Land Questions

[Old Vet]

If all he wants is to repair the dam then you have nothing to worry about. If however it turns in to something that will take a lot of time then you do. How far is the dam on your property? How will he get to it? how much room will he need to get to it? From what you mentioned it will take a couple of years before it will need to be repaired and then only to get it back in usable shape. Talk to him and get everything in writing when you close the deal. If everything is spelled out then you have nothing to worry about even though you may not use of all the property. Is the deal good enough to make that worthwhile? Only you can answer the question.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by switchman62

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice. Sorry for the length of the post.

We are looking at a piece of ground that is about 23 acres (approx 500 x 2000). It is rough pasture with a pond, stream, and some lighly wooded areas around 2 edges. It butts up against woods on 2 sides and a farmers field on one side, road in front.

The farmer with the field on the East side is the one selling it and he is asking a very reasonable price for this area. My biggest worry about the property is that there is a dry dam along the side between the field and pasture. Tile come off the field in 3 places and drains through some gullies into the stream running through the pasture. He states he will need an easement to do repairs if needed on the dry dam.

We have had a very wet spring and when I walked the lower areas of the property I can see corn stalks where water got the highest and it does not appear it gets high enough to cause any problems.

My questions are basically;

What kind of problems can you forsee with this type of situation?

Should I even consider it?

Thanks for any and all advice,
Dave

It sounds like a reasonable enough request to me. I would be very careful though as to the wording of said easement. Make sure it includes that the easement is for repairs of the dam only. Also I would only grant an easement of this nature to the named person, not to run with the land if he were to sell out later. A new easement could always be worked out with a new owner if need be and they proved out to be reasonable people. Usually the problems come in when land changes hands and you find yourself with an idiot for a neighbor instead of the decent old folks you bought the property from.

[switchman62]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice. Sorry for the length of the post.

We are looking at a piece of ground that is about 23 acres (approx 500 x 2000). It is rough pasture with a pond, stream, and some lighly wooded areas around 2 edges. It butts up against woods on 2 sides and a farmers field on one side, road in front.

The farmer with the field on the East side is the one selling it and he is asking a very reasonable price for this area. My biggest worry about the property is that there is a dry dam along the side between the field and pasture. Tile come off the field in 3 places and drains through some gullies into the stream running through the pasture. He states he will need an easement to do repairs if needed on the dry dam.

We have had a very wet spring and when I walked the lower areas of the property I can see corn stalks where water got the highest and it does not appear it gets high enough to cause any problems.

My questions are basically;

What kind of problems can you forsee with this type of situation?

Should I even consider it?

Thanks for any and all advice,
Dave

[rider]

i would never again give anyone an easement we did on a road that crosses our property and the guy who uses the road says he doesnt have to shut the gate becasue he has an easement and i am having a very hard time finding a lawyer who will help us do anything aabout this i guess in montana it takes an act of congress to undo an easement so right now i have to put up with the lack of use of this portion of our property so i have no use for an easement rider

[ronbre]

don't know..can you maintain the dam yourself?

[Big Dave]

Central Texas near Mexia I believe. Dam Broke. Flooded all land below it. As it was an old railroad dam built to hold water for the old locomotives. Privately owned the state will not help in the repair. It was a pretty good size body of water. Neighbors say the could hear it give way. Is you dam holding back water? Lotta dead fish and new green pasture in Texas.

[brody]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

Also I would only grant an easement of this nature to the named person, not to run with the land if he were to sell out later.

brilliant suggestion - the land we bought had a specific right of forestry granted to someone named ... we actually made sure the person was dead before we signed the deal
we on the other hand got access to the well on a tiny piece of property severed before we bought - there was no named person ... it's very useful to us though I'm sure it might alienate our neighbour as we intend to have a driveshed/washroom up near his house while our main house will be set way back .. I guess he'll have to be grateful we aren't expecting his well to serve our house too when we get to that point ...I guess he wanted the land badly enough to not think of putting a specific name in .. our luck

[The Paw]

does the stream flow from his field onto your pasture, or vice versa?

If the stream is flowing from him to you, then the dry dam is there to protect your pasture from being flooded. In that case, I don't see why he would want to maintain it, other than being a nice guy. Maybe he is obligated to try to prevent flood-related erosion downstream?

If the stream flows from you to his field, then the dry dam is there to prevent his field from getting flooded in the spring, in unusual conditions. That makes more sense, using rough pasture as a buffer to protect the field. If that's the case, then he probably wouldn't sell it without the easement. From your perspective, you want to evaluate how high the water gets if the dam comes into play. Obviously you don't want any building site to be impacted. But it sounds like the situation is kind of figured into the price.

I wouldn't worry about granting a properly worded easement, I would just want several opinions on how often it floods, and how high.

[geo in mi]

You will own the dam and the ultimate responsibility for it, why would he be interested in making any repairs, except to serve his own self-interest, and on his time schedule? Will the dam's function--holding back waters, I presume, serve your interests? If not I would counter offer by "notching" out the dam area and access to it and buy the rest. Ergo, not any dam responsibility of yours.

[Mike in Ohio]

I second what geo in mi says. Let him keep the land with the dam and adjust the price accordingly. Avoid the easement and avoid the liability.

Mike