Right of Way - gate -

There is a Right of Way through my property to 2 hunting cabins that border my property. It's been there for 75 yrs. Can I put a gate on the road, and provide the owners a key. I want to keep sightseers/trespassers out. One cabin owner say yes, the other says no, claiming we can't block the public access.

See below. Jim

The "right" in "Right of way" is what terms are recorded against the deed. It is a private contract, made between two original parties and often "runs with the land", thus covering later parties. Go down to your county records department and get a copy of those that pertain to you. The rights should be spelled out in the document whereby the right-of-way was recorded. Typically such a contract would allow access (across your land) to "the owner" of the hunting cabin, and possibly "guests", but not the general public.

If the terms of the recorded contract are extremely unfavorable to you, you might still be able to put up an unlocked gate with a "no trespassing" sign on it. You won't interfere with any reasonable access, but many of the "lookie-loos" are too lazy to get out of their vehicle, and will turn around.

Is there a written easement? If so, the terms and conditions of the document control, unless the rights have been altered by perscription.

If no written easement exists, the terms and conditions of the "right of way" are not specifically defined unless and until such is drawn up, signed and recorded or the issues are litigated in a court of law.

In any event, as property owner, the burden of enforcing your property rights remains with you and you can loose such rights if you do not.

If, the general public has not yet acquired the right to use the road by perscription, you will need to enforce your rights to assure that it does not.

If is not possible to answer the specific gate question from the available information.

Dean

I have a right of way across my land and it has a gate and it is locked. It has two locks through each other, one is mine and the other is the other property owner behind me. This is the only way to go IMO.

Ron, first off you CAN NOT get your question answered here, especially by lay or even professional opinions. If you and those neighbors choose to litigate the issue then a court of competent jurisdiction can make a ruling and what you or I or the neighbors or anyone here thinks is of no consequence.

Does this easement serve ONLY the cabin owners you mentioned OR is to the "public in general" as the one land seems to think?????

Do you own adjoining land say behind the land served by the easement that you have an interest in protecting????????

Id guess its ONLY for cabin owners so you can indeed block access to the public in general but NOT to the cabin owners it serves. For instance if the easement provides ingress and egress for the cabin owners, THAT DOES NOT MEAN THEY CAN DEVELOP A SHOPPING CENTER BACK THERE and then you still must provide all that access, that overburdens the original or established intent.

As Co Counsel Dean well notes and its CRITICAL TO A LEGAL ANALYSIS, is this a writen easement OR one by prescription based upon uninterrupted use for a statutory period??? If theres a writing ITS LANGUAGE CONTROLS and what anyone here thinks doesnt amount to much and if litigated thats likely what a Court will rule.

If theres no writing and the easement is determiend (by a Court, no one here for Petes sake, we dont have such authority) found to serve as ingress and egress solely for the cabin owners (NOT the public), the legal issue concerns a balance of how much of a burden it is for the dominant party (cabin owners) to have to get out and use a key to open a gate versus what rights you have in protecting other property you own and the associated risks and burdens.

Id say this, if those cabin owners have used the easement with no gates over a period of time AND THEY USE IT OFTEN SUCH THAT A GATE IS BURDENSOME and conditions have NOT substantiually changed,,,,,,,,,,,,A court is likely to frown on your now wanting to alter the ease/method of access,,,,absent good reasosn to do so such as risk of damage to your property.

I enjoy these question and am glad to help if I can, when a legal question is asked everyone comes out of the woodwork with an opinion and are well intentioned and glad to help BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT there are wayyyyyyy to many unknowns here to render a competent professional opinion and even if an educated opinion could be given, A COURT HAS TO FIND THE FACTS AND RULE ON SUCH A COMPLEX ISSUE so anything offered her (lay or professional) just isnt anything you wanna hang your hat on........

Ask a local attorney familiar with real estate law and provide information to him as far as any writing etc AND HE CAN GIVE YOU A WORTHWHILE OPINION then you can choose a course of action such as litigation or build a gate etc etc or do nothing

Best wishes n God Bless yall

John T BSEE, JD Country Lawyer

Thanks, for the reply John T! Yes I know that I cannot get my questions answered here, but I do like to open discussion on issues on forums like this so that I can hear what others have done, so that I can be better prepared to discuss the issue with my lawyer if/when the need comes.
We did find a recorded ROW in court house dated 1934 that specified that the ROW was Granted to a specific individual not to the public. (actually it only lists one of the cabin owners). I would assume that the easement is by prescription, in that they have been using the road for over 50 yrs. I am not trying to block their access, but add a gate to protect my property and theirs. About 25 yrs ago there was a gate on the road, that they both used for about 10yrs, but this was removed when the road was upgraded. The Township supervisor said that the road is not a public township rd. The one cabin owner acutall wants the gate and has offerd to pay for it.
At times it is tough dealing with some of our old cranky neigbors. I'm just tryin to be fair and keep on good terms with them. Thanks for your input

In Missouri if there has not been a gate there for more then 10 years then the grandfather law come in and the only way a gate can be put there is if all party's agree. A lock at no time is legal here in Missouri either due to the fact emergy (sp) services can not get in if needed

Just a thought, but what if you were to install just a gate, no lock. Sightseers might get the idea, and the the one dissenting cabin owner might be ok with that. Explain to them it is to not only protect yourself, but them too.

Since you said hunting cabin, I am assuming it is only occupied occasionally, and sometimes by several people at a time. What about an agreement to lock the gate, and they can leave it unlocked when they come to hunt so friends can also come in, and will lock it when they leave. That also protects their cabins when untended.

I would call his bluff, you are not blocking his access, what is the key offered for. [access]
Put in the gate and then he will have to initiate the action,if any. It's not as if he is using it every day> So for,say, 10 days a year?? you have to watch for 375. [some days twice]
Free your mind.