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Right of Way issue due to purchase after foreclosure

We recently purchased a home on a 3acre parcel in the middle of a larger 200acre parcel which at one time was owned by a single owner. Both properties were foreclosed on by two different banks. The owner had developed and registered a plan (recorded in the registry) for a housing development on the 200acre parcel and both it and the house on 3acres reference the plat/map that is registered. The driveway and utilities supplying the house were located on, and the driveway crosses the 200acre property, that was registered for development and were clearly indicated on the survey map. Prior to purchase the bank holding the land which the driveway crossed would not “grant” right of way. Their interpretation of the deeds differed from ours, but we did our homework anyway and made sure we could put in our driveway and move utilities if need be. Within 30 days of closing we were threatened (at this time we were using the driveway in question) that if we did not sign off any right to the driveway they would block access, which they did. So we put in our own driveway to have access to the house as we were now blocked out. If the deeds of both properties show clearly the driveway was the only access to the house and there are notes on the map indicating that “if the remaining land is sold Lot One (the house on 3 acres) should retain easements and the rights to utilize existing driveways and utilities that service lot one and may fall on the remaining land” do we have any legal recourse to force the bank owning the “remaining land” to “grant” a ROW?

Editor's Response

I have been getting a lot of questions like this recently (hopelessly intricate fact patterns dealing with extremely complex areas of the law).  Your theory sounds plausible.  But, really, there is no way I or any other attorney can give you a reasonable opinion without actually looking at the documents in question.  I will say that, even if your documents do not create a viable easement or ROW, there is also the possibility that you may have an easement by necessity.  Again, you will need to ask an attorney about this.  Let's face it, given the ongoing dispute you are now dealing with, you should contact an attorney in any case.  Good luck.

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