My sibling owns a house. Recently they had a survey done, and discovered that the driveway the neighbors park in is about three feet onto her property. Apparently no one knew this, and now that the neighbors plan to sell the house, they are insisting they sign an easement agreement before the sale, and if they don't, they'll take her to court.
This house is in Seattle. My sibling is not against signing an agreement- after all, no one knew the neighbors were using part of her property when they both bought their respective houses. The driveway in question goes between the two houses, on the side where my sibling's bedrooms are. They had initially verbally agreed that the easement would allow for parking on the pad of the driveway closest to the street, and no vehicles would drive between the houses, which my sibling was willing to sign. However, the neighbor's real estate agent and their lawyer refused to agree to that scenario- they want to be able to sell the house with the full driveway, which can hold four cars. They have threatened to take my sibling to court, and say they have photos of the house with cars parked in that spot from as far back the thirties.
The neighbor's house was sold to them in 2014, and the listing says "off street parking" (this is a suburban neighborhood BTW, 5,000 sq ft lots with 1920's homes). From what I've read this prior use of at least 10 years establishes an easement in Washington state without a formal agreement in writing. In addition, the fence line between their backyards was built on this incorrect dividing line. To reiterate:my sibling is not opposed to granting an easement, though ideally they did not want cars driving and parking under their bedroom windows. My questions are:
Why would they now be threatening to take my sibling to court if the current, "prior use" (sorry, don't know the legal term) has already established there's an easement?
What is my sibling's liability in case someone is hurt on this easement?
Is my sibling entitled to ask for compensation in exchange for signing a legal easement agreement?
What other questions should we be asking?
My sibling is a single parent who works as a dispatcher. Up to this point, they have been great friends with these neighbors. The neighbors know my sibling has very little extra cash for lawyers. My sibling is heartsick and upset. They want to sign the easement agreement just to get this over with, but I am trying to make sure they are protected at the very least, and ideally financially compensated if that is a thing that happens. I'm trying to get them to talk to their insurance company and their real estate agent for advice at the very least, but some specific action items could really help. |
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