Right of Way Abuse in Michigan

[ghound45]

My question involves an easement in the state of: Michigan

I have recently graduated from college (2 years ago) and have bought my first home in Michigan. I bought a nice, big home on 2 acres that I knew was a serviant ROW property to a neighbor behind. This neighbor was the original owner of my property and deeded it 14 years ago with the easement to allow him access to his home via an existing driveway. The deed states that I maintain the driveway to my house and that the ROW will include the "existing paved driveway". I noticed that this neighbor was going to be an issue upon immediately moving in. In his mind he still owned the property and could use the property in whatever way he felt. This included: mowing my grass when he thought I had not cut it short enough, pulling plants from my landscaping (without permission) that I stated I was going to remove/replace, placing rocks and reflective markers to mark and "decorate" end of driveway, etc, etc. He has continued to tell me that the previous neighbor let him do this and let him do that, etc. I have tried (in the nicest way possible) to make him understand that I am not the previous owner, I am doing my own things and those previous arrangements no longer exist.

Now that the snow has come, the boundary problem seems to be growing (in my eyes). He has always done the plowing for the shared driveway and plowed my driveway for the previous owner. I have been keeping my separate drive clear without need for him to be in my space. I have also placed reflective markers approximately 12 inches outside of the paved driveway to assist my fiance while leaving for work pretty early in the morning. So far this winter, he has been plowing the shared driveway and has been snapping my markers in half as he runs over them with his plow. He has not been staying within the boundaries of the drive but instead 3-4 ft off the drive into the grass. I returned from a business trip last week to him plowing the snow 8-10 feet into the grass portion on either side of the drive and has now dug huge ruts into the yard that I spent many hours and many $$$ to rehabilitate and improve over the summer. When I approached him about working with me and keeping the plow within a reasonable proximity to the driveway edge, he stated that that is just part of plowing snow and that he has a 40' easement to do whatever he wants. (no size of easement noted in deed other than it was the existing driveway).

I am not trying to make waves and am not looking for any financial compensation for the damage that he is causing. I understand that it is probably not very neighborly in making a huge deal of insisting in restriction to the ROW only. I would like to be able to have a working relationship with this neighbor, but he has not made that easy. I feel that there is not a lot of respect being afforded to me as a fellow citizen and landowner. My understanding (through Google research) is that: 1. I own the land and the asphalt that the driveway is associated on and that he only has right to ingress/egress and 2. that he has no right to alter any of my land within the boundaries of my property lines other than maintaining the drive past the portion that serves my house.

Am I right in these assumptions? Do I have any rights as the serviant property owner to insist he stays on the driveway both in ingress/egress and in plowing? Any advice on how to make him "understand" that this boundary exists per the deed that HE drafted and signed 14 years ago? I have no desire to make this into a legal matter, but at the same time am afraid that that may be the only way to get his attention...are letters from attorneys demanding restriction to intended use only often effective? Thanks for your help!

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can try reasoning with your neighbor, explaining to him the boundaries of the right-of-way and that he is not to go beyond them, and see if you can work things out that way. You can try to resolve things through the police (antagonistic and probably, in the end, unsuccessfully because the police aren't going to determine boundary lines, interpret grants of right-of-way, or mediate claims of how past practice affects present rights) or through the courts (also antagonistic, likely expensive). Do you have a survey that shows the boundaries of the right-of-way?

[ghound45]

I currently do not have a formal survey for the property. All I have is the basic survey needed for the mortgage when I purchased. I have been thinking that I need to get one, but was hoping we could come to an understanding before I spent the money. I have been going by the verbage placed into the deed that the [U]existing driveway[U]is to serve as the ROW easement. The funny thing about it is that this neighbor is the one who wrote the deed and placed this language within. Without pretending to be a judge or lawyer, it seems to me that he is missing some crucial detail within the deed/ROW if he is wanting to legally use the ROW as he currently is.

My main question is:
Do I have solid backing within property law to make this an issue if need be? (based on the details I have provided) I just want to cover my bases before making a jerk of myself. Thanks for the input!!

[Mr. Knowitall]

Does your mortgage survey show the placement of the right-of-way? If so you can try using that when you discuss the right-of-way with your neighbor. If not, it doesn't seem that it would be helpful.

The right-of-way conveys whatever rights it conveys. Nothing more. You haven't indicated that your neighbor claims any rights beyond those conveyed in the right-of-way, even if he's used to taking liberties beyond its bounds. Does he make such a claim?