Township Utility Easement

[AvidReader]

Jurisdiction

North Carolina

Purchased an approximately 26-year-old property due to its location. Large landscaped area, mature trees that block the view of the road and privacy. These trees that are here I believe were here before the sewer lines were installed. I have a beautiful view from each room of the house. Today I received a notice from the town that they are going to cut down a large portion of the mature trees (those providing view and privacy from road) because they are sitting on a town sewer line.

When I bought the home I was not informed of the sewer easement. Nothing in the documents informs me of this. The ordinance cited says nothing about removing landscaping unless the line requires maintenance or repair. The notice says nothing about those two conditions.

I paid a premium for this property - based largely on the view. I will be calling the supervisor but I would like to know what rights I have if any.

 

[zddoodah]

When I bought the home I was not informed of the sewer easement.

Is the sewer easement a matter of public record? Prior to the purchase, did you obtain a preliminary title report and then, at the time of purchase, obtain a title policy? If so, did the title report and policy mention the easement?

Nothing in the documents informs me of this.

What documents?

Today I received a notice from the town that they are going to cut down a large portion of the mature trees ... because they are sitting on a town sewer line.

.... The ordinance cited says nothing about removing landscaping unless the line requires maintenance or repair. The notice says nothing about those two conditions.

What DOES the notice say? And are you suggesting that proactively removing a tree or trees whose roots are foreseeably likely to damage sewer lines would not be an appropriate thing to do?

I would like to know what rights I have if any.

The extent to which you have relevant rights will depend on how you answer the questions I asked.

 

[adjusterjack]

That the town sewer line runs through the property suggests that there is a utility easements.

Utility easements should be shown on the original plat of the subdivision. You can find the plat on your county assessor website or at the assessor's office.

Check it out. Then come back for more discussion.

What ifs don't butter any parsnips.

 

[welkin]

Utility easements should be shown on the original plat of the subdivision. You can find the plat on your county assessor website or at the assessor's office.

That might work if the subdivision was a planned community or if the sewer lines were installed at the time the subdivision was effectuated. But it is possible that sewers were installed after the subdivision.

The property is 26 years old when purchased and we don't know when that was. The property could be much older being that there are mature trees atop the sewer line. It is also possible that the homes built were originally serviced by subsurface disposal systems (septic systems) and then later, the local jurisdiction extended sewers to service those homes.

In any event, there is likely a recorded utility easement or a blanket easement for several or many properties akin to what power companies use when individual recorded easements can't be found. I would suspect the latter because OP is speaking about an ordinance.

The ordinance cited says nothing about removing landscaping unless the line requires maintenance or repair. The notice says nothing about those two conditions.

It was pointed out in a previous post that tree roots do damage sewer lines and removing the trees is a justifiable maintenance practice.

I doubt there is anything you can do to stop the removal of the trees. You could plant new trees away from the easement that could eventually restore your view and privacy.

 

[flyingron]

Utility easements should be shown on the original plat of the subdivision. You can find the plat on your county assessor website or at the assessor's office.
.

Certainly NOT true here in North Carolina. Easements may be shown for informational purposes, but more often than not they are not. Their granting is almost always buried in some textual description. Being on the HOA board here, I've dug down through the deed and plat book indexes for everything with regard to our subdivision, from the original purchase of the property by the developer, his subdivision paperwork, and every deed that references either or the two development companies or their principals, or the HOA/Development. Even then there is some stuff that's rather obscure. This is why title insurance companies get their money.

My personal index served us well when the phone company wanted to run fiber in the neighborhood and I could dig out the two easement docs (one for the bulk of the community made to the predecessor phone company), and another down a road shared between the community and some of the non-community adjacent properties granting access and utility easements.

What doesn't happen is that the easements show up on the deed when you buy a property. If you're lucky the title search shows it and it gets platted on your location plat (which unless you're financing isn't traditionally done here).

 

[OldSurveyor]

If the sewer line is actually in the road right of way, there will be no separate easement required for it in most cases. If the trees are adjacent to the road, this would be the first thing to check out.

As a common example, my street is 26' back of curb to back of curb. The actual right of way is 60' and contains the storm sewer, the sanitary sewer, water lines, etc., without any separate rights being required for them. Let's rule this out first.

 

[Bill Miles]

I've got an even weirder easement situation.

The city claims a 20' snow storage easement, adjacent the to the street property line, on their website.

Nothing is recorded. We used to be in the county, got force annexed, fought it and lost.

Hasn't ever been a problem though, even with front yard trees in the claimed easement, so letting sleeping dogs lie.

 

[Zigner]

I've got an even weirder easement situation.

The city claims a 20' snow storage easement, adjacent the to the street property line, on their website.

Nothing is recorded. We used to be in the county, got force annexed, fought it and lost.

Hasn't ever been a problem though, even with front yard trees in the claimed easement, so letting sleeping dogs lie.

Please start your own thread about your own matter.