My question involves an easement in the state of:Pennsylvania
I have been renting a section of a building for about 13 years out of which I have run my small business during that time.
My landlord has owned the building for approx. 30 years and has run his small business out of it during that time as well.
Now this building is long and narrow, with only about 50ft of frontage on a public street. There is however a driveway running along and extending beyond the length of the building on one side. The building is approximately 60 years old, and it is quite obvious that it was built with access to this driveway in mind. I.E. there are two over head doors and loading docks, and 3 walk in doors facing this driveway.
The problem is, that the drive way is actually part of a neighboring property on the opposite side of my building; so my building is situated in the center of a U shaped parcel owned by another party.
Said drive way has been actively used by numerous parties in my building over the last 60 years, as well as the actual driveway owner and another neighboring entity.
Access has never been challenged, but has never been well defined either; until recently.
The neighbor that actually owns the driveway signed an easement with another neighbor that uses it considerably more than anyone else.
This grants that neighbor unrestricted use with certain provisions, but says nothing about acknowledging the right of access for my building.
Since I am interested in purchasing this building, I want to know that I have at least a certain amount of legal right to access it via the driveway in question.
In approaching the owner of the driveway, I respectfully asked for some form of written acknowledgement to my right to access in light of all the years of continued use.
He informed me that his brother, a real estate lawyer ,advised that access does not have to be granted on the grounds that my building is not landlocked by virtue of the 50ft of street frontage,therefore any access can be made through the front door.
He further stated that he doesn't have a problem with me or my landlord using the driveway, but he will not create any documentation to that effect which he termed to be "unenforceable". Whatever that meant.
When questioned as to whether my or my landlord's access could be denied for any reason at any time as he saw fit, he answered in the affirmative.
My argument for a prescriptive easement is based on two points: that the building was clearly constructed with use of the driveway for accessibility via the side loading docks and doors. And that said building has been occupied continuously for 60 years and the occupants have been using the driveway in varying degrees since that time without ever having any written permission to do so.
Would this situation qualify as a "prescriptive easement" ?
If so, how would I go about enacting such a thing ????
Thanks for in advance for advice forthccoming
I have been renting a section of a building for about 13 years out of which I have run my small business during that time.
My landlord has owned the building for approx. 30 years and has run his small business out of it during that time as well.
Now this building is long and narrow, with only about 50ft of frontage on a public street. There is however a driveway running along and extending beyond the length of the building on one side. The building is approximately 60 years old, and it is quite obvious that it was built with access to this driveway in mind. I.E. there are two over head doors and loading docks, and 3 walk in doors facing this driveway.
The problem is, that the drive way is actually part of a neighboring property on the opposite side of my building; so my building is situated in the center of a U shaped parcel owned by another party.
Said drive way has been actively used by numerous parties in my building over the last 60 years, as well as the actual driveway owner and another neighboring entity.
Access has never been challenged, but has never been well defined either; until recently.
The neighbor that actually owns the driveway signed an easement with another neighbor that uses it considerably more than anyone else.
This grants that neighbor unrestricted use with certain provisions, but says nothing about acknowledging the right of access for my building.
Since I am interested in purchasing this building, I want to know that I have at least a certain amount of legal right to access it via the driveway in question.
In approaching the owner of the driveway, I respectfully asked for some form of written acknowledgement to my right to access in light of all the years of continued use.
He informed me that his brother, a real estate lawyer ,advised that access does not have to be granted on the grounds that my building is not landlocked by virtue of the 50ft of street frontage,therefore any access can be made through the front door.
He further stated that he doesn't have a problem with me or my landlord using the driveway, but he will not create any documentation to that effect which he termed to be "unenforceable". Whatever that meant.
When questioned as to whether my or my landlord's access could be denied for any reason at any time as he saw fit, he answered in the affirmative.
My argument for a prescriptive easement is based on two points: that the building was clearly constructed with use of the driveway for accessibility via the side loading docks and doors. And that said building has been occupied continuously for 60 years and the occupants have been using the driveway in varying degrees since that time without ever having any written permission to do so.
Would this situation qualify as a "prescriptive easement" ?
If so, how would I go about enacting such a thing ????
Thanks for in advance for advice forthccoming
Use and Enforcement: Claiming Prescriptive Easements
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