parking pad

mkr1228

New Member
Jurisdiction
Pennsylvania
My neighbor is insisting that I need a 5 foot easement from my parking pad to her fence. She recently moved in and said my parking pad is illegal. Is this correct?
 
My neighbor is insisting that I need a 5 foot easement from my parking pad to her fence. She recently moved in and said my parking pad is illegal. Is this correct?

You start by looking at your deed.

If you don't see any reference to an easement, you should HOT FOOT it to a real estate attorney.

If you do see something about an easement in your deed, you might wish to have your property surveyed.

Once its been surveyed, you still would be best served to see a real estate attorney.

If you're right, or she's right, this will probably require you to hire a lawyer; maybe even go to court.

There is nothing anyone on the internet can say to make your neighbor honor an easement, that will probably have to come from a lawyer, most likely a judge.
 
My neighbor is insisting that I need a 5 foot easement from my parking pad to her fence. She recently moved in and said my parking pad is illegal. Is this correct?
Thanks. I was talking to a real estate attorney friend, and he said that he didn't belive a peking pad would require an easement, so I was just checking to make sure.
 
I was talking to a real estate attorney friend, and he said that he didn't belive a peking pad would require an easement, so I was just checking to make sure.

A parking pad, if it is NOT on your property, requires an easement.

A parking pad could be argued as trespass, because it allows someone to use the property of another illegally.

Turn it around, would you like it?

It also diminishes the value of the person's property who is being used as a parking lot.

Again, I would suggest you review her deed and your deed.

Better yet, a casual discussion with an attorney is not legal advice anymore than asking a question on a discussion site.

A general rule is that you can't use the property of another person without proper legal authority or absent the owner's written permission.

You might easily settle this by offering to lease the parking pad from the woman on an annual basis.
 
A parking pad, if it is NOT on your property, requires an easement.

A parking pad could be argued as trespass, because it allows someone to use the property of another illegally.

Turn it around, would you like it?

It also diminishes the value of the person's property who is being used as a parking lot.

Again, I would suggest you review her deed and your deed.

Better yet, a casual discussion with an attorney is not legal advice anymore than asking a question on a discussion site.

A general rule is that you can't use the property of another person without proper legal authority or absent the owner's written permission.

You might easily settle this by offering to lease the parking pad from the woman on an annual basis.

I guess I didn't make myself clear. The pad is on my property. When my neighbor moved in, she put up a fence between the properties. I guess I could argue that she needed an easement to put up the fence, since that is an actual structure.However, from her fence to my parking pad there is about a foot. %The parking pad is the size of one car, not a parking lot. Am I using the correct term?
 
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My neighbor is insisting that I need a 5 foot easement from my parking pad to her fence. She recently moved in and said my parking pad is illegal. Is this correct?

How could we possibly know? The answer depends on any easements of record and your unidentified locality's zoning laws.

I was talking to a real estate attorney friend, and he said that he didn't belive a peking pad would require an easement, so I was just checking to make sure.

Why would you trust anonymous strangers who may be located anywhere in the U.S. (or, for that matter, anywhere in the world) to validate what a local attorney has told you?

If you want to identify your locality, someone may be willing to look at the local zoning laws. Otherwise, you're going to need someone local to look into this.
 
How could we possibly know? The answer depends on any easements of record and your unidentified locality's zoning laws.



Why would you trust anonymous strangers who may be located anywhere in the U.S. (or, for that matter, anywhere in the world) to validate what a local attorney has told you?

If you want to identify your locality, someone may be willing to look at the local zoning laws. Otherwise, you're going to need someone local to look into this.

Wowwwwww. I am in PA. I thought I said that. I just happened on this forum by chance, and I thought I'd get input. I didn't expect to get attacked or chastised for asking a simple question. I was just putting it out there. She and I aren't even at odds, except that she mentioned that the pad was illegal. I'm not asking for legal advice. I was just wondering if she was correct, and if so, what to do if either of us decide to sell the property. We're not feuding.
 
Nobody's "chastising" you. You're just getting advice about the reality of seeking advice on the internet. If I'm not mistaken you posted this on another site where I advised to pull both the deeds from the county records.

Have you done that yet?

I also advised you to ask her to quote or cite a statutes that supports her contention?

Have you done that yet?

If you haven't yet followed my first suggestion (at least) then I tend to agree that you are spinning your wheels by posting the same questions on multiple sites.
 
Nope. Didn't post on another site. Just happened on this site, and was curious. It has not come to any legal battle. I certainly wouldn't rely on the internet for something as serious as that. I just wondered what the basic law was. i wasn't looking for legal advice. If it ever becomes an issue, I will certainly seek legal advice from an attorney. So no, I didn't do any of the things you said. I don't want to start a fight where there isn't one.
 
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I guess I didn't make myself clear. The pad is on my property. When my neighbor moved in, she put up a fence between the properties. I guess I could argue that she needed an easement to put up the fence, since that is an actual structure.However, from her fence to my parking pad there is about a foot. %The parking pad is the size of one car, not a parking lot. Am I using the correct term?

Your position has significantly strengthened.

If I were you, and cared about this, I commission a real estate survey to verify what I thought I knew.

Once I obtained the results, maybe before, I'd retain an attorney to protect my property interests.

If what you state is correct, a court will order her to tear down the fence.
 
Nope. Didn't post on another site. Just happened on this site, and was curious.

Then somebody else somewhere is having the same problem with a neighbor. Small world.

So no, I didn't do any of the things you said. I don't want to start a fight where there isn't one.

Getting copies of both deeds doesn't mean you are starting a fight. Nobody has to know you got them. You might even be able to print them out online. Best to have knowledge in advance of any potential escalation by the neighbor.
 
You might want to have a survey done and see if the fence that was built is where it belongs.

If there is nothing in your deed about staying 5 feet from the property line then ther is likely nothing to be worried about.I expect any language that is similar has to do with "structures".
 
Thanks! I hope it never comes to anything, but I'm the type of person who likes to be informed. I will certainly follow the great advice given, before any problem arises!
 
I am in PA. I thought I said that.

You did. However, Pennsylvania is a state, not a locality. Zoning laws are local, not statewide.

I was just wondering if she was correct

That was clear from your original post. That's why I responded as I did: determining whether or not your neighbor is correct is impossible to determine without reading your and your neighbor's deeds and looking at the local zoning laws.

and if so, what to do if either of us decide to sell the property.

If you decide to sell your property, hire a realtor. If you're concerned about the legality of what you're intending to do, confer with a local attorney.

When someone . . . [tells] me something is illegal, I ask them to prove it.

Yup.

JAN (to Dean): "You can't do that; it's illegal!" DEAN: "Really, Jan? What statute or case authority supports your claim?" JAN: "Huh?" DEAN: "I want to know why you think it's illegal. Can you cite a statute or case that supports your claim?" JAN: "No. Of course not. I'm not a lawyer." DEAN: "So what makes you think it's illegal?" JAN: "My cousin's hairdresser's sister's boyfriend, who is a cop, told her so." Dean now knows that Jan is passing along nonsense from an unreliable source (cops aren't legal authorities beyond what they've been trained on relating to criminal laws).

I don't want to start a fight where there isn't one.

Seems to me that your neighbor started the "fight." You may not want to continue it, but the first shot has already been fired.
 
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