Do you really love the property? I think a lot of water front properties have this type shared driveways. Is there a spot on their property for the broken car?

Thank you for the insight. The easement is not even a written easement, their is no record of it with the county. Basically the neighbors garage was built on the property line about 50 years ago. The garage door opens onto my potential property. I would assume that it needs to remain unobstructed, since that space would need to be clear into order for me to fit a large vehicle into my garage.

I may be closing on Monday, and I’ve inquired about this issue with my agent for weeks now. As of today the car is still there.

I'd be checking out local ordinances, myself. I know a guy who got annoyed by his neighbor permanently parking a beat up old car in front of the guy's house, even though the car was parked on the road (people do get tetchy about this sort of thing, I guess). Anyway, he checked, found the car didn't have a valid up to date registration, and had the authorities ticket the car. Didn't make for warm relations, but at least the car was moved. Another neighbor in a different town didn't like the builders who were working on the house across the street parking their pick-ups on the boulevard in front of his house. Turned out there's another ordinance prohibiting parking on public property, which the boulevard was. No tickets in this case, just a warning to get their cars off the boulevard while the inspector waited.

I'd also be talking to a real estate lawyer, because you don't want to have a situation where your neighbor acquires a right to park on your property.

It’s not an “easement” unless it is documented correctly and part of the clear title. Right now, the neighbor could claim adverse possession and own part of the property. This is a very sticky situation, and you should have your own real estate attorney representing you. Do NOT close until the murkiness of the boundary and ownership of all is crystal clear formally documented.

I was about to post that I suspect trying to back out would put you in breach, and then I got to the part where you posted -

The easement is not even a written easement, their is no record of it with the county. Basically the neighbors garage was built on the property line about 50 years ago. The garage door opens onto my potential property. I would assume that it needs to remain unobstructed, since that space would need to be clear into order for me to fit a large vehicle into my garage.

You need to stop right now and clear it up with an attorney, and not with your soon to be neighbors. I suspect they may be parking the car on their property rather than yours, as adverse possession made it theirs a long time ago. In a few sentences you established most of the CHOATE requirement: Hostile, Open, Actual, and Time... Continuous should be easy to establish through privity or might even exist in fact, and their car parked there certainly seems to indicate Exclusive but it would need further investigation to prove.

This is such a can of worms that I would not even consider purchasing property. Sounds like garages etc. were built with out permits . An easement is a legal document . If there is no document it is not an easement and the adverse possession rules likely take over in this case. In which case the neighbor likely has the right to park his car where it is. You really need to engage your real estate lawyer and follow their advice.

A lot of good advice here. Even if there is no easement filed in the chain of title (by itself or as part of a deed at some point), in some cases it's not adverse possession IF the current owners gave the neighbors permission to use their property to get to their garage. But the problem with that is, the permission is usually not documented. That's exactly what written legal easements do: formalize permission (and put conditions on it). And adverse possession only happens (I think, don't take my word for it) if the person squatting makes a formal request (i.e. in court). It's not like the county recorder is going to decide one day that the neighbors own it - it has to be brought up by someone. If they were reasonable people and you just asked them to agree to a reasonable easement w/o mentioning adverse possession, it's a non-problem. If.

Likely the garage will be grandfathered in as far as permits due to its age, and the city wouldn't make them tear it down, but if they ever wanted to get a permit to renovate or replace it, they'd probably have trouble as it is not up to code.

I would not close on this property until it's sorted out. If you feel you want it and can deal with the neighbors, insist that 1) the car be moved and 2) an easement be written and filed that specifically grants them ACCESS but does not allow them to PARK on your property. It's doable but don't kick the can down the road and think you can do it after the fact.

You certainly have grounds (IMO) to delay the closing because 1) the car is on the property and 2) there is a potential adverse possession issue which IMO makes the title unclear.

OP: I think we are all curious to hear if you closed on the property or not.

adverse possession varies by state. In texas the possession needs to be hostile, exclusive, and obvious. Parking a car on a property with the permission of the original owners wouldnt satisfy hostile or exclusive.

Prescriptive easements can come into play through regular use. This does not give ownership over the property.

One link I looked at had the following criteria (california I think)

1. Use that is actual and open

2. Use that is adverse to the owner (w/o permission)

3. Five years of continuous use

4. Must not exclude use by the owner

In your case it was not adverse and did not exclude use by the owner, so it should be able to be revoked at any time.

Here are the rules in texas https://assets.recenter.tamu.edu/documents/articles/422.pdf

In my case my neighbor was encroaching and kept a chipper on some land I bought. He threatened to sue me if I moved it. I put up a fence with fence panels that specifically blocked his gates onto my property. I also put up no trespassing signs facing into his yard.

My lawyer recommended this approach as being much cheaper than litigation.

Did you make it a contingency in the contract to have the car removed? If not, the sellers don't have to do anything. And you really have no 'legal' recourse - with regards to having the car moved - for backing out of the contract. Most people never look at property surveys after they buy their home and depending on how long the neighbors have been owners, they may have no clue that the car is actually on your property. Considering you're closing soon, I'm sure the last thing you need is people telling you 'walk away,' especially if its not an option without *you* getting sued for failure to follow through with the contract. Not to mention, I have no idea how much anxiety/stress or whatever else you've gone through with your home search, so offering a non-solution is surely making this situation more stressful for you. Depending on where you live you may be able to anonymously report the car as abandoned. Where I live this can be done online or by calling 311. All you have to do is give the address of the car and a description. I did this just last week for a car that is 'abandoned on private property.' The car is actually a safety hazard since rats and other animals can make homes in it. The city came out within 3 days and posted some sticker on the window. I'm not sure what the owner has to do to follow-up, but they won't do anything because the car doesn't even have windows. The city will tow it within 30 days if the citation isn't followed up on. Hopefully the solution for you can be this simple.

I would think the first thing would be to discuss the whole matter with the parties involved. In this case anonymously reporting it when the house is about to change hands makes it pretty obvious that it was either seller or buyer who did it, and the last thing you need is your brand new neighbors thinking it was you. Better to have a friendly discussion and see if it can be resolved out in the open first.

I agree, toxcrusadr. It seems the sellers have washed their hands of it, so hopefully the neighbors will be agreeable if a new buyer is approaching them with evidence that the car is on their property and explains why it's problematic. But if they are not agreeable, s/he has every right to have a car removed from her property, whether the neighbor agrees or not, at which point I would no longer concern myself with being 'friendly.' You can be a respectable neighbor without having to be a friendly one.

Quite so. It's business, and one can be polite and fair and firm and respectful all at the same time. It's rarely observed in the wild. :-D

I dont see why adverse possession cant work the other way - you leave your junk on my land, I get to keep it (and dispose of it). Im not a lawyer though, so what do I know!

Thank you all for the responses! The old car was removed prior to closing and we closed on the home at the end of last week.

Although I had my reservations about it, there are absolutely no other homes in the area and price range that I was looking to purchase. Property values are rising 10%+ here for the last three years.

The sellers were very nice and they even stopped by our new home to offer to help us learn how to use the sprinkler system. I asked them about the neighbor and the possible easement, and they said the neighbors are very nice, respectful, and responsive. The sellers asked the neighbors to park their old car there to make the home appear as if it were not empty during the closing process.

As far as getting a written easement, I am in the process of contacting the neighbor to get something in writing. Thanks again for all of your responses. We are very happy to finally own a home.

Well there you go! A good lesson for all of us - not to assume the worst. But when buying a house its hard to keep the fears in check. Anyway - congrats.

apc-Congratulations on your home. Having had some personal experience with a rural property in Ontario with shared driveway access, I would respectfully suggest that you have a lawyer look over any document put in writing before any signing takes place. We learned that the terminology in theses situations can be extremely important and unique to various jurisdictions. It sounds like your neighbours are very nice so you are off to a good start.

Did you read the whole thread? The OP posted the conclusion about 3 posts up from yours.

Greg, that post will either be edited to include spam or play relay with another who will post the spam in reply. Same name has done it before. Usually works with (altho could be same person or bot) David Koen.

ETA: spam removed