Hellobee Boards

@bees_knees: I'm not a lawyer or anything but I lurk in reddit legal advice and if the county cut down trees on your property they owe you the value of the tree which could be a lot of money.

I also wouldn't be giving the land/easement with out some sort of compensation.

Honestly it sounds like you need a real estate lawyer and if you can afford it off look at getting one for both issues.

Our street is part of a major two year project - part town and part state. We have been compensated for temporary easements and permanent easements. The compensation has been based on the amount of space, the physical changes to the space, the visual changes to a space, the impact of the change on how we can use the space, and the impact of the changes on the value of our property. They have a detailed calculation for each metric. The part that the town specifically needed was only 4 sq ft but they still compensated us. The state has needed way more easements and we are still in negotiations with them on some things - in our case they didn't need to have a settlement to start the project, but we have a final date to settle with them or it goes to a hearing.

@bees_knees: The state has their own metrics - they told us a bit about them, specifically how value is determined (they bring in multiple appraisers and average out the results) but they wouldn't share all the details of calculations. We were presented an initial check (that was ours to deposit no matter what) and then we had the choice to sign/settle or open negotiations. Every homeowner is handling their own, in fact we had to sign a document that said we wouldn't discuss details with any of our neighbors or use their compensation amounts to negotiate our own.

At this point we are comfortable with the money we were given, or at least we don't feel like it's worth it to fight for a bit more. We are actually dealing with some physical structures that were placed on our property that we feel hinder the use of our driveway and have created a safety issue. As well as some damage to property that was not within the easements.

@bees_knees: Of course! I hope you are able to figure out compensation or another agreement that you are comfortable with. It is so hard to have something done to land that is yours even when it is for a legitimate reason. Your town (or county or state) should be doing something to make this right for you!

@bees_knees: they probably know full well that they need to compensate you but they are just hoping you will roll over. I’dget a lawyer involved (or at least have one write a strongly worded letter) and wait for their response. Don’t feel bad about holding it up. This is their problem and you don’t have to do anything other than wait for their offer. They should have known to do this at the outset; any delays are their fault.

@bees_knees: Hah no problem. I'm really good at getting people all riled up when they are getting taken advantage of. Also, consider that this, bottom line, is for private gain of the developer of the subdivision. So if the city doesn't want to pay you for an easement, the owner of the subdivision should if they want their projects to progress. None of this is your problem, NONE. If they cut up your land without your consent and without a good faith effort to compensate you, then they all have a BIG problem. Next step is to call the owner of the subdivision and threaten legal action. Someone is paying for all of that work, likely the land owner of the subdivision. I'm sure he or she would also be very interested in getting the project moving. Without water/sewer access, his/her project is on hold also (which is again NOT your problem).