County Wants To Use Our Private Gated Road

[Mike88]

Our subdivision is a gated community. Our deeds, CC&Rs and plat maps all indicate our road to be a "private road/access way, not a public road, street or alley". The legals further provide for a locked gate with keys to the owners of the lots in the subdivision. This was platted 50 years ago. Our road association has maintained the road as directed by the Restrictions. At some point the Assessor's office transfered the title of the road from the original platter/owner to the County, presumably when another parcel he used to own was also sold to the County, but without rights to use our road, because it's part of our gated community, and was never meant to service adjacent parcels. Meanwhile the county bought parcels next door and behind, and now is asserting a right to use the road. But we want to keep our gated community private for various reasons. Can we prevent them from using the road, given the County is listed as the legal owner now? Can we transfer title back to our Road Association? Or?

[jk]

the title cannot be transferred unless the owner deeds it to another. Is that what happened?

If not, then please explain how ownership changed. An assessor cannot change title to a property.

If ownership actually did change and there are no deed restrictions preventing the county from using the road, there isn't much you can do. They can use their property as desired as long as it is within the laws and any deed restrictions.

[Mike88]

Thanks for your informed response. I am unsure how the transfer took place. I'm checking with a title company to learn more about that, and should know next week sometime. The dedication of the subdivision reads, "Access to the lots in said subdivision shall be by easement granted to each lot owner over a private road owned by the platter, his heirs and assigns, who shall maintain the same for a period of ten years, after which the lot owners shall be responsible for the maintenance of said access road." And we have maintained it for decades without the County spending a cent. I'm only guessing at this point, that perhaps when the County bought the adjacent parcels that the platter himself also used to own, this road parcel was "assigned" to them as well. But I don't know that for sure. It's very clear however in the wording of the Restrictions, that the intended use of the private road parcel was deeded exclusively for the lots in the subdivision. I'm also checking on this, but I believe none of the other adjacent properties now owned by the county, have any wording what so ever about our private access road parcel.

[jk]

"Access to the lots in said subdivision shall be by easement granted to each lot owner over a private road owned by the platter, his heirs and assigns, who shall maintain the same for a period of ten years, after which the lot owners shall be responsible for the maintenance of said access road."

well, apparently the access road continued to be owned by the platter to sell as he wished. All you have is an easement across the property. If the platter sold or otherwise transferred ownership to the county and there is nothing in the deed restricting use of the property, the county can use the property at will.

a piece of land does not get "assigned" it must be transferred by deed or court order.

What it sounds like is this drive continued to be part of a larger parcel owned by the platter which he sold to the county. What you don;t seem to understand is the ownership was not deeded to anybody in regards to the subdivision, an easement was deeded.

Does the deed state " exclusive" in regards to the easement anywhere? If not, it sounds like you will have more traffic on the lane. Even if it does, there are more questions to be answered before claiming the county cannot use it.

head down to the county resistrar or whomever maintains the recorded deeds in your location and look up the property in question. The deeds will all be there to show chain of title.

[Mike88]

Understood.
I have made the trip to the Auditor's Office already. Interestingly, the records could not be found. They directed me to the title company nearby. The title company was able to pull them up online and on vellum files. A cursory look at the legals for the larger parcel showed no mention of the road. Period.
If there is some document we've not been able to find at this point which shows the road went with the larger plat in the sale, would those who held the easement to the private right of way, maintenance obligation, etc., i.e., the subdivision, receive notification concerning any road transfer? Would that have showed up in a title search for any properties that sold later? Or is that not considered a factor to be disclosed?

[Mike88]

Understood.
I have made the trip to the Auditor's Office already. Interestingly, the records could not be found. They directed me to the title company nearby. The title company was able to pull them up online and on vellum files. A cursory look at the legals for the larger parcel showed no mention of the road. Period.
If there is some document we've not been able to find at this point which shows the road went with the larger plat in the sale, would those who held the easement to the private right of way, maintenance obligation, etc., i.e., the subdivision, receive notification concerning any road transfer? Would that have showed up in a title search for any properties that sold later? Or is that not considered a factor to be disclosed?

[jk]

I have made the trip to the Auditor's Office already.

is this where the recorded deeds are available?

Interestingly, the records could not be found. They directed me to the title company nearby. The title company was able to pull them up online and on vellum files.

Well, can you research online? If so, it would be easier for you.

A cursory look at the legals for the larger parcel showed no mention of the road. Period.

there should be a recording of the easement that is burdening this property. It may not be in the deed itself but recorded as an attachment to the parcel. That often happens until the burdened property is actually transferred sometime in the future which it is then often included in the deed, but still not required to.

If there is some document we've not been able to find at this point which shows the road went with the larger plat in the sale,

You are looking for the deed to the actual parcel that includes the drive itself.

would those who held the easement to the private right of way, maintenance obligation, etc., i.e., the subdivision, receive notification concerning any road transfer?

Nope

Would that have showed up in a title search for any properties that sold later?

The easement should show up in a title search for any property that is a dominant tenement of the easement and it should show up on the servient tenements title as well.

[Mike88]

Thanks again for your responses, you've been quite helpful. Only plats and survey maps are availabel online here. The Assessors office is supposed to have everything on file in microfilm, but, as previously mentioned, the documents we need are "missing". Presumabely the actual hard copies are stored in a vault someplace. However the title company does have everything on thier Intranet. Out west here, and especialy back in the day, they didn't always go by the book, nor were legal documents always written properly. This week, when my friend at the title company finds and gives me the documents on the adjacent parcels now owned by the County (the servient tentant of subdivisions road parcel), I'll have more data to provide for analysis of this situation. But our plan is to transfer the title of the road parcel (Assesed Value $0 for various reasons) from the County to our Road Association.

[jk]

that is not up to you though. If the county wants to retain ownership, unless there was something illegal about the process in which they gained title, there is no requirement for them to release title to that property and based upon what you have stated, I would guess there is no desire to release title either since they apparently intend on using the easement.

come on back when you get some more info.