private shared road damaged by neighbor after i fixed road 6 months ago.

silveflash

New Member
Jurisdiction
North Carolina
I live at the end of a private gravel road. The road is about 1/4 of a mile long total. There is only myself, at the very end, and 1 other person, at the very front, that uses this road. Land in between is owned by various other parties and is vacant land. I have an easement to drive the whole road and to also repair it as needed within the 20 foot right of way.

I chose to repair it early this year, spending about $9,000 on grading, ditching, gravel. I graveled the whole road from my house down to about the half way point, or about 1/8th of a mile down from my home. I also topped off some areas further down, including in front of my neighbors home and he didn't contribute whatsoever. I didn't really ask him directly but did bring it up, and what I did down there was about $1000 worth of gravel. There is NO road maint agreement in place besides the one i have for the owner of my house that was required by the bank for a loan. Nobody else besides the previous owner of the house I own now, is on that agreement. In the end I had a nice graveled road, no mud puddles etc that I was proud of as of mid jan 2023.

Fast forward to memorial day weekend of this year. Another land owner who owns land accessed via an old dirt road that branches off of the main road that i fixed, moved an RV onto his land. In so doing, he made a huge mess on that road he used and he also tracked mud onto the area there where i had graveled earlier this year. After rains, muddy water is flowing now into the area that I graveled and is causing a mess. I've asked him 3 times to fix the road and he has come up with excuse after excuse. I've given him almost 2 months now and he's ghosting me. I most recently texted him stating this last text will be my last informal communication to him unless he responds.

If i fix it myself, i would also need to fix the road he damaged that he has an easement to use, but i do not. I have to fix that road because until it is fixed, or it all grows back, it will keep getting any gravel i lay down, muddy. Also, i expect since he placed an RV there, he will be using it at times so he will tear up the ungraveled road every time and i will be back to square one. I do not know what my legal options are as far as me fixing the road he tore up that is now draining onto the graveled road below that i had paid to gravel earlier this year or what my options in going after him for damages. He lives 2 hours way in another county. His property use is for the occasional hunting/boating etc.

What are my options?

thanks.
 
What are my options?

You are free to seek a consultation or two from a couple, local real estate attorneys.

You seem to be the Little Red Hen in this particular saga.

Others don't care about SOMETHING that perturbed you to point of driving you to singlehandedly repair a dirt cowpath.

You'll probably force yourself into repairing the damage caused by others, once more once.
 
You are free to seek a consultation or two from a couple, local real estate attorneys.

You seem to be the Little Red Hen in this particular saga.

Others don't care about SOMETHING that perturbed you to point of driving you to singlehandedly repair a dirt cowpath.

You'll probably force yourself into repairing the damage caused by others, once more once.

Well that's the thing. I can easily just spend $500 on one load of the stone and cover up the mess he made. But then I am not really solving the problem for now, which is what I laid out above as the continuous flow of mud water. i will have to do that monthly until or until IF the road he tore up heals. Unless he keeps tearing it up when he comes up here. I also would like to see what options I have as far as a road maint agreement where others on this road would have to help fix it. I know that's a stretch though as nobody uses the part in question besides me and the guy mentioned above- the damager.
 
Well that's the thing. I can easily just spend $500 on one load of the stone and cover up the mess he made. But then I am not really solving the problem for now, which is what I laid out above as the continuous flow of mud water. i will have to do that monthly until or until IF the road he tore up heals. Unless he keeps tearing it up when he comes up here. I also would like to see what options I have as far as a road maint agreement where others on this road would have to help fix it. I know that's a stretch though as nobody uses the part in question besides me and the guy mentioned above- the damager.
You keep saying that he's tearing up the road you put in, but driving a vehicle (even a motorhome) on a road is normal usage. If what you put down as a "road" falls apart with normal usage, then that suggests to me that the work is substandard.
 
You keep saying that he's tearing up the road you put in, but driving a vehicle (even a motorhome) on a road is normal usage. If what you put down as a "road" falls apart with normal usage, then that suggests to me that the work is substandard.

No. He is tearing up a road that branches off the road that i fixed. I fixed the main road with tons of gravel and grading. The other road i did not touch as i don't have a ROW and at the time it was not a problem as it was overgrown with weeds/grass etc.. His moving his camper up a dirt road when it had just rained caused that road to get torn up and muddy and now it doesn't hold the water like it did before, it's a stream when it rains. The solution is to gravel the road he tore up at least, and run a ditch to divert water and to repair what he is damaging with water flow every time it rains, on the road area that I did previously gravel.
 
No. He is tearing up a road that branches off the road that i fixed. I fixed the main road with tons of gravel and grading. The other road i did not touch as i don't have a ROW and at the time it was not a problem as it was overgrown with weeds/grass etc.. His moving his camper up a dirt road when it had just rained caused that road to get torn up and muddy and now it doesn't hold the water like it did before, it's a stream when it rains. The solution is to gravel the road he tore up at least, and run a ditch to divert water and to repair what he is damaging with water flow every time it rains, on the road area that I did previously gravel.
Maybe you need to make a ditch on your easement in order to intercept the water flow before it gets to the gravel..
 
Maybe you need to make a ditch on your easement in order to intercept the water flow before it gets to the gravel..


if i did that, there would be a ditch that he would have to drive through. the thought has crossed my mind though and it would be passable, meaning not that deep just sloped away from the gravel road and maybe into a culvert under the road to the other side. The road is like a 4x4 trail there (his road) so it wouldn't be any worse than what it already is.
 
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