Asking neighbor for "easement" for horses...

[Calvincrowe]

My farmette is just 5.5 acres, with the house in the middle, leaving the barn and 2 acres behind the house and the remaining 2 acres in front–on a narrow, long property. In order to put the horses in the front, they must be led there which is a problem many days. One horse can only seem to tolerate it there for a few hours at a time, then begins pacing the gate area. By allowing him free access, I’d hopefully reduce this behavior since he could return to his barn overhang and back field.

Our neighbor to our east has 20 acres in Christmas trees, but along our shared fence line (built and maintained by us–right on the property line) there are no trees, leaving a 20 foot wide strip of grass/weeds that I frequently mow for him. I’d love to ask him if we could create a lane so the horses can have free access from the back to the front fields (gated of course). I was thinking of 8 feet wide–is that adequate for safety?? It would be roughly 60x8? feet of his land we’d need to lease. Yes, I’d lease it from him, with a written agreement that we are not possessing it, we’d build and maintain fencing and gates, and pay him yearly for the use–like $50?? I don’t know him well, as he just bought this from our old neighbor 2 years ago, and he doesn’t seem to live there full time.

Thoughts? Advice? Warnings??

[trubandloki]

$50 does not seem like it would be worth the hassle of dealing with a crazy horse person (said by a crazy horse person).

If you made his 20’ lane way only 12’ wide will his equipment still fit thru there with out a ton of hassle?

Would an easier solution just be to put a shelter in the front pasture?

[Calvincrowe]

He never uses equipment…hence my need to mow his damn weeds! lol! I’m guestimating the width of the non-treed land, I’m betting it’s wider than that as I can easily spin my tractor with bucket and brush hog around in it. I’ve thought of a shelter, but I’d sure rather have them able to come and go rather than build and maintain another shelter. And since the former 1.20+ jumper I retirement board has jumped out of my 5 foot high fenced pasture when he decides he’s had enough I’d rather allow him to return to his familiar and safe “head in my stall, butt swishing flies under the overhang on the barn” locale!

So…more $ per year maybe…and measure the distances for sure?

[danacat]

Sounds like a great idea – hope you can swing it. Question is: will neighbor EVER need to use this lane? Will he need to drive a vehicle or take any equipment back there to check on/service his trees?

If not, I would ask for the whole 20 feet. An 8 ft width is a bit too narrow, especially if you have more than two horses and/or they are running/bucking.

If he does plan on using the lane at some point, then you’ll unfortunately have to split it – he gets 12 ft. (for easy vehicle access) and you get 8 feet as you said. Sixty feet isn’t THAT long – so you could get away with an 8 ft. width. Horses will adapt/learn to negotiate it.

Also I wouldn’t ‘offer’ a lease amount. Let neighbor tell you what he wants and then you can haggle from there if need be. Really ‘nice’ neighbors might not want any payment at all – and really greedy neighbors might scoff at 50 bucks, thus creating immediate bad blood between you.

I posted this while you were giving more info. So… Given what you just said about him NEVER taking equipment back there, I wouldn’t be so sure that he’ll never want to. Best to ask him.

[soloudinhere]

I would be careful about using the term easement. That is a legal right to access land that is part of the property title and basically permanent unless stated otherwise. A funky easement like this, we’re it actually set up as an easement, could impact the value of both properties.

If you want to lease it, that’s fine, but have an exist strategy in case this guy decides he wants his land back.

I’m also a little surprised that your home is so close to the property line that you need to cut into the neighbors property to get an 8’ lane.

[pezk]

Usually town govt departments may have rules/zoning about this kind of thing. Did you talk to the town?

[Calvincrowe]

We are in the county, so no city rules and I won’t get into the fact I live in a Scenic Monument with a bazillion land use rules–and yeah, I can see the use of the term “easement” being problematic. Essentially, I just want to temporarily use his land, until he doesn’t want us to anymore. Clearly a friendly agreement rather than anything legally binding.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained though, right!?

[costco_muffins]

Around here, we call those “gentlemen’s agreements” and are often sealed with a handshake, sometimes a beer. Hopefully your rural neighbors are like ours!

[UrbanHennery]

I’d ask. What if you built it with 12’ or 14’ gates at either end so he could get equipment through if needed? That way you’d have the whole 20’ for a horse alley and he could still access the rest of his land?

[Calvincrowe]

Costco- and Urban-- yup, hoping for a handshake agreement. I’d love to use a bigger strip, and will definitely ask! Hoping to see him this weekend, as he’s been out working on the trees a bit.

[Guilherme]

I sold some acreage to our local electric utility for a substation several years ago. At closing I asked if I could use some the land that they were not going to fence to use as pasture. I said I’d maintain the fence and keep the area mowed. They said “OK” and sent me a letter saying just that. After several years there have been no problems.

So ask you neighbor if you can use the strip of land if you agree to fence and maintain it. I’d not mention money. I’d keep them in mind at Christmas for something nice. All you need is a letter. If the letter is in proper form it can be recorded with the registrar of deeds and that should take care of any questions of “adverse possession.”

It never hurts to ask.

G.

[js]

Do you have the money to offer to buy the strip of land?

[Pehsness]

Out neighbour owns the farm surrounding our wee little acreage and he so, so graciously has allowed us to fence in a bit of grass wasteland (waste to him, gold to me!) He also plows our drive in the winter so every year when I pay that bill I add an extra $100 and a note so he (hopefully) sees how grateful I am. It’s been a few years and so far so good! So I am in the just ask, can’t hurt camp

[pony_grandma]

Our neighbor generously allows us to use 2 pasture spaces (he likes seeing the horses out there) and we built gates in the fenceline. It’s been a ‘round arrangement’ we mow and maintain; fertilize, fix fence, trim trees, clear brush. It’s a country agreement. I am sure that it would not pass along if we sold our property. Good luck, can’t hurt to ask.

[BeeHoney]

I would use the term “rent” rather than easement.

I’m trying to picture what you want to do–connect two paddocks with a 60’ x 8’ lane and leave the lane open so the horses can go back and forth at will? This seems problematic to me. What’s going to happen when one horse wanders quietly down the lane and the other horse notices he’s alone and panics? What if the two of them get to running? A narrow lane is a bit of a hazard. I personally would not do a set up like this. You definitely need to go wider, but still I think it is a little problematic.

If it were me, I’d ignore the horse pacing the fence line (likely he would acclimatize and stop this behavior after a while), or I’d put a shed out front.

[crosscreeksh]

Give it a shot!! Doesn’t hurt to ask…but I’d ask for a “temporary lease” and go for at least 12’. 8’ would be a hazard IMO.

[candyappy]

@Guilherme

So ask you neighbor if you can use the strip of land if you agree to fence and maintain it. I’d not mention money. I’d keep them in mind at Christmas for something nice. All you need is a letter. If the letter is in proper form it can be recorded with the registrar of deeds and that should take care of any questions of “adverse possession.”

It never hurts to ask.

G.

I like this idea best. When money is involved things can get messy sometimes, even if the amount is small. I would also suggest fencing the " alley way" with round pen panels. It keeps the illusion of temporary and is something easily removed if needed and pretty much guarantees the horses will not get out of it. It is safer too in a small space and is something you can use again or sell if the deal changes in the future.

[Calvincrowe]

Oh I love the idea of fence panels! Temporary yet sturdy. I have an existing short alley along the back of the barn that allows access from the sacrifice area to the back pasture. It’s 9 feet wide (used existing RR tie posts from old owners design). Haven’t had any issues. Though it’s only one of three ways into that pasture. Fence walker will also jump out if ignored too long. Not good! Yes fence is 5.5 feet tall with solid metal pipe rail top. Yes he’s a former 1.30 horse. The two I have right now are happy to not see each other every second but I can see issues if one goes up and the other stays behind. With corral panels if it doesn’t work then no worries, it’s temporary.

[Ruth0552]

I’m confused on how/why you are mowing weeds on the other side of your shared fence line on his property? Is this fence line going to be part of the “lane?”

[Calvincrowe]

There are two existing gates in the 1000+ feet of fencing separating our properties. We bought our land/house from the man who owned both parcels. He built new next door and put in a tree farm. We mowed his side of the fence line for years when he’d leave town to dog show in the summer. Weed control mostly and fire protection. Kept it up with the new owner as he lives only part time at the tree farm. No objections so far-- he thanked us with a free xmas tree.