I bought my home 12 years ago. My neighbor has been sharing my driveway with prior owners in addition to me for over 30 years. We don't get along, and I revoked permission to use my portion of the driveway and erected a fence to divide the property lines. He is now suing me saying that I am in violation of a prescriptive easement. He has another way in and out but he just always preferred to use mine because it was easier for him. In my title deed it says in Schedule B "Rights of the owners of property north and adjoining in and to the concurrent use of shared driveway, as shown by survey." Do I have a leg to stand on? He is suing me to have to fence removed and enforce this easement. My neighbor has been harassing me and my 12 year old son and vandalizing our property for years. *Crying*

... Do I have a leg to stand on? He is suing me to have to fence removed and enforce this easement. ... No. Doesn't look like it. Unless you can prove that he accessed his garage by going across your property with your express permission (or permission of your predecessor in title), he is probably going to prevail.

In answer to the questions in your title, a prescriptive easement is an easement (right to use a portion of your property for a specific purpose) acquired by "prescription", which is another way of saying "adverse possession".



... My neighbor has been harassing me and my 12 year old son and vandalizing our property for years. ...
That would, perhaps be the basis of a counter-claim. Harassment and vandalism are torts for which, if proven, you could obtain legal redress.

May I ask, could I do a title search for prior title deeds and if so, what exactly do I look (and pray) for it to say?

Also, the fact that it says what it says in my title in that Schedule B, doesn't that say I acknowledge that the driveway is being shared? It was verbally expressed, does that count?

I just found my letter granting permission! Yay!

Also, the fact that it says what it says in my title in that Schedule B, doesn't that say I acknowledge that the driveway is being shared? ...

The thing is, the neighbor probably never read the title report. So it would't prove that he acknowledged anything.

Please don't use the "comment" feature for follow-up information. That's not really what it's for.


I just found my letter granting permission!! Yay!

Good. Prayer does work, doesn't it? :D

So you wrote the letter or your predecessor? Ideally, I guess, it would be a letter from your predecessor granting the neighbor a revocable "license" to use the access until told differently.

I don't think acknowledgment has anything to do with this situation. If your title contains this easement then the neighbor is entitled to use it with or without your permission. The only way I can see this easement being revoked is if the original document which granted him this easement contained conditions that he is now violating.

Your best bet is to follow through on legal action for his harassment.

Yes, I would not use the deed in evidence ( assuming the other side has not figured that out)
They may be looking at having a right to use it, from the years of use. So if you merely go to court and see if he can make his case, And if he wins you have to take the fence down, but only to the point that allows him access to the property,

If he has damaged your property, start proving that and pressing criminal charges

... If your title contains this easement then the neighbor is entitled to use it with or without your permission. ...

That would be true. I was mis-reading the opening post (which says "title deed") as "title report".

But it is not clear whether the deed, an attachment to which recites

"Rights of the owners of property north and adjoining in and to the concurrent use of shared driveway, as shown by survey."
Vests such rights in the adjoining property owners. I would argue that this language merely acknowledges that such an easement, if it exists, is an exception to the title conveyed in OP's deed.

Does the title report mention an easement, or perhaps language on the subdivision plat?

No mention of an easement on anything. When I purchased the property he hadn't been using the driveway for the 21 years required in Illinois yet. I gave him permission to use it all those years, but revoked it (because of the vandelism

No easement on title. At the time I purchased, he hadn't been using it for the 21 years required and there is no adverse or hostile use, he has always had my permission to use it in an effort to avoid a permanent easement arising...

Oh, I'm so sorry AK Lawyer and everyone, I'm new here and I don't know how or where to respond. Lol When I first bought the property, I gave him this letter because my realtor told me about the 21 year use before an easement can become into play but he had only been using it about 18 years when I moved in. I typed and gave him a letter and it says I grant him my full permission to use the driveway. (He got smart and told me he didn't need my permission) Anyway, lol, I gave him a short note. It was nothing he would sign of course, but I know he'll say he didn't get any letter. I got lost on your respond about what it says in my Schedule B. I may have asked it wrong, I was wondering, even when he denies getting or being granted permission to use, would what that says be enough to at least prove that I was aware and would that show a judge that because I was aware that I had no objections to him using it? Neither the title report nor plat mentions an easement. I just don't know how to go about proving that I gave him a letter, as I'm sure a judge won't believe the witnesses that were there with me because they are family. To grant permission, does it have to be in a letter form? I mean, if I had only told him, would that had sufficed? There has never been an easement in existence, and he has always had my granted permission to use my portion, I just know that his attorney has probably told him to deny getting a letter because I won't be able to prove it seeing that it wasn't something he signed off on at that time.

There was language in your original post -- "In my title deed it says in Schedule B "Rights of the owners of property north and adjoining in and to the concurrent use of shared driveway, as shown by survey.""

Where did that language appear? Is it in your deed or title search paperwork? If there is a survey recorded with the county clerk or county register's office that shows his right to use the property then that is an easement. Or if the survey that was prepared shows that he has the use of a shared driveway, then that surveyor took that information from a document that has been recorded. That is an easement.

... When I first bought the property, I gave him this letter because my realtor told me about the 21 year use before an easement can become into play but he had only been using it about 18 years when I moved in. I typed and gave him a letter and it says I grant him my full permission to use the driveway. (He got smart and told me he didn't need my permission) Anywho, lol, I gave him a short note. It was nothing he would sign of course, but I know he'll say he didn't get any letter.
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I just don't know how to go about proving that I gave him a letter, as I'm sure a judge won't believe the witnesses that were there with me because they are family. ...

You do remember giving him the letter, right? And you have a copy of it? Your testimony, and that of your family members that you gave him the letter would be evidence.


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would what that says be enough to at least prove that I was aware and would that show a judge that because I was aware that I had no objections to him using it? ...

No. If the letter states that you give him permission, it wouldn't establish his case in any way.


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... To grant permission, does it have to be in a letter form? I mean, if I had only told him, would that had sufficed?... I just know that his attorney has probably told him to deny getting a letter because I won't be able to prove it seeing that it wasn't something he signed off on at that time.
Yes, an oral conversation would establish that his use was permissive, if the court believes that such a conversation indeed happened. And his attorney cannot ethically allow him to testify (that he didn't get the letter) if the attorney knows he is going to lie on the witness stand. An attorney can get in serious trouble for doing something like that.