Buying a House with an Alley Next to It That's Actually an Easement to My Property

[pendi35]

My question involves an easement in the state of: North Carolina.

I am attempting to buy a house that has a named alley next to the house which leads to a small landlocked parcel behind the property I am trying to buy. This parcel of land is owned by the city and the only way to access the parcel is by way of this alley.

Upon contacting the city I have come to find out that the "alley" is actually an easement off of the property i am trying to buy.

I have an email stating that eventhough the landlocked parcel is owned by the city there are no water or sewer lines running back to it. The city has also never maintained the alley or landlocked parcel.

My question is what are my rights in reclaiming the "alley"? Would it become part of my property if I was to buy the house? I am going to have a title search and mapping done but am wondering if I should do it before I buy the house or after?

According to the city the "alley" appears on the city maps and is referred to in two deeds from 1884 and 1893 but the descriptions of the alley do not agree in the two 1800 documents.

Thanks in advance for any advice and please let me know if I missed anything.

[yyz0]

My question is what are my rights in reclaiming the "alley"? Would it become part of my property if I was to buy the house? I am going to have a title search and mapping done but am wondering if I should do it before I buy the house or after?

There's nothing to "reclaim", either the alley is part of the house property or it's not. If it is part of the house property then who ever owns the house owns the alley. But if the alley is burdened by an easement then that is a fact that will have to be lived with by the home owner. To get rid of the easement the homeowner would need to get the city to give up the easement, but if that is the only access to the city property then that's not going to happen.

A bigger concern should be what are the city's plans for the vacant lot? Depending on the wording of the easement you could be in for a can of worms down the road. What if the city decides that lot will make a perfect place to hold their 4th of july block party, then you'll lots of traffic on the alley over which you'll have no control. Or maybe they will decide that the lot would make a perfect storage yard for highway department vehicles, which means you could have trucks coming and going at all hours of day/night. One of the properties that borders the vacant lot could buy the lot form the city and they might build a garage on it so they can store their many cars, so their cars would now be going up and down the alley. Etc, Etc, you see there could be all kinds of problems with this situation in the future over which you would have no control.

The one possibility would be for the homeowner to buy the vacant lot and combine it with the house lot into one property, then the easement could possibly be eliminated as it's all one property but not sure if you can do that.

[LandSurveyor]

It sounds as if the alley may be a dedicated public right of way. If so, the only two ways to get rid of it are by an act vacating it by the city (normally an ordinance) or by proving in court that the city has acted to abandon it. Mere non-use does not by itself usually amount to abandonment.

Unless you own the property, you probably don't have standing to pursue either of those approaches. As the previous poster has pointed out, there are serious downsides due to the alley and the neighboring city parcel.

I am going to have a title search and mapping done but am wondering if I should do it before I buy the house or after?

You, or preferably the seller, should have this done before you make any commitment. "Mapping" should consist of an actual survey. It sounds as if the location of the alley on the ground may be in question. If so, the solution is to have it sorted out by a licensed land surveyor.

[pendi35]

Thank you for the responses. I have done some more research and found out that the alley "easement" was established back in the 1800's to be an access point for a park that apparently used to be there.

I also found where the city bought the parcel of land back in 1989. The parcel of land is not that big. The only thing that you could put on it would be a 1 car garage or possibly a storage shed. The land was bought for $1100. I am going try and buy the parcel of land then I would be able to reincorporate the alley "easement" back into the property. This house is in the downtown area and I would like to build a 2 car driveway using this alley.

I think the long term benefits of this would be huge.

If you have any other advice I would love to hear it.

thanks again.

[LandSurveyor]

Sounds like a good plan but be aware that the city may be required by law to dispose of real estate by sealed public bid or other type of public sale.

Good luck!