Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2015 · 57 posts · 4 votes
The survey is attached for the home. The garage is on the lot, but the back of the garage is currently in the easement.
I gotthis from my realtor today on a sfh that I put an offer on and it was accepted. should I back out of the purchase? what should I do? will appreciate any ideas.
I think you need more info to make the decision. How much of the back of the garage is in the easement? What kind of easement is it, i.e. electrical, access, gas, etc...? Do you have a contingency in the contract for a survey? If you are attached to this deal & you want to make it work, I wouldn't say run as fast as you can, but I would proceed with caution. If you are putting in all kinds of offers on anything you see & this is just another deal, walk away.
I think you need more info to make the decision. How much of the back of the garage is in the easement? What kind of easement is it, i.e. electrical, access, gas, etc...? Do you have a contingency in the contract for a survey? If you are attached to this deal & you want to make it work, I wouldn't say run as fast as you can, but I would proceed with caution. If you are putting in all kinds of offers on anything you see & this is just another deal, walk away.
You should confirm what type of easement it is and how much does it encroach into the easement. If it’s a 10 foot utility easement and encroaches one foot it’s not as serious as encroaching five feet. An utility easement is for the electric, gas and possibly cable water/sewer to maintain there equipment. If a structure is in the way they will take whatever measures are necessary to move it to get there job done. An encroachment in a drainage easement is definitely a problem. The more important question is whether a lender will have a problem with it. I’ve seen garages built two feet on the neighbors property. It’s usually a title disclosure that the buyer recognizes the issue and title company will not insure any issues relative to that situation. Talk to a local attorney as well, but as I said this is not unusual.
Here in PA, there is a new pipeline being built right through residential neighborhoods outside Philadelphia. Many homeowners never even knew there was an easement on their property. Now they have a highly volatile hazardous liquids pipeline being built right through their backyard. That "easement" definitely needs to be looked into more - not only what type of easement it is but what legal rights it grants. Here, homeowners have found their easement is allowing for "expansion" of a current pipeline. So a small 8" natural gas pipeline has been converted to a large diameter high pressure pipeline that is carrying a more volatile, explosive material which can't be detected by smell.
@Enrique Hernandez I had a similar situation-a triplex was 14 feet over an easement. Like other posters said, find out what the real issue is. In my case, it was a 138 year old discrepancy on boundaries between the original plat (devised in 1836, and the development of the house in 1896). The title company insured any issues with this easement up to purchase price.
I think you’re in a situation to do more research. It took a few weeks to determine all of this-if you’re serious, consider asking for an extension now, citing resolution of this unforeseen issue.
@Mike McCarthy its the Mariner East pipeline project being built by Sunoco/Energy Transfer. It stretches 350 miles across the state heading to Marcus Hook just outside Philly where the materials will be put on ships bound for Scotland to be made into plastic. The most affected communities are in Chester and Delaware County. There are two resources I can point you to for more information: The Middletown Coalition for Community Safety and Del-ChesCo United. Its quite horrifying once your learn what's being put through these communities simply due to a lack of pipeline siting laws in Pennsylvania. The only state in the country without them. And Sunoco has the worst safety record of all pipeline operators who report data to PHMSA.