Neighbor Woes: What Rights Do I Have To Maintain A Private Road...

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zghorner

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I'm watching this thread closely. I have one neighbor, a retired 6th grade school teacher that is 275 yards away but we share a driveway that is 3/10 mile long with 1/10 mile of it a very steep grade. I'm at the end of the driveway. My acreage is graded to drain across and under the asphalt driveway we had installed to the edge of our property line. Her private gravel drive intersects the common gravel driveway with her entire property draining rain water to the shared road which is at the very top of the steep grade down the hill.
We have lived here for 30 years with the first two neighbors being more than happy to share expenses and work to maintain the road, add gravel so it could be crowned and drain to the ditches, etc.
When she moved in, we greeted her and talked about how difficult the road maintenance was and volunteered to maintain it if she would share in cost of gravel. She commented nobody informed her that she would have to pay for road maintenance when she bought the house.
So, 6 months and several rain storms later with the road getting in bad shape, asked if she was willing to contribute to a couple semi's of gravel. Absolutely not was the reply. So we bought them and fixed it. We again had to buy a couple semi loads a year later with no help.
The road is now a big bowl with water running down the center from her yard only and washing it down to bedrock in places after these huge rains.
We will be out thousands of dollars for gravel just on the steep portion. The lower portion of the driveway that is flat has 5' of the Arkansas river with a swift current flowing over it for a week now with at least another week expected of maximum flows at best. No telling how much road has washed out there until the water goes down.

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Damn buddy you got real problems there sheesh...
 
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Damn buddy you got real problems there sheesh...

No worse than your ongoing issues. Like you, I don't understand how someone that uses the same shared road for friends, family, mail delivery, UPS, Fedex and other delivery's don't realize they need to take part in the maintenance of the shared road.
I've learned some from this thread. Going to contact the Osage County Clerk's office as mentioned above to get the legal easement and then be prepared to act when the water goes down. One way or another.....even if it involves getting a legal lien on her property if that's possible through the courts. It may not be possible, but it bears looking into with a legal person.
Edit: Oh yeah, she also refuses to mow the right of way easement. Past owners shared in that chore as well, but after one mowing, she quit.
 

SoonerP226

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You need to talk to a lawyer to find out what your rights are, but my understanding of easements (as a homeowner) is that the land on which the road sits is no longer his to control, and is under the control of the easement holders. If your land was adjacent to a public section road, your property line is in the middle of the road, but the city or county has an easement on the 32' from the center line into "your" property, so you can't just go fence off the road if you get mad. (Well, you can, but the gov't can make you take it back down).

You also can't cause damage to the property of others through your actions; my guess is that you can't make him pay to maintain the road, but you can probably force him to fix the damage his asshattery is causing. But IANAL, and you really need legal counsel for this.
 

zghorner

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No worse than your ongoing issues. Like you, I don't understand how someone that uses the same shared road for friends, family, mail delivery, UPS, Fedex and other delivery's don't realize they need to take part in the maintenance of the shared road.
I've learned some from this thread. Going to contact the Osage County Clerk's office as mentioned above to get the legal easement and then be prepared to act when the water goes down. One way or another.....even if it involves getting a legal lien on her property if that's possible through the courts. It may not be possible, but it bears looking into with a legal person.
I was talking about all the water man that sucks. But yea we’re in the same boat dealing with entitled adults who want a nice private road to use with no contribution whatsoever. It’s frustrating I have been screaming mad at times over this whole deal.
 

dirtrider73068

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I use to drive a dump truck and hated this time of year, driving rock out to private roads to assist in repairing them after a heavy rain and having to stand listen to the head person tell stories of the one person on the road or several not wanting to help. If its a private road it takes everybody to pitch in even if nobody agrees with one person.

I know you said don't want to use a lawyer but its going to take that to get the point across, or even like was said small claims court. Also take pictures of the shiny new very expensive truck said neighbor bought after saying had no 700 bucks which is a truck payment, also pictures of where he was driving and destroying your private property, thus then after blocking him off your property buys a nice pretty green tractor but no 700 bucks to for gravel. Some judges can be ass hats them self and see right through people like this guy and when a court ordered judgement gets handed to him its either pay up now or pay later when you file a contempt of court for failure to pay judgment.

If you do move in his eyes he won, made you move away from him, make him lose take him to court or lawyer up and send a certified letter from a lawyer. If you do decide to move with that kind of neighbor right now on bad terms no telling what he can say to the buyers to think screw this I don't want to live next to this guy and take months to finally sale. If you do move find a county maintained road where you don't have to worry about it, other than your own drive.
 

MacFromOK

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Just a general question pointed at nobody, but the last time I heard, a judgement in small claims court is typically just a judgement and not binding by any legal ramifications like being arrested if the judgement isn't followed?
Then what's the point? Sheesh, a rap on the knuckles with a ruler would beat nothing. :/
 

Ethan N

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The Supreme Court has ruled that in most circumstances it is unconstitutional to incarcerate someone for failing to pay debts. And even just from a practical standpoint, debtors prisons don’t make sense. If you put someone in jail because they didn’t pay, what chance do they have of earning enough to pay at some point in the future? Nada.

However, if you win a judgement against someone, that becomes a debt owed to you and you have the same options (and more) for collecting as other creditors, e.g. wage garnishment, bank levies, asset seizure. You just have to follow the right legal processes.

More info: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tips-collecting-judgment-29479.html
 

Aries

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Just a general question pointed at nobody, but the last time I heard, a judgement in small claims court is typically just a judgement and not binding by any legal ramifications like being arrested if the judgement isn't followed?
I sued a general contractor a few months ago in small claims court, here is a little of what I've been told (some by lawyers).

You are correct, a judgment is just a judgment, and first step is to send a copy of it to the other party and request payment. I'm told that sometimes works, but I suspect most of the time it doesn't. BTW, it IS a court order, but in and of itself, you can't have them arrested for ignoring it.

If they don't respond, you can request a garnishment of their assets, if you know what those are. If you have a bank account number, you can get a court order for the bank to garnish that account, or any other accounts in their name, you'd need a court order for each bank if more than one. I assume you can get a lien on some types of property, but some property is protected.

You can request an asset hearing, they will have to be served with the date and time of the hearing and basically the judge will ask them what assets they have that you can make a claim on. If they fail to show up for the asset hearing, a warrant will be issued and if they are pulled over for some reason and checked for warrants, they will be placed under arrest and ordered to show for the asset hearing.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer either, but I've talked to a couple over the last several months.

BTW, I really feel for any of you that have to depend on neighbors as irresponsible as some of these sound.
 

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