Easements

 

Glen Tanner, PLS

Copyright 2012- All Rights Reserved

 

Alabama Land Surveying isn't always as it seems.Land Surveyors and property owner take for granted that the Lawyers and Title Company do their job and they search for easements and right-of-way that may affect the property being bought or sold, that such information is put on the deed or brought to the Surveyors attention This may be true and it may not be. It all has to do with how far back you research for easements and right-of-ways. Do you research back one or two of the most recent deeds recorded or do you go back 10, 15 years, maybe 20 years to look for easements or right-of-ways, some maybe 50 or 60 years old.
I believe it was 1984 a man hired a Land Surveyor to survey his 30 to 35 acres and divide it into 2 parcels. In 1985 the man sold or gave his daughter and her husband one of the parcels, at closing a twenty five foot wide easement for egress and ingress was added, at the bottom of the deed, by the attorney. The easement ran along the north property line from a one acre tract of land to the paved road.
In 1992 the new owner hired the Land Surveyor that originally surveyed the property to cut out a one acre parcel in the NE corner of his property. The Surveyor having being the one that subdivided the property already had all the information necessary to do his job. The Surveyor proceeded to do what his client asked and prepared a survey and description. Property owner knowing of the easement for egress and ingress never mentioned it. It never was added to survey.
About 2000 the Property owner sold the one acre to a Home Builder. The Home builder bought the one acre without a Title Search and was given a copy of the 1992 survey. The Seller never told the Home builder about the TWENTY FIVE FOOT EASEMENT going thru the one acre. Two years later the Home builder secured a loan and built a house on the one acre. A year later the Home builder sold the house and gave the new owner a copy of the 1992 survey. The new deed was prepared with no mention of a twenty five foot easement. Around 2005 a new loan was taken out on the one acre parcel and a new survey made, still no mention of a TWENTY FIVE FOOT EASEMENT on the new deed.
In 2011, I was hired to survey the original parcel that the one acre had been surveyed out of; there was no evidence of a drive or any easement running along the north line. No evidence that it ever existed. The land that the easement is for had their drive going thru the adjacent property and not the dedicated easement, when asked about the easement and if it was vacated. His reply was; “No it wasn’t ever put in and never was vacated, and that the easement was added to the deed at the last minute when he and his wife got the property from her father.” He continued; “We never worried about it since it wasn’t used and no one ever put in a drive.”
The TWENTY FIVE FOOT EASEMENT FOR EGRESS AND INGRESS missed the house located on the one acre by two feet. There is still NO MENTION on the deed of the one acre about ANY easement for egress and ingress located along its north line.
At least three times a mortgage was taken out on this one acre and no one caught the fact that that there is a twenty five foot easement for egress and ingress.

If you need and are looking for help , hire a competent, licensed Alabama Land Surveyor who is willing to give you and your surveying needs the hands on, personal care required, call me, Glen Tanner @ Glen Tanner Land Surveying, I 've been surveying in Montgomery, Autauga, Elmore and srrounding Counties for over 30 years. Let my years of experience work for you. Call us at 334-625-8175 or fill out our Contact Form