waterfront ownership

[Bear Islander]

Originally Posted by Woodsy

The easement extends ONLY to the high water mark of the lake, regardless of who owns what. You don't have a right to block someones access. Parking a car on the easement would constitute blockage regardless of if you have permission from the landowner or not.

However, as far as the boathouse/dock is concerned, unless access/usage of the boathouse/dock are specifically granted in the deed, your neighbor has no leg to stand on in regards to where you park your boat. His rights extend only to the high water mark.....

Woodsy

I disagree

The purpose of the easement is clearly to provide access to the LAKE.

Waterfront property owners and easement holders have common law rights that extend into the lake. That is why they can have docks, swim rafts, moorings etc. in the lake but others can not. These rights are limited, but very real and well established in law.

You can't anchor your boat right in front of a launch ramp and thereby prevent boats from being launched. You can't place your boat in front a someones slip in a way that blocks their access to or from their slip. You can't tie up you boat in a way that blocks your neighbors easement.

The way this case has been described the property owners and other easement holders all have waterfront property. Therefore they have other places to park their boats or gain access to the lake. This one person has access only by their 10 foot wide easement. This makes this easement very important and valuable to this person. It is unfair and illegal to block this persons only lake access no matter how big a jerk he may be.

If you owned property that had only a 10 foot wide easement as your lake access you would look at this differently. You would believe anyone that blocked this access was in the wrong. And you would be correct.