lines for my client, each of which are also his. So he is benefiting, and it doesn't cost him anything. And maybe even provide him a copy of the survey (as long as its a recorded survey)
> Except the easement he signed with the feds gives the feds and its contractors the right to enter the property.
>
> What this guy is doing is akin to renting out a house and then barring the cable guy from entering.
Yes, you can enter upon the easement.
But does the easement allow you to cross any portion of his non-burdened land to recover boundary elements if necessary? That situation is really where the power of right of access comes into play.
It just seems like this guy is looking for an excuse. I don't think you should give him everything he has ordered, but at the same time I'd be sure to have all my I's and T's dotted and crossed. Maybe be ready for a "spontaneous visit."
That's a good point.
He has been informed that we will be out there. He has acknowledged that he has been informed that we will be out there. The Tennessee Right-of-Entry law protects us.
According to a federal official with the same department in a different state with a landowner violating a similiar easement, he's probably upset because the feds are fixin to sue the ____ out of him in federal court.
Although Illinois have a right of entry law, there is
another law that says you have to contact all adjoiners
before starting a property survey. The second part
rarely happens in my experience in Illinois.
> ....And maybe even provide him a copy of the survey (as long as its a recorded survey)
It sounds to me like the guys a jerk and trying to make life miserable for everyone involved. I wouldn't be rude to him, but I don't think I would offer to give him anything. Maybe you could offer to provide him a copy of his own survey delineating the bounds of his easement for a price and tell him it would be cheaper for you to do that for him at the same time you are doing the parent parcel.....
> It sounds to me like the guys a jerk and trying to make life miserable for everyone involved.
Exactly the point. The goal is to just make him go away while you finish your job. Sometimes it is beneficial to deal with those jerks and make them feel involved and that they are important and that you are listening to them.
However, the key word in my possible PR maneuver was "recorded survey". After that it's public record, so why not score some brownie points and just give him a copy. Why throw gasoline on the fire?
If it's not recorded, just follow the law which happens to be on the surveyors side. I'd also tend to just have the sheriff nearby - which I did on one occasion. No way would I provide that 3rd party with insurance information (oh I suppose I could for a nominal fee).