California Surveyors Forums

Which lot belongs to which owner?

Do you have a copy of the parcel map and deeds you could share with us, please?

What sort of decision are you looking for? What issues are being raised?

Mauro,

Unless I'm lost (which does happen on occasion), it looks like taxlot 29 borders taxlot 34, instead of 32.

sound like a lawyer question. Once you have located and identified, client needs to seek legeal advice.

I know we want to solve and know but, ....

Who better to help the owners solve the problem than the experts in boundary solving?

The quick look I took at the situation suggests that the problem is only going to be solved by the application of money. Absent a clearly documented right to use the existing road -- and maybe not even then -- the most cost-effective solution may be for the owners of APN 39 to build a new road on their side of the line.

The satellite imagery suggests that they can serve the house and outbuildings with a new driveway less than 300' long, and the rest of the parcel is already served by farm roads from the yard. You can build an awful lot of driveway for the cost of a lawsuit, even if you win it.

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You can build an awful lot of driveway for the cost of a lawsuit, even if you win it.

Yep. I just read where a major company settled a sex discrimination lawsuit out of court for ~$3million. Why settle and pay $3million, well about 15 years ago Sears fought the same type of suit, Sears won but it languished in the courts so long it cost Sear's ~$20million to be found not guilty.

In these types of suits you have to prove you're innocent.


When my son was house shopping we checked out a house that was a teardown. While we were there during a open house the neighbor comes over, turns out he was a superintendent for a company I sub'd to, and informed the RE agent that if any buyer wanted to touch the block wall on his common PL or the BL of this property they would have to reimburse him and the rear neighbor 50% of the cost of the wall. The buyers did a full teardown and built a small mansion and put a vine fence around the property about 1ft off the wall. I asked him where the front property corner was and he shrugged. I told him that he's lucky I'm not buying it as with that attitude if any of the wall encroached guess who would be moving a wall.

I believe a prescriptive easement declaration is a judge's decision so obtaining a "prescriptive" easement may take court action. Now with the evidence that a prescriptive right has possibly been obtained, maybe both parties would agree to a mediation, which would avoid court time.

I agree with Mark. I don't believe this is even the hostile owner's property, unless he owns 018-221-034 & 018-221-035. Nevertheless, I have attached sections of a seminar that I attended regarding easements.

The portions refer to prescriptive easements. How one's use can ripen into a precriptive easement and how to prevent someone from acquiring a prescriptive easement.

There are foot notes to the specific court cases associated with this information. Sorry I do not have copies of the actual rulings.

What does the original easement doc say? Bk 27, Pg 109 recorded 02-20-1888 per PM No. 1-47

The owner of the non-exclusive easement has placed a pipe fence along their West property line which is my client's East property line and blocked off the existing driveway to the residence.

From Black's Law Dictionary, 8th Edition:

dominant tenant: The person who holds a dominant estate and therefore benefits from an easement.

servient tenant: The person who a holds a servient estate and is therefore burdened by an easement.

It's not clear to me what type of tenant the hostile adjoiner is.

I had a client call me. He has a commercial building that has street parking on the east but the warehouse access is down a alley along the back (west) line. by easement not public. half of the esmt is on the westerly props and half on the easterly props. All the westerly props, residential, have improvements on the esmt. The sly end has been completely blocked off with planters etc on both halves.

On the deed access to the north, 1/2 of the esmt has been blocked off by a garage from the west so for years he has simply driven around the garage. The commercial props to the north of him have paved parking in back.

Now both nly props are under one ownership and that owner is blocking his access with vehicles.
His lawyer told him to find a surveyor to write a easement covering the area he has been using for access, mostly outside and east of the existing n-s esmt and record it.

I said that a surveyor cannot do that. And that the issue is the garage should be moved and with a legal easement the owner cannot block him in the area of the existing easement.
I have not heard back from him.