hello, so I have started building a detached 18x24 building that I plan to use a shop/hobby garage. I have a 10' utility easement along the back of my property. i took out the building permit and they reminded me i have that easement so don't build in that 10' area, ground to sky, so basically overhangs count. I informed this to my concrete contractor but I noticed right away when they setup for the footings that I measured right at 11' from the property line. this means if i do a 16" overhang, that i'll be slightly in the easement on the overhang part. the building inspector came and passed the first inspection. so i am trying not to over worry about it, but curious on other peoples thoughts regarding a situation like this.
10' utility easement
- Thread starter rwgust
- Start date
I know a guy who thought his property line was a road but it turned out his property line started on the road then made a line to about 30' away from the road so when he built his shop it ended up being a foot or two over the property line. He has an easement on that road and the other property owner could never use that little tiny sliver of ground between the road and his property for anything and most likely nothing will ever be said about it UNTIL he possibly tries to sell it in the future if he ever does and a survey is done again then who knows what will happen..
SiGmA_X
Well-known member
Depending on the state and your friends attorney, adverse possession may apply and make it a non-issue (besides some $). This doesn't apply with utility easements, you can't adverse possess them. I kind of doubt the utility will ever notice with a 4" aerial overhang, but who knows.
stimpy
Well-known member
around here they will not say something till a truck/equipment comes thru and smacks your building . then you have to modify the building ..
I deal with easements all the time. You need to read the actual easement language to determine what can and cannot be done in, over or under the surface of the ground.
Almost all easements are customized for the particular purpose....so in your case it may also have language that allows for lawfull overhangs...like eves built within building code limits.
Almost all easements are public documents...and your title report will list them. You can usually go on line and find the recorded document at the County recorders office. If you really want to figure this issue out...which I strongly suggest you do...an title company should be able to get you the actual copy of the document that created and regulates the area. It may have also been granted when the sibdivision was created and is on the Certificate sheet of the Final Map....
Either way, you would be wise to respect the limitations on your use of the property...
Almost all easements are customized for the particular purpose....so in your case it may also have language that allows for lawfull overhangs...like eves built within building code limits.
Almost all easements are public documents...and your title report will list them. You can usually go on line and find the recorded document at the County recorders office. If you really want to figure this issue out...which I strongly suggest you do...an title company should be able to get you the actual copy of the document that created and regulates the area. It may have also been granted when the sibdivision was created and is on the Certificate sheet of the Final Map....
Either way, you would be wise to respect the limitations on your use of the property...
we got ten feet on sides, just in case somebody property fence line is not exactly on property line, and twenty feet on front for power line and roadway expansion, and they dont play. I got a drainage ditch at back and they wanted my shop move than ten feet from edge of ditch, but my property line is centerline of ditch
Falcon67
Well-known member
It's 3' on the back here and 5' on the sides. Back is thin thanks to 20' wide alleys that carry all the utilities - overhead power, water, sewer. However, it's the inspector - if they drop a plumb bob, you may have to make modifications. Most people are flexible, depends on the tolerance level. 4" is little or could be a lot, depending on your point of view about it.
We combined our lots but the city manager insisted I needed to stay 5' off the line. I did, including soffit but the inspector never checked.
We combined our lots but the city manager insisted I needed to stay 5' off the line. I did, including soffit but the inspector never checked.
Just because he didn't catch it doesn't mean it can't bite you in the *** later on. Before you start standing walls and framing the roof I also suggest you do your homework. If there's any question maybe go ask a uninterested third party like the utility company and get thier prospective. I gave a 315ft utility easement to the guy that bought my back property but I drafted the language. So basically I can't build any permanent structures on the first 8ft of that property line. But some cities / utilities have a real hard on for this stuff. Personally I'd lop off 4.5" of the eve so it wouldn't create an issue down the road, especially when it comes time to sell.
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Cyberbear
Well-known member
In most jurisdictions there is some flexibility regarding utility easements, an inch or two won't matter. If it ever becomes an issue, claim ignorance and good faith. Cutting off a little bit of eave is cheaper than moving a wall.
a52-830
Well-known member
when you say the forms were placed 11' from the property line, is this wall forms, or footer forms? if it is footers, the wall will be some distance (at least 6" if i recall correctly) back from the edge of the footer.
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The wall forms are up right now and they are going to pour tomorrow. On the south end of building it measures 11'6" to the edge of the wall form which is dead on, but the measurement on the front of the building tightens up a bit and measures 11". So in my mind I can envision the overhang will get within 10' just a tish (about 4 inches). Gutters are another 5 inches but not really accounting for those. This has me pretty worried and I'm not sure if I should be or if I should just let it go. I was planning to do 16" overhangs and really don't want to reduce to 12" cause I personally think they are too small and don't look as good.
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Not to sound like a nervous nelly. But having fought a battle once over something simular with the city and losing. Which cost me a few grand I'm rather conscious of following the rules or getting documentation of acceptance. So who's fault is this. Did the contractor not lay it out properly or just a simple oversight? If he screwed up I'd ask him to adjust the footings. After all it's only a little bit of additional concrete and a little labor right now. The inspector is not going to give you grief over a larger footer specially if you explain to him why they got widened.
Oops, just saw you're pouring tomorrow. Well is adjusting the eve an option. The additional width of the gutter wouldn't bother me since they come off easy enough.
Oops, just saw you're pouring tomorrow. Well is adjusting the eve an option. The additional width of the gutter wouldn't bother me since they come off easy enough.
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I'd do a 12" overhang and not worry about it too much. Could you have trouble in the future, yes possibly but it's doubtful. No utility company is going to want to get close to your bldg if they ever have to do wok back there. If the inspector wants to split hairs on a few inches, he's going to need to see both survey markers to find the exact easement distance. If one survey marker isn't present or can't be found, I doubt he's going to bring in a survey crew to check a few inches of the easement. ...I wouldn't sweat the small stuff.
I hate to place blame but I did point it out to the concrete guy. He came back and said I get 11'7", which i don't get cause when I measure I get 11'2". I called and told him then that if its better to move the footing over 10" that I would pay the cost (at that time the footings weren't poured). He said lets see if city passes and then later that day they did. I'm tempted to call that inspector tomorrow, I would really like some sort of reassurance that I'm ok. I asked the guy that is going to do the building of it, and he said that if it were a setback it would be different, but he wouldn't worry about a few inches on a utility easement. I definitely have tried to do everything that I can, not sure more I can do. In my mind, I really wish the concrete guys would have moved it over 10" but too late now. When we cut the tails on the trusses, I could opt to go them at 12" rather than 16", but that isn't what I wanted as I think 16" looks much better. I'm debating on whether I call the building inspector and ask for reassurance on the situation? Sounds like they do 3 inspections and he did pass the first one, but I don't want him showing up on the 3rd inspection and raising the matter.
bczygan
Well-known member
I would want to know in advance.
Call the utility or utilities that have the easement and also the city that administers it all.
This is a case where asking for forgiveness may bite you in the ****.
The foundation inspection isn't thinking about framing. They have no idea at this point, what your overhangs will be.
Bill
Call the utility or utilities that have the easement and also the city that administers it all.
This is a case where asking for forgiveness may bite you in the ****.
The foundation inspection isn't thinking about framing. They have no idea at this point, what your overhangs will be.
Bill
justanengineer
Well-known member
JME but inspectors usually dont research properties to find easements, boundaries, etc for a basic inspection. They look for obvious issues and measure from obvious boundaries. I doubt the inspector even knows about the right of way and unless its a town utility dept easement he may or may not care, violating an easement is a civil matter between private parties (you vs private utility) otherwise.
Have your concrete guy back that up with his money. If he told me that then my reply would be, " I'm holding back the payment till the final is passed." See what he says. If it passes you get paid, if it fails for encroachment then the modifications will come out of your payment.
That said the over hangs on one side of my building is shorter than the other and no one notices. If your overhang has to cut back to 10" could you live with that?
lg
no neat sig line
pattenp
Well-known member
If you were told the easement goes from ground to sky and to stay out of it then it's up to you to stay out of it. You can't lay blame on the concrete guy. You took out the permit so you are the responsible party. The locality could be **** about it and make you move/modify the building or require you to pay for a variance on the easement.
FJ 432
Well-known member
To add to the point mentioned. Easements are placed all the time for utility companies and they're never used.
I live in an established neighborhood where an easement of 10 feet ran along one side of my property. The neighbor next to me also had a 10 foot easement so a total of 20 feet. The easement turned out to be a utility and I had them forgive 7 of my 10 feet. It helped me when I built but I hired a locator to "paint" these lines to make sure.
I think I'm going to give the inspector a call tomorrow and discuss. I am leaning to just doing the overhangs 14" or 12" so that there is no issue but if I'm able to get the OK to do 16" I would prefer it. I went out and measured again and I get 11'3" so my best guess is I have 15" to work with but will have 1/2 OSB and siding to account for. Lots of good comments. There are utility lines but they are pretty much right on the property line, and the neighbor behind me has a 30' storm sewer easement so there is lots do easement room for the utility companies to work with. I uploaded a few photos to show the project.
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9C1
Well-known member
I see a Underground Residential Distribution (URD) transformer there and a pedestal. Did you cal to have the underground cables to those units marked before you dug? Those marks will tell you where the utilities are.
Terry
Terry
I did call and have utilities marked, they initially ran at a angle across the yard (west/east) a bit so about 2 months ago I paid to have all 3 utilities moved south about 8 feet which cost me about $2000. But the main lines run north/south along the property line. Attached is a photo to help show the string that I ran.
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Moss
Well-known member
Man, just my opinion but if it were my build I would stop talking about it and just move along if you are only going to be 4" or so on the overhang. I know some people have said they have had issues with easements long after the fact but I personally have had and seen more issues from bringing up these kinds of little things to enough people that one of them eventually finds something bigger wrong and messes the project up.
southalabama
Well-known member
It's easy to fix before concrete is poured.
I wouldn't want to live with fact it could bite me in *** later.
I wouldn't want to live with fact it could bite me in *** later.
JDMopar
Well-known member
The power company will never need anything larger than a mini excavator in there to do any work. If they ever replace the primary that runs between the transformers, they will directional bore it. They are morons for doing back lot construction anyway! The light green pedestal is cable TV. Any main cable replacement they would ever have to do would be directional bored also. I've worked for the power company for 38 years, and never worried about 2 inches of an overhang blocking an underground right of way. All the power company and CATV guys are worried about is getting to their facilities to do maintenance and repairs. As long as you don't plant bushes within 10' of the front, and 3' of the sides and back of the big green box, they will never pay your shop any attention. Nail it, and forget it!
southalabama
Well-known member
Either fix it or forget it.
Your choice.
Nothing said here gonna change it.
Your choice.
Nothing said here gonna change it.