Installing Gates on Easements for Ingress and Egress
An easement authorizes one to use and/or enter onto real property owned by someone else. In other words, an easement grants the benefited party a non-possessory right over another person’s (the burdened party’s) property. Many people have easements that affect their title, and these easements can limit the free use of their own property by granting rights to someone else. Common easements include utility easements, parking easements, and easements for ingress and egress.
An easement for ingress and egress, in a nutshell, allows the benefited party the right to pass through the burdened party’s land. Perhaps the clearest reason to have such an easement involves properties that simply need it as a practical matter. For example, a property owner may own a piece of land completely cut off from any public roads by other properties. That owner will need an easement for ingress and egress through another’s land. Otherwise, the property owner may have absolutely no access beyond the borders of his or her own property.
Although such easements often serve a very appropriate need, some homeowners can find themselves facing significant problems with their easements for ingress and egress. Such easements are often private, with the benefit to only a particular set of grantees, and no one else. Unfortunately, some property owners find themselves in circumstances where the use of the easement they have granted has broadened beyond the initial scope contemplated by the easement.
The most common example of overuse of easements for ingress and egress is the general use by the public. Since these easements often contain private roads that act as arteries connecting to larger public roads, the general public may find use of these easements a convenience, even though only the grantees have an actual need to use these easement roads. Since many existing easements do not have any express language governing the flow of traffic through the easement area, this often leaves grantors in a precarious position where the public will overburden the easement, causing significant maintenance issues, unless the grantor takes some act to protect the property.
Many property owners have responded to such concerns by putting up gates. Washington State courts have determined that when an easement for ingress and egress says nothing about the installation of gates, the courts will consider: (1) the situation of the property, (2) the parties, and (3) the surrounding circumstances. The courts will engage in a balancing test between the grantor’s ownership rights and the grantee’s easement rights. They will determine whether the burden on the grantor’s property has gone beyond the scope of the easement grant, and if it has, then the court will permit the grantor to restrict ingress and egress using a gate if the gate does not unreasonably interfere with the grantee’s use of the easement.
Typically, the courts permit gates primarily where there has been overburdening by the public. However, courts have permitted gates even without a public use where only the other neighbors have unnecessarily burdened the easement, where there are other considerations (for example, protection of children at play), and where the imposition on the grantee is minimal. The balancing between a grantor’s right to self-protection and a grantee’s right to unrestricted use of an easement is truly considered on a case-by-case basis.
Neighbors can often run into disputes involving easements, and such disputes can become hotly contested. Beresford Booth frequently litigates and resolves easement disputes, and we stand by ready to assist should you encounter such circumstances.
To Learn More about Installing Gates on Easements for Ingress and Egress , please do not hesitate to contact us at info@beresfordlaw.com or by phone (425) 776-4100 for assistance.