Need help

[Lisa Voss]

My fiancé and I are in due diligence on a home. The properties driveway is accessed through the churches parking lot. There has never been an easement given to the property, so the church has decided to vote on whether or not to grant an easement. Is there a way we can force an easement? There is nothing to be done except just permission to get to our property. The driveway is already there it just happens to join the parking lot.

 

[Zigner]

My fiancé and I are in due diligence on a home. The properties driveway is accessed through the churches parking lot. There has never been an easement given to the property, so the church has decided to vote on whether or not to grant an easement. Is there a way we can force an easement? There is nothing to be done except just permission to get to our property. The driveway is already there it just happens to join the parking lot.

You have no interest in the property, so you have no standing to "force an easement".

 

[army judge]

The properties driveway is accessed through the churches parking lot. There has never been an easement given to the property, so the church has decided to vote on whether or not to grant an easement. Is there a way we can force an easement?

You should end deliberations regarding this property.

Yes, people do obtain easements based upon "necessity", because there is no other way for the owners (and their guests) to enter or exit the property.

However, those that seek such an easement aren't always successful.

If I encountered the issue you're facing, I'd simply look at other properties that don't pose such challenges.

As you appear to be posting from NC, this NC real estate law firm discusses an "implied easement" -AKA- "easement of necessity":

North Carolina Easement Law

Another good read by another NC Law Firm discussing your predicament:

Landlocked in NC: 4 Possible Easements Solutions

The driveway is already there it just happens to join the parking lot.

This "permission" could be ended summarily at the church's discretion.

That might happen before you go to court seeking an "impled easment" -AKA- "easement of necessity".

By the way, thank you for asking these questions forcing me to recall my law school PropLaw/Real Estate days, and Professors Dillard and Schlock.

They pounded some knowledge into my Cream of Rice filled cranium.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

You can tell the seller that you have no interest in purchasing until he/she provides access.

 

[zddoodah]

My fiancé and I are in due diligence on a home. The properties driveway is accessed through the churches parking lot. There has never been an easement given to the property, so the church has decided to vote on whether or not to grant an easement. Is there a way we can force an easement?

When you say that you "are in due diligence on [this] home," I assume it means you don't own the property. If that's correct, then you have no standing to "force" anything.

You can tell the seller that you have no interest in purchasing until he/she provides access.

I concur. Based only on the facts given, buying this home without enforceable access rights would be just plain stupid.

 

[KatDini]

Lots of property in NC where the driveway seems to go through a church's parking lot. This question has been asked before (not by the OP), but it was at least a year or so ago.

 

[flyingron]

Either that or that same property keeps falling through when the prospective buyers realize there's no guarantee of access to it.