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May 13, 2008 2:35 PM

Overgrown easement impairs driveway access

Posted by Elizabeth Rhodes

Q: We have a 15-foot driveway/utility easement with our neighbor. Large trees and bushes in the easement portion of that neighbor's yard are interfering with our ability to use this driveway. The neighbor won't trim them. Can we trim the bushes on the easement to preserve our ability to get to our house?

A: An easement gives one party the right to use another's property for a specific reason. In your case, the easement provides you with a driveway.

As the easement holder, you can do whatever is "necessary and reasonable" to be able to continue using that easement, says Victor Merullo, an attorney and national expert on tree law based in Columbus, Ohio.

Merullo says the those words -- necessary and reasonable -- are the test the courts use. So while you can trim the shrubbery, you can't overdo it.

Use the "least-destructive method" to get the full use of your easement, he advises.

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