

This is especially true because other reciprocal easement agreements have been allowed to lapse. If your neighbor doesn't need the easement, and you don't need an easement to use a sliver of your neighbor's property, it's pretty illogical for a board to disallow this if asked. The question is whether your neighbor really does need that easement to make sensible use of his or her own property, as in the example of the driveway that would be too narrow without the reciprocal easement. Then it sounds as though the same people are denying your request to drop the reciprocal easement that a neighbor has over your property. But perhaps you are referring to a governmental board, not one having power only over your development or subdivision.) In most states, modifying a "plat" requires an action of the government, not of a homeowners association.

(A question for you to consider, and to ask your local city or county government, is whether this is even a legal action on the part of your board. So you're saying that the board has allowed some owners to request that the reciprocal easements on the plat be dropped, and this has been granted. You don't say what the purpose of the reciprocal easements is, but that's a good guess. So you see, you need an easement over my property so that you can drive your car a little bit over my property, and I need an easement over your property because my vehicle would encroach on your property otherwise. For instance, you and I may have a common driveway when neither of us has enough room on our own property for a complete driveway. Perhaps most commonly in residential areas, reciprocal easements often are used to denote shared driveways. The typical homeowner's lot may have easements over it for use by utility companies accessing their pipes or lines, for example.Ī reciprocal easement is employed when two or more property owners need to share a space. In fact, the most common use of reciprocal easements is in shopping center development, but sometimes they are employed in residential settings too.Īn easement simply is a right for some person or entity to enter and use your property for a designated reason. Visitor Asks: If reciprocal easements are on the plat of a single family development and some owners don't want their easement and have the board vote to get rid of them-but keep them on mine-can they do this? They are supposed to run with the land in Colorado.Įditors Answer: Katrina, first we should tell our visitors what reciprocal easements are, since this term may not be familiar to many.
