Easements

We have a resident who is claiming the right to walk through her neighbor's property because there is an easement there. My understanding is that easements are for utilities. Can anyone provide relevant information bearing on this?

It's just labeled "easement" on the maps.

There is an alley in back of homes' rear property line that can be used for ingress and egress. The neighbor, however, has a gate in her side fence and goes to and fro through the next door's back yard.

Our documents state that no one can block neighbors' access to their back doors. However, she could use the alley. I'm not sure why she prefers to walk across the neighbor's property.

The board doesn't want to get involved in a neighbor dispute, but the woman who claims the use of the easement has sent a letter to the board, and I am mulling what would be the correct response.

Stay out of it

I should have mentioned that the complaining party objects to the fact that her neighbor has put in flower beds that cross her preferred route to her gate.

Yes, our documents spell out the easements for encroaching for maintenance and construction, utilities, firemen, police, and points out that the alleyways within the easement are for ingress and egress.

You are correct Kerry. Ours say "Easements to ingress or egress to all Common Areas". I do not want to hijack this thread, this is what we experienced. Member A says, no one should allow to walk through our breezeway, unless they live in our building and should be referred to as Limited Common Elements. Member B says, I have a right to our common area and therefor, should be allowed to walk through any breezeway to get to it, limited common area or not. Member A says I disagree. Member C says check your Declaration. Member E says, does it really matter? Member F says, let have a cook out! 15 min later, the burgers are going on the grill.

Now to me, it does not matter. To others, as with the OP situation, it does. That is why my tag line / signature, says, what it says. It translates into: What some may find important, others may not.

"In property law, ingress, egress, and regress are the rights of a person (such as a lessee) to enter, leave, and return to a property, respectively".

Well, she's sent us a complaint and we have to respond in some fashion.

So is this breezeway service only the resident that is complaining (limited common) service all residents (common) or part of her purchased property?

You are 100% correct! That is the number 1 problem with HOAs today. BOD don't feel the need to address situations and Home Owners feel as if they are not being represented. How hard is to ask two Home Owners, to reply in writing, their concerns / objections over this matter. Place both reply's into their Home Owners Files, to cover your HOA. If it were me..........

"Dear Homeowner A and B, after reviewing the situation you have address to the XYZ Association Board of Directors, we have determined that this matter does not fall under the authority of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, we encourage you to seek a civil remedy with each other, to help solve your problem and keep our Association a pleasant place to reside. Furthermore, we would like to inform both parties, that Legal Action can be taken if it is determined by Local Law Enforcement, that Trespassing or any other Illegal Actions have accorded, during your dispute with each other. Again, we would encourage you to resolve this issue in a Neighborly fashion as to promote the well being of our Community. Sincerely", ..........

Total cost, 2 stamps, 2 envelopes and 20 min of your time. Not a high price to pay, for keeping the peace.

I can't imagine that it is an easement to traverse at all over another's private property. I suspect that it is either a drainage or utility easement of some sort.

Easements are licenses to use land for a SPECIFIC PURPOSE. Presumably the easement agreement is recorded in the official records of your county. Pull it up online and review it.

The OP and the HOAare third parties in this case. While it may behoove the Board to understand exactly what the easement in, they should investigate at their leisure. No good will come of the Board being the judge, jury and para-legals for these other parties. Let them do the work.

That music is against the as per the Geneva Convention

Douglas, Mark & James seem to have gotten to the heart of this matter. It does seem most likely that the easement is for a specific entity & purpose.

I don't what Joyce & Dana are talking about. If it's Dana's breezeway misplaced example, Dana's CC&Rs most likely say whether the breezeways are common area or limited common element. And it does matter which especially with respects to both simple maintenance and reserves. Can you supply to eact wording in your declaration that defines the breezeways as easements???

Our easements lie on private property in some places. So a back yard has an easement in the rear usually, sometimes on private property, and sometimes behind it on common property.

Taking the advice of some of you, I have searched our governing documents (no information on individual easements, what they're for; just that they are for utilities, fire and rescue, police, construction, and access) and looked at my own title (no mention of easements there except a general statement that they exist).

I don't know why some of you have very precise definitions and assignments of your easements, and we don't. Maybe because your communities are more recent than ours.

However, it appears that we need take no action in this, so I guess it will rest for now.

In our case, the easements are typically on the subdivision plat recorded with the county. Here is a link to a sample plat PDF available online from public records (not mine, just a random subdivision developed about the same time frame).
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0hrSD3DSu33SEVNR2w1Rk5oY3M

On the map you can see easements pointed out, the notes on page 1 include who each type of easement is granted to. Do you have a copy of the plat and/or legal descriptions of the lots as recorded with your local government?

I agree with this suggestion.

Why even go that far, Tim?
"Sorry, not our problem" without trying to propose ways to "fix" it (or make it worse) is all the board needs to do. Tell them to lock the gate and you'll have the other party pissed off at the board. Not the board's job. "Call the police" is a perfectly fine response though.

Sorry, that should have read:

a police officer who would be called about a trespassing issue with someone walking through an unlocked gate

John,

Earlier you agreed with my suggestion.
Now you agree with Dave and think my earlier suggestion is too much.

Sorry for any confusion. I believe the issue being discussed is not an issue for the BOD and the BOD should not address it in any other way than to say it is none of our business.

Even if the BOD attempts to offer "suggestions/ideas", they can be taken as "participation/favoritism" thus I say do not do so.