I live in Huntersville, NC and recently bought a house that sits on .94 acres. It has an existing gas line intersecting the corner of the property. I realized that there was going to be a approx. 15 foot easement on either side of centerline of the gas line. What was not disclosed to me at the time of sale was that the original land owner who sold the land to the builder that I bought the house from, had been paid money by the gas company for an additional 20 foot easement for future pipe line work. This extra 20 feet encroaches on the space that I wanted to build a detached shop on. And, as luck would have it, the gas company informed me of a new main going in the spring of 2007.
My problem is I cannot prove at this time if the system failed, or if there was willful omission of this easement from the sale of the original landowner to the second owner, or from the second owner (and home builder) to me. In NC, the Registrar of Deeds does not maintain a copy of land surveys, and the local county Land Use and Environmental Services Agency has only a copy of the Building Permit on file, which only has a rough sketch of the intended footprint of the house on the surrounding land.
I have spoken with the seller of the house and he states that he only knew of the 30 foot (15 from centerline) on the gas line. Unless his survey is subpoenaed, I don't think I can access it.
Additionally, I had the house surveyed after the sale. Ironically, the surveyor I chose happened to be the orginal surveyor for the foundation work for the previous owner. His survey shows the gas line on the property, but in parenthesis indicates that the Right-of-Way is not known by the surveyor. I thought that that was his job - to investigate what the boundries are...?
I would have thought that the second owner would have had to research the land at least as good as I did in order to build. A call to a Call Before You Dig Hotline (like I did) would have revealed the same info that I got. It seems like a strange coincidence that the house rear setback was just up to the extra 20 foot easement and not on it.
I was going to enlist the aide of a local real estate attorney, but came across this great website, and thought I might prep myself with more information from anybody else's knowledge before I made an appointment.
Thank you

