We purchased a property inside of a flowage easement of a dam, we have flood insurance and were informed about the flood zone after we made an offer. We decided that it would be ok. After we completed the purchase and looked into building a garage on the property we were informed that the property is inside of a flowage easement and we cannot build at all or modify existing buildings. Also if our home has more then 50% damage for any reason it cannot be rebuilt and our property will be unbuildable. So basically this was never disclosed at all, the original paperwork of the easement was tucked in our closing papers and we were never shown, never signed or initialed or anything. Also this is paperwork from the 40's and none of it states any regulations on the property. After speaking with the person from the Army Corps of Engineers that run the dam and handle all this I was informed the previous owners (investors) had filed for a permit for an addition, they were declined that permit and told the property had all these restrictions on it. According to there rules i cannot grade my driveway or put up a pre built shed or dig a hole for a fence post. So the previous owners were aware of the restrictions and never told us anything about it, the realtor and previous owners were also aware we planned to build a large garage on the property and never told us otherwise. Theres obviously no way we would of bought this place knowing all this. Obviously we cannot sell it cause who would buy a place like this and we have to disclose this by law. So are we stuck with a $94,000 piece of grass that if the house is ever damaged we have worthless, unsellable land, or is there some kind of legal standing on this. Also we were told by the army corps that there is paperwork holding that easement to go along with the deed, we never recieved this paperwork either and nothing on the deed about any of this.
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