Any Surveyors out there?

[KCcactus]

I'm trying to make sure I understand a survey description. The property is in Texas, if that matters. A neighbor to our weekend place is selling his place. He has 40 acres that borders us to the west. We have two common corner points. The buyer wants to remove some of the easements listed for the property. Our place was originally part of the same estate. When the easement was written, it applied to the entire survey section, along existing roads, but did not describe any of the roads. The road we use under the easement does not go through this neighbor's property, but we are listed on his title as having an easement. His realtor sent me draft paperwork for removing the easement with a legal description of the property involved. It looks like it describes the neighbor's 40 acres. But, his description starts at our northwest corner and goes south. The description in our title goes from our southwest corner, then north. The descriptions of the common line are slightly different. I want to make sure they are describing piece of property I think they are. If a surveyor would be willing to look at both descriptions, it would be greatly appreciated. I can send them by PM.

[hoodat]

A trip to your county tax assessor office might clear up things for ya. jd

[popper]

Insist on a new exact survey. Don't do sign/agree/anything til completed and you agree. Nephew went through that on same inherited/multi-owner property in Ar. What a mess. Did find that it is supposed to be in the area where the lithium mine is going to be.

[Handloader109]

Let me tell you that under NO circumstances would I agree to have an easement that you or a subsequent owner could possibly use removed.

I.e., say you needed to sell off part of your property and have that section use a current easement across the neighbor property as an access to the main road. Eliminating that easement forces you to allow a different easement if at all possible.

Think LONG AND HARD before you sign off on the removal. Btw, it cost us over $10k to defend removing a verbal easement when a real written easement existed elsewhere.

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[Handloader109]

Another example. I have a 300ft 50 width easement across prior owners property for a driveway. Shown on drawings filed, but no written description. This is from roughly 1989. Daughter deeded and acrea next to me and I wrote in easement from her property to my easement. Title company found the error at closing. The bank had to jump through hoops to get the 3 parties to sign document for easement before she could close. My title company and bank missed the omission in 2015.

But the real issue is my driveway is 75 feet off the edge of the easement . I've actually got a 100 to 150ft wide x 300ft long parcel with only a 50ft easement off to the south... could be a problem, but I doubt it... could always move the drive.

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[KCcactus]

There is no way we would ever use any part of this neighbor's 40 acres for access to our property. That's the only reason I'm considering signing. The road we use for access under our easement is on a different neighbor's property. The draft they sent me only applies to the 40 acres described in the document. There were no existing roads on that 40 acres, so we never had the right to cross it. The fence between us was old when we bought our place 24 years ago and there are no gates or openings in it.

[RickinTN]

Never give up an easement which is already there.
My best advice,
Rick

[bedbugbilly]

Not familiar with Texas, but as suggested, you need to take your survey AND the paperwork the buyer and his lawyer have provided and make an appointment to go over it with your county or township assessor.

If an easement affects you, it should not be allowed to be removed without your written agreement - the easement was required for a reason and if the assessor is on the ball, they should be familiar with the reason - in my dealings with farmland acreages and easements here in my township in MI, the assessor can even require an easement be applied and the final certified survey and description must show it.

A surveyor who is unfamiliar with your locale is not the best route to follow. You need to talk to a surveyor who is familiar with your locale - not the surveyor who surveyed the property being sold should there be a dispute and it end up in court - and to insure your rights are protected, be prepared to pay the surveyor for the review. And, if push comes to shove, you may want to consult with a experienced real estate attorney who is well versed on real estate law and what can, and what can't be done in your state.

Start with your assessor first and perhaps it can all be cleared up in short order - and they should be able to look at your description and the description for the parcel / s being sold and show you on their plat maps your parcel and their parcel and quickly determine if something is not right. All easements should also show on their plat maps.

And as already said, BO NOT sign anything until you are 100% satisfied that you are not agreeing to a change that will result in access already granted by easements or restrict you in any way should you decide to sell or use your property for a purpose that is allowed. Your assessor should also be willing to furnish you with a signed letter stating their results of their review, what the law allows and what the will allow and not allow as far as any changes to existing easements.

Good luck!

[imashooter2]

Why in the world would you consent to the removal of an easement to make a neighboring property easier to sell? If nothing else, it lowers the value and utility of your property.

[Minerat]

Never give up an easement which is already there.
My best advice,
Rick

Agree 100%. That easement was there for a reason. The new guy doesn't want to honor it in the future. You never know if you or someone else might need it in the future.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Your County Clerk and/or County Assessor should have the legal descriptions of all easements on your property and when they were put in place. That would be my first stop, find out EXACTLY what the easement is about and then why the neighbor wants it gone.

[rancher1913]

does your current access have an easement? if not (or if it does) i would not give up the other easement. easements are worth money, if you do null it ( which is a terrible idea) at least get paid for it because i can grantee somewhere down the road this is going to cost you or bite you in the ass. no good dead goes unpunished and it sounds like new buyer has plans to build on that easement, probably some monster building that will be an eye sore for you and lower your property value.

[slim1836]

So, you give up the portion of easement outside of your property. Then, after the property is sold a developer decides to use the portion of easement on your side of the fence to access his property for development purposes, or anything else. I don't think I would like that; however, your portion is still in effect so they could use it if they wanted to. They just gained property and you lost privacy. If it is just an access easement and not a utility easement, either keep it intact or make them pay to do away with it entirely. I vote to keep it original.

Slim

[Land Owner]

Retired Civil Engineer (40+years) in Florida. I have worked with legal descriptions both professionally and personally all of my adult life.

Start by entering the parcel and easement legal descriptions into a spreadsheet, turning the written bearings and distances into their mathematical equivalents and checking whether the survey "closes" without error. Assuming it does close, make a digital drawing (LibreCAD is free) with easements and boundaries on different layers. Add to the digital drawing a Google Earth aerial (clipped *.jpg) resized to properly "fit" the one-to-one aspect ratio of the digital drawing. There is no "magic" and nothing clandestine in *.jpg resizing...

From these it should be apparent and noted where the property boundaries and easement(s) lie, including improvements, structures, highways, driveways, neighbor's property, fences, gates, etc. Examine the easement that exists and the easement that is proposed to be removed.

What does the new description eliminate (a future headache maybe)? What do you get for giving up your right(s) on his property? Does he get to keep easement rights on your property?
Is there a foreseeable downside? Your neighbor may be OK and friendly today, but expectations can change on either side of a boundary.

...Our place was originally part of the same estate [80-acres in total?]. When the easement was written, it applied to the entire survey section [how large is that?], along existing roads, but did not describe any of the roads.

...his description starts at our northwest corner and goes south. The description in our title goes from our southwest corner, then north. The descriptions of the common line are slightly different...

...could be nothing.

Is their realtor proposing to write (change) your title too (at their expense) to eliminate their easement over your property that was once common ground in original survey section?

[William Yanda]

Insist on a new exact survey. Don't do sign/agree/anything til completed and you agree. Nephew went through that on same inherited/multi-owner property in Ar. What a mess. Did find that it is supposed to be in the area where the lithium mine is going to be.

I think I remember seeing this morning that a lithium mine in Nevada is now on hold.

[MrWolf]

Spend the money and speak to a local real estate attorney. Do it right the first time. Why give up something that could impact you or your heirs down the road just to appease a new buyer? I've been shafted a few times by being the nice guy. Be smart.

[gwpercle]

A legal description isn't worth beans ... tell you want to see "The Map" .
In Louisiana anytime anything is done to property , a Survey Map must be drawn , approved and legaly filed at the court house .
You can get screwed if you don't insist on seea proper survey map of what is there now and what changes they want to make ... Call in a Surveyor , Civil Engineer or lawyer before you give away something you don't mean to give away .

Do you have a legal survey map of your property now or just a legal description ?

I worked for a Civil Engineer for 47 years ... and I drew the Property Maps and all the maps for removing right-of-ways and easements and any other changes that are done to property .
Gary

[MaryB]

My property shows 2 utility easements, local farmer decided he was going to plow them under up to the poles... forcing the utility company to drive across my property where they snagged my ground wire system for a vertical antenna(ham radio...) destroying half my ground wires. Big stink ensued when utility company found the easement had been plowed under, cost them $2k to redo my ground field(cost of wire, their labor, my labor to oversee them)... Farmer now stays 5-10 feet outside the easement, utility company sued them to recover what they spent fixing my stuff, the cost of reseeding the easement to grass, loss of access for 2 years as the grass reestablished... they had to use a pickup with a ladder on it to access the poles on my property, they couldn't bring a bom truck in and have the outriggers snagging my ground wires again.

This is a ground radial field start, I have 10 130 feet long,30 65 feet long, 30 that are 33 feet long and 20 or so random length because I ran into property lines.

[waksupi]

Never surrender an easement. That takes land value away from your property.

[anothernewb]

I deal with land records daily for the last 22 years some of it in surveying, some in engineering. working for the County.

Easements - depending on state and local laws can get interesting.
There are many types but the most common ones you run into are the following:

perscriptive - which is basically a fancy term for yeah - we've been using this track to access our property for years. These are usually the result of mutual agreements or adverse posession

Implied - which is really common out here. by law (here) you cannot have a landlocked parcel, there must be some form of access. These easements are ususally very vague and work out to some form of "easement for access - over, under, through, and across" the interveining piece of land. They do not describe an exact location. so they can be subject to certain landowner conditions. For example here - there are many access easements for hunting land, which are through farmland. Logically, they are basically the edge of the farm fields. Likewise, if there's water in between you and the land you access - an implied easement gives you the right to construct a crossing of some type.

The last is Statutory. and it sounds like it is. Often, but not exclusively - controlled by a government agency - state/federal/municipal/township etc these are usually surveyed, platted or specifically described easements where a travel centerline, along with a set corridor width are specifically spelled out. This is the kind that is used to establish all road right-of-way.

While I am not familiar with texas law - assuming similar laws apply - an easement cannot be revoked or given up, without the provison of another easement to supersede it.
This also happens often in lake country as things develop. a landowner may give up an easement, in lieu of a new of an easement linked to a subdivision which creates a permanent statutory easement (ie a platted road or some other access)

One thing I have learned in the last 22 years however. Is DO NOT trust in a lawyer to any of it. DO NOT! with one caveat I will list.

lawyers with zero experience in land legal descriptions cause no end of headaches for landowners and court systems. personally - there are a number of them I would have barred from ever getting within a mile of land paperwork.

Get a surveyor that knows the land business and rules to survey the property - OR get them to review the legals you have and verify it's good Some may be willing to look at your paperwork without a survey, if you're dealing with basic cadastral splits or metes and bounds. Sucks, because they aren't cheap.

now the caveat - If you can find a lawyer that has land experience or has surveying experience - then they are a perfectly acceptable option for making sure you have what you need. but do your due diligence on that end. several will tell you they have when their only experience is recopying existing descriptions (often wrongly!) and charging you a ridiculous fee. Your local recorder/auditor - while likely not able to offer a recommendation - may be able to help you to at least avoid the problematic ones.