# Letter of Demand re: easement
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 26, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137 "2023-10-26T17:36:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/121 "2023-10-28T05:51:57Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> You said you called someone referred to you from work and it was way too pricey.
No I didn’t. The attorney was free from the work referral. Pricey may be referring to the cost of building a road on the existing easement
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/122 "2023-10-28T06:07:32Z")
In your post #34, is says “not worth the price”, I took that to mean the lawyer wanted too much money to retain. My apologies.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/123 "2023-10-28T06:37:31Z")
If roles were reversed, would you accept $250?
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### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/124 "2023-10-28T08:37:49Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> County road runs north to south through the west one.
I dont understand…A county road does not run through someone’s property. A county road is a parcel of property of its own, which belongs to the county.
Or else I’m confused and need to see a map.Or preferably, a survey plat.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/125 "2023-10-28T08:46:38Z")
Maybe the property to the west is legally two parcels? Maybe it predates the country road, and a chunk of it was taken by eminent domain? Maybe it’s actually a private road owned by that landowner? That would explain why the next landowner was closing it.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/126 "2023-10-28T08:48:53Z")
> [@chappachula](#):
>
> I dont understand…A county road does not run through someone’s property. A county road is a parcel of property of its own, which belongs to the county.
I’m not in Colorado, but the older roads in my county are all on what amount to easements, with the underlying land still being privately owned. It was only relatively recently that the various local governments insisted on getting ownership of the land before they would take over a new road.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/127 "2023-10-28T12:06:33Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> In your post #34, is says “not worth the price”, I took that to mean the lawyer wanted too much money to retain. My apologies.
It was a joke that her free advice wasn’t even worth $0.00
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/128 "2023-10-28T12:40:20Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> County road runs north to south through the west one 90 yds from the east one. The strip we want is the north boundary of the west one between the road and the east lot.
Could you also use the southernmost bit of the next property to the north? That would increase your chances, I’d think.
Fwiw, i wouldn’t sell any property for less than a grand or two, no matter how little land, and no matter how friendly i was with the buyer. Not worth my time and effort. At a minimum, I’d need to hire a lawyer to make sure the transaction was kosher, and that would cost a couple hundred off the top.
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### Author:  [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/129 "2023-10-28T13:11:05Z")
Probably for the same reason a letter I got about raising my garage rent pissed me off. My garage landlord is my neighbor two houses down ( there’s 20 ft between my property and his) , I’ve known them for 30 years. No reason they couldn’t tell me about the increase and even ask me in person to sign the letter if they felt they needed proof. They send me a certified letter that I had to sign for - which meant I had to go to the post office to pick it up. And they wanted me to sign and return the letter. If I wasn’t afraid I’d lose the garage, I would have sent the rent by certified mail every month. I don’t care that the lawyer told them to send it registered mail - and I certainly don’t believe they asked the lawyer if there was any other way since they only lived _20 feet away._ ( which matters because I wouldn’t have gotten so mad if traveling to the post office was easier for him than giving me the letter in person)
Oh and “fair market value” isn’t something you can just decide on your own - it might not be $20K , but if the seller wants more than $250 and potential buyers want to drop the price more than $250 then fair market value is more than $250
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### Author:  [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/130 "2023-10-28T13:37:56Z")
This has been an interesting thread to follow, but the best advice is what the attorney told you – speak with a real estate attorney local to where the land is located. Your state’s bar should have a referral service as a starting point.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/131 "2023-10-28T14:38:56Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> Could you also use the southernmost bit of the next property to the north? That would increase your chances, I’d think.
No, think Four Corners.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/132 "2023-10-28T14:40:50Z")
> [@doreen](#):
>
> Probably for the same reason a letter I got about raising my garage rent pissed me off.
I get why that would piss off the owner but I don’t know why Beck thought it disrespected me. I wasn’t the one with the original idea to sent a LoD.
As for FMV, that is based on price per acre in the area. I’m not an idiot and know that ultimately it is what HE values the land but my FMV sets our initial offer and a guide for how high we go. If he says, “I’ll sell it to you for one miiiiiiiiiillion dollars.” then that’s what he values the land but it is certainly not a FMV
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/133 "2023-10-28T14:42:51Z")
> [@doreen](#):
>
> I don’t care that the lawyer told them to send it registered mail - and I certainly don’t believe they asked the lawyer if there was any other way since they only lived _20 feet away._
Maybe the lawyer sent it?
That’s really weird. When i was selling my mom’s house, i walked to the lawyer’s home to deliver paperwork, and the real estate agent drove to my home. We all made sure the papers were received. In person is an extremely reliable way of ensuring receipt.
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### Author:  [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/134 "2023-10-28T15:13:13Z")
No, I’m, sure they sent it. And I’m also sure they didn’t think to tell the lawyer that they live two doors down from us because how can I say this - they’re kind of dopey.
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### Author:  [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/135 "2023-10-28T15:13:45Z")
Keep in mind you will almost certainly need a survey to get a legal description, and you’ll have filing fees. Just there that could be a couple grand. Your zoning laws may come in to play also–some places have a minimum lot size if you want to purchase outright rather than purchase an easement.
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### Author:  [@Digger11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digger11)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/136 "2023-10-28T15:25:58Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> - **Prescriptive Easement** A Prescriptive Easement can be acquired by the adverse use of property for the requisite period of time, usually after a period of 18 years. In Colorado a prescriptive easement applies when someone has made use of access to a property continuously, without the owner’s consent, with no attempt of concealment of the use or access, for a period of 18 years. Most commonly, this is applied to thoroughfares crossing over someone’s property. The law requires that the use of an easement accessing a property must have been “open and notorious,” constant, without any co-usage of the property by the actual owner. Essentially, this means that the property owner knew or should have known it was going on throughout the 18-year period and made no protest to the “adverse” use over the property.
>
> These are the reason we contacted the attorney.
> Can we get a prescriptive easement?
> How do we make it official?
> Maybe that is done through a letter of demand but she made no attempt to explain how, instead told us to get an attorney in that county. I mean yeah, I get why we want a local attorney in that area but she didn’t even explain the basics to us.
I’m not a lawyer, but that sounds to me like you would need to build your own road/drive connecting to the county road, over the route that you want the easement to take. And then wait 18 years, and hope that nobody complains in the mean time.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/137 "2023-10-28T16:04:54Z")
It sounds from the description that their parcel is a big square (or whatever) with a tiny rectangle on the other side of the country road, and you want thst rectangle.
Is that accurate?
If so, it doesn’t seem that they could do anything with that strip, anyway, so I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want to sell it if you paid the expenses for surveying etc. But i may be misunderstanding the geography.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/138 "2023-10-28T16:09:11Z")
I’m understanding it a little differently. Try this:
The neighbor owns a parcel of land that uses [chess notation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_notation_(chess)).
A county (?) road runs from g1 to g8.
@Saint_Cad owns an adjacent chessboard (let’s call it i1-p8).
@Saint_Cad would like to purchase or have an easement _only_ on h6.
Is that about right?
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/139 "2023-10-28T17:11:21Z")
No no, I meant _I_ didn’t want to disrespect _You_ with my post.
Look, again, I do not want to disrespect you with this post, but I think you’re shit outta luck. It’s a bad deal. All the way around. You’re wife bought a _virtually_ landlocked piece of land that is gonna be hard to sell without some recourse.
Personally I’d unload it as quick as I could for whatever I could get. Fighting someone over a easement is gonna be money, you don’t seem willing to spend, no matter how you go about it. Not to mention when/if you get it you’re gonna spend a lot more building a proper drive way or road that is gonna be appropriated by the county to connect two county roads. Thereby cutting off more of your land or the neighboring lands. Yet someone will have maintain _your_ private road. I promise you, the county won’t. It will be on the private land owner to make it safe and passable. If it washes out you’ll have to replace it. If big ruts get in it you’ll have to fix and fill them.
And all the while you’re sitting at home and hoping Google map don’t reroute some driver down it and god forbid they hit the giant tree that fell and kill themselves and sue you. (This why there are gates on what seems to be county roads)
No win situation. IMHO
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-of-demand-re-easement/992137/140 "2023-10-28T17:28:13Z")
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