• Obstruction to the existing road

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Sir, i live in a small village in dist Chikkaballapura of Karnataka. Sir my home is about 100 -120ft away from main road. Between my house and main road there is a house building of 50 ft length which is registered in the name of my neighbor, but sold by us only about 50 years back. In the sale deed there is a mention that there is a road but dimensions are not mentioned. After that house a piece of land is there, it is purchased by my neighbor only. Now the Problem is that till now we were using the road almost for sixty years, now he is obstructing the road saying he allow only 3 ft. We have agriculture, sericulture and animal husbandry, three feet is not sufficient. We need to have access for at least bullock cart and tractor. What we can do? 
Please advise... 
If need we will pay for the amount of land used for the road. Since both are having houses in same survey numbers, very old road, there are documents that the road is 60 years old, can I go to court or who is the local authority that can solve my problem...
Thanking you.
Asked 4 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

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21 Answers

Agaisnt the blockage of road first, take police assistance first. If police not cooperate than file civil suit in court obtain injuction and pray for easement right - right to path. 

Also submit supportive document which shows road. There is presumption of validity of document which is 30 years old. And sale deed also have proof of road.

 

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22643 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

Your grand father owned the land is no ground once sold the land. 

Right to use land was mention in sale deed ? If not than can claim relief as easement right. Right to way - simple pleading that if road will block or area will reduce, unable to travel. And road is under use from decades. 

Balance of convenience also at your side. Court may grant you relief.

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22643 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

See if it is mutually settled  that is fast and for best but in case neighbour fails to settle it you can file a suit before the court claiming easement right on the road. Since you are using same road from 69 years you have an easement right over same you can claim same through court.

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

See you have to file a suit before the court if local authority fail to take any action. 

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Since there is mentioning of the road  in the sale deed as well and you had been using the road for long your rasementary rights over the road is established. 

2. Now since the width of the road is not mentioned in the deed it would depend on nature of user of the toad.

3. So file a suit for declaration and mandatory injunction where in the court is likely to granf you the road having width more than 3 feet.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
22830 Answers
488 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

you first approach the local authority and make representation if not resolved then file writ Petition in court

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
31954 Answers
179 Consultations

4.1 on 5.0

You may have to approach court seeking easement rights for ingress and egress conveniences on the basis of documentary evidences in your side. 

If the neighbor is not willing to sell or giving you space for your approach to road you have no other option than to file a mandatory injunction suit seeking the relief of easement rights. 

Consult a local advocate and proceed as per the advice received. 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84948 Answers
2198 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

The local panchayat board or the revenue officials or police cannot interfere in this matter. 

The option before you is to approach court for relief as suggested in my previous post. 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84948 Answers
2198 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

You can claim  easmentary rights of necessity to access your land 

 

2) it should be sufficient that your vehicle can pass through 

 

3)

Section 13 of the Indian Easements Act deals with easement of necessity An easement of necessity means an easement without which the property cannot be used at all. Mere convenience is not the test of an easement of necessity. It can be claimed only when there is absolute necessity for it, i.e. when the property cannot be used at all without the easement and not merely where it is necessary for its reasonable, or more convenient enjoyment. A man cannot acquire a right of way as an easement of necessity, if he has any other means of access to his land however more inconvenient it may be than be passing over his neighbours.

3) under section 35 of easement act you can obtain permanent injunction restraining your neighbour from obstructing your right of passage . pending hearing and final disposal of suit you can claim interim reliefs .

 

 

 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94750 Answers
7540 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Act as mentioned herein above 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94750 Answers
7540 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Sir,

You are suggested to file a suit of declaration of road and permanent injunction against the neighbour who is obstructing the road. 

Ganesh Singh
Advocate, New Delhi
6757 Answers
16 Consultations

4.5 on 5.0

1. You have the easementary right by necessity as well as prescription over the land of your neighbour to access the road.

2. A suit for declaration of easementary right and permanent injunction to restrain the neighbour from blocking your access can be filed by you in the competent civil court.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. You may prefer to file a Civil Court suit, for directions to the Revenue /Municipal authorities, to construct a motorable road, by way of acquisition for the same. Get a Govt. Survey done of the entire layout plan, since this will be required in court. This may take some time but can be done.

Hemant Agarwal
Advocate, Mumbai
5612 Answers
25 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Sir,

You have a very good case. Only thing is you must approach civil court through senior civil advocate and you will definitely win the case.

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Understand Your Easement Rights on Your Property

ust because your name is on title of the new home you’ve purchased doesn’t necessarily mean that no one else has any legal right to a portion of your lot. It’s called an easement, and it can give your neighbors and other entities a right to access a certain part of your land in some circumstances.

Imagine making one last visit to a home you’ve just agreed to purchase, only to see the neighbor in the back cutting through your driveway to get access to the road. While you may initially assume the person is trespassing, he may actually have the right to cut through if an easement exists.

Before you agree to buy a home, it’s in your best interests to find out if there are easements on the property (which there most likely are), and understand all there is to know about them.

What Exactly is an Easement, Anyway?

Simply put, an easement is a legal right given to cross or use another person’s land for a specific purpose. The key here is the “specific purpose,” which needs to be defined in detail. That means that your neighbor can’t arbitrarily put his patio furniture or start a vegetable garden on your land. The easement doesn’t give a person the right to possession; instead, it only gives the right to use it for specified intentions.

Stated otherwise, when a person or entity is granted an easement, only the legal right to use the property is granted, but title to the land is still retained by the owner. Easements are more commonly granted to utility companies, such as telephone or electrical companies to run cable and power lines. But sometimes easements can be granted to neightbors who need to cross through your land in order to access the street.

Three Main Types of Easements

Just about every property has an easement. As a property owner, you have the right to know what type of easement your land is attached to, and how it will affect the enjoyment of your property.

Easement in gross. The rights of utility companies to step foot on your property, as described above, are common, and are referred to as easements in gross. This is the most common form of easements, which grant utility companies the right to enter a property at no charge to provide their services. The majority of these easements are known about and easy to detect, such as easements for telephone and cable lines, and are typically discovered through a title search. But sewer and water lines aren’t always known about and are often discovered after digging starts to put in a swimming pool, for example.

If easements are discovered this way, and were not disclosed to you when you purchased the property, any reduction in the value of your home (should that occur) may be compensated through your owner’s title insurance policy. If the easement was known to the city and properly recorded, but you weren’t informed of it when you bought the place, the title insurance provider is obligated to pay you for any loss of property value as a result of the easement.

Easement Appurtenant. This type of easement can’t be transferred when the property sells, and as such, these easements are said to “run with the land.” That means that they’re part of the land’s ownership, and can’t be transferred with the seller upon the sale of the property. Easements for driveways, sidewalks and roads and sidewalks over a neighbor’s land, for example, fall under this type of easement.

Let’s say your neighbor is granted an easement appurtenant in order for him to access the roadway from his driveway. When he sells his property, the new owner will have the same limited right to cross your land to get to the street. The current and future owners can’t use your property for any other purposes other than to access the road. This type of easement should have been communicated to you when you bought your home, so you know that your land will be used in this manner, and you won’t be unpleasantly surprised.

The majority of easements appurtenant are created by an agreement between property owners or when a subdivision is created. Sometimes landlocked parcels of land that have no access to roadways are subject to an easement appurtenant by necessity over an adjacent piece of land. In this case, it needs to be proven that at some point in the past both properties were privately owned by the same person or entity.

Prescriptive Easements. These types of easements are the ones that cause the most animosity between neighbors, since they are created without the permission of the owner who’s property is being used. The use of prescriptive easements can be shared and don’t have to be exclusive, which means property owners are often not aware when a neighbor is granted the easement.

To illustrate, let’s say your neighbor builds a fence along what is assumed to be the boundary of the property. A few years pass, and one day your neighbor serves you with a quiet title lawsuit in an effort to establish a prescriptive easement to that portion of the land. After obtaining a survey, it’s discovered that your neighbor actually constructed the fence 3 feet into your side of the property’s boundary, and is now entitled to a prescriptive easement.

After the required number of years of hostile use have passed (depending on the state), the neighbor can legally acquire a prescriptive easement. The key here is that a hostile environment has to exist; a prescriptive easement can’t arise if you give permission for your neighbor to use and take that portion of the land.

What Are Your Rights?

If the house you buy comes with an easement, you’ll have to comply. If your new property is the only access that your neighbors have to the street, you can’t legally block them from getting there. If you did, you’d be considered to be trespassing on an easement by necessity, and you can even be slapped with a lawsuit.

Do Easements Limit Your Ability to Make Improvements on Your Home?

You’ll definitely want to be in-the-know if you plan on putting an addition to your home or building deck. If you erect a patio over top of a portion of the land that a neighbor is legally allowed to cross through to gain access to the street, not only could you be forced to take it down, you could also wind up in court. That’s why it’s crucial to find out if there are any easements on a property before you decide to buy it.

Can You Fight an Easement?

You might be able to successfully challenge an easement, but only if the circumstances are right. And be prepared to take the battle to court. It could be a simple matter if the holder of the easement – such as your neighbor – agrees to terminate the easement agreement. Sometimes easements might also have an expiration date, after which it no longer exists.

But many other times it can be tough to challenge an easement, particularly when it comes to prescriptive easements. These types of easements may be able to be challenged by claims that the part of the land was abandoned. If that’s the case, you’ll probably want to speak with a real estate lawyer for advice.

When you agree to buy a home, it’s in your best interests to find out everything there is to know about it. Just as important as it is to have a home inspector on the job to uncover any physical defects, it’s just as important to find out if any current easements will compromise your enjoyment of your new home.

 

Kishan Dutt Kalaskar
Advocate, Bangalore
6136 Answers
487 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

You can go to the court for demarcation of a common public area for transport under the easements act.

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14088 Answers
65 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

You should demand it drom the village panchayat and if they don't respond then file a petition in the high court.

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14088 Answers
65 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

file a specific performance suit against the neighbor for giving you the passage. 

First send a legal notice and then file the civil suit of specific performance. 

 

Rahul Jatain
Advocate, Rohtak
5365 Answers
4 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

1. You should file suit against your neighbour for claiming the road from the land which was there as per records from last 60 years. 

2. In suit you should claim permanent injunction against your neighbour for restraining him from blocking the pathway which leads to main road.

 

Mohit Kapoor
Advocate, Rohtak
10687 Answers
7 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

your claim in pathway is through easement by prescription. pls consult local property lawyer. 

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19299 Answers
32 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

Hello,

File an easement suit from the court.

Regards

Swarupananda Neogi
Advocate, Kolkata
2964 Answers
6 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

Yes you can option to claim right of "Easement of necessity to access to your property to the extent of width of road, which will be around 12 to 14 feet to enable a tractor to ply.

You can also file suit for disturbance of easement against the said neighbour.

You can also file and Injunction suit seeking directions against the Neighbour from disturbing you.

 

S Srinivasa Prasad
Advocate, Hyderabad
2876 Answers
9 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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