My family is looking into trying to terminate (or amend) an easement with our next door neighbor. The easement has been in place for over 20 years and was established by the previous owners of our property when they sold some of our land (which includes a barn) that used to be part of our property to our current next door neighbor. We share a “common driveway” that is technically on our property and our neighbor uses to access his barn on his property. In exchange for our neighbor using our driveway we are able to park vehicles/equipment on his property in front of the barn.
The language in the easement says our neighbor has the right to “periodic” and “occasional” use of our driveway to access his barn. When we first moved in 10 years ago he told us he really only needs to access the barn “once or twice in the spring and fall” but over the last few years the frequency of use has gone up exponentially. We estimate at least 20 times a calendar year. He has even started to allow other neighbors/friends to borrow equipment out of his barn and use our driveway. The language of the easement clearly states “The [neighbors last name] has access to the driveway” and does not state that he can grant access of our driveway to anyone else.
Our concerns include the nuisance of constantly having to move vehicles/equipment for him to access his barn. The other, and biggest, concern is the insurance liability of having people who are not included in the easement accessing the driveway. We have animals outside that could bite and/or be hit by others using our driveway.
The easement also states that any disputes would be settled with an arbitrator.
Our 2 big questions are:
- Would an arbitrator be likely to side with us in setting an exact limit to these “periodic” uses? Are we able to amend an easement?
- We are fine with moving our equipment and no longer parking on his property. Would an arbitrator side with us in terminating the easement due to abuse of use of the easement?
