In a July 7, 2017 decision, the Massachusetts Land Court addressed a real estate dispute between condominium owners over their respective rights to access certain areas of the property. The parties were unit owners in a two-unit, residential condo. The plaintiffs in the case sought to prevent the defendants from installing…
Typically, a person who claims a right to use a certain portion of property owned by the title holder will typically file an action to acquire legal recognition of that right. The Massachusetts Land Court decided a case on May 1, 2017 involving the plaintiff’s claim of a prescriptive easement…
The Massachusetts Land Court issued a decision on April 19, 2017 settling a long-running real estate dispute involving the plaintiffs’ claim to a 1.7-mile stretch of beach on the south shore of Martha’s Vineyard. The court had previously determined that the plaintiffs did not have a title interest in the beach as…
In some situations, a well-traveled path through another’s personal property may give rise to an easement over time. In a case decided on March 7, 2017, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts reviewed whether the plaintiffs were entitled to use a path located on the defendants’ property in order to access…
It is not unusual for legal disagreements to arise out of an easement or the permissible use of one’s property by non-owners. Recently, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts issued a January 30, 2017 decision in which it determined the rights of neighboring landowners over three disputed right of ways. The…
In a recent case before the Massachusetts Land Court, a real estate developer filed an action against the adjacent property owners and neighborhood association, claiming an easement for vehicular passage over their lots. In Bucks Hill Realty, LLC v. Gill (Mass. Land Ct. Jan. 11, 2017), the developer-plaintiff sought a…
Certain rights in property may be granted to non-owners, including the right to use another party’s property for a particular purpose, which is referred to as an easement. Disputes regarding the scope of the easement may arise if that use changes or becomes overloaded, as in the case of Kent…
In specific circumstances, the law will recognize a non-owner’s rights in another party’s land, which may arise in the form of an easement. The Massachusetts Land Court recently addressed this issue when deciding a plaintiff’s claim of a prescriptive easement over her neighbor’s driveway. In Dinino v. Newman (Mass. Land…
When a local planning board makes a decision regarding a real estate matter, adversely affected landowners may be able to appeal and argue their case. In Siok v. Planning Bd. of Ludlow (Mass. App. Ct. Oct. 31, 2016), the Appeals Court of Massachusetts reviewed a decision by a planning board, which…
Beachfront property can involve interesting legal issues as a result of changing shorelines. Accretion occurs when the line between water and land is changed by the gradual deposit of alluvial soil upon the margin of the water. In a recent real estate case, Brown v. Kalicki (Mass. App. Ct. Oct. 20,…