I'm tired of my neighbor being a dick

[Sapphire Silk]

My friend bought a house with what looked like a really long drive that turns into a smaller parking area. The Realtor forgot to tell her that the long part of the driveway is technically owned by her next door neighbor, and she needs to get special permission from his to drive up and down it.

My friend's neighbour is not so nice. He REFUSES to give her access to the road. So she apparently has to have a new driveway put in so she can get to her house. Otherwise she has to park on the street and walk across her front lawn quite a distance.

Her other neighbour says the guy's father used to let people use the road, but when he passed the son stopped allowing access. That's why the previous owner moved.

Though I have heard of a lot of cases where one neighbor not allowing the other road access.

Check your local laws: if the neighbor's dad permitted access then your friend may actually have an easement that allows her and anyone who owns her property unfettered access to the driveway. That may be why the son is clamping down; he doesn't want to grant an easement which essentially means he loses control over property he's paying taxes on.

People have been killed over issues like this. They can get very heated. There was a case in California where one property owner killed his neighbor and the neighbor's wife over a corner of property the neighbor needed to access his own driveway . . . the one guy had put a rock on the property to keep the neighbor from accessing his drive, then pulled out a gun when the neighbor tried taking a sledgehammer to the rock to clear it out of the way.

Easement are supposed to be disclosed when properties are sold. You should always look at the survey of the property . . . pay for a new one when you buy a house to be sure you know of these kinds of issues before you sign the dotted line.