# access



## Guest (May 6, 2012)

I am looking at a 34 acre piece of property. It is 34, not 40 because the lines of latitude(?) get closer together the further north you go. The owner also owns the approximate 40 north of the piece I am looking at. 

There is a 4 wheeler trail/jeep road that goes from south to north a 1/4 mile west of the properties. The land between the 4 wheeler trail and the properties is tax forfit land. The 4 wheeler trail swings east and touches the north 40 about half way on the north/south line so you can access the north 40 there. The owner has included an easment on the north 40 from that point south to the 34 I am looking at. The land of the easment is heavily wooded and runs between 2 swamps that are close together. I am not sure that a road through that narrow low area is possible. (I accumulated a large number of wood ticks trying to find out.) 

Most of the 34 has been logged off. There is a branch off the 4 wheeler trail that goes east across the tax forfit land and goes right to the 34. This is where they took the logs out when they cut it. This branch provides a much better and easier access to the 34 than the one the landowner has arranged.

If I bought it, I would like to access the land via the branch instead of the easment. That would cut off about a half mile from the trail in and I wouldn't have to deal with hiring a dozer to cut a road and going through that narrow low area. 

MN has a law that you have to have access to any piece of property you own. There can not be a land locked piece of property. You can force access across neighboring property. 

The real estate agent says there is already access via the easment on the landowner's land. She says there is no easment on the 4 wheeler trails over the county land including the one that runs north and south. She says that because there is no easment the banks will not provide financing for purchase or building (not a biggy for me).

The question is, can I force access across the county land including the branch? Because there is already access via the easement, can the county refuse to provide the access over the branch which is a better way? CF this is in the same county you live in. 

Thanks


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## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

It's my understanding that if there already is legally deeded access, the answer would be no. The county would view it as you would already have deeded access so no other forced access would be necessary. The only time they would is if you were putting in a type of business that would require better or larger access. Usually, they will only give 'larger' access and not better access of your choice though. 

I'm sure that would be further be the case if someone bought the tax note at auction because it technically would not be owned by the county, they would just have a lien on it. The property itself would revert to being sold at auction on the courthouse steps as a 'tax note'. There would still be an owner on the tax forfeited land until the time expired for the new owner (who bought the tax note at auction) to take legal possession of the land. In the meantime, nothing could be done with that property until the property became the legal property of the tax note holder. In other words, any land dealings on the property would remain in limbo until the issue was settled by whatever timeframe your state gives for the land to either resort to the tax note holder or for the owner to pay the back tax lien. In most states that is from 3-7 years. There are however, a few states yet where counties can just take possession when the taxes are not paid after a certain timeframe.

But, if you speak to whoever bought that tax note at the tax auction, they might be willing to either sell/deed you the access you want when the property resorts to being theirs outright. It could be that time is about to expire and they only bought it as an investment and would be glad to immediately be able to make a few bucks since they won't care about the land itself.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Get a land/real estate attorney. There is too much variation about laws on this across the country and even between counties. You need an expert for YOUR location.

Good luck.


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## NorthCountryWd (Oct 17, 2008)

x2 on the real estate attorney. 

A friend bought acreage that had road frontage but was impossible to develop with out dropping a substantial chunk of change. Town told him he could not use a town trail easement his neighbors were using. Hired an attorney and had access via the easement approved within 90 days. 

Some things are best left to the pros.


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Get a land/real estate attorney. There is too much variation about laws on this across the country and even between counties. You need an expert for YOUR location.
> 
> Good luck.


Might be the smartest advice I have seen here in a long time. EVERYTHING to do with property is location specific. Twenty pages of, "well, in my area, here is how it's done....blah, blah......." replies is worse than no answer at all. You may find that you have a legal right to do something, and a local lawyer telling you that it doesn't matter, as you will end up with a ten year court battle, and have everybody at the local general store referring to you as that out of town weasel that stole uncle Jimmy's land. 

I build in several adjacent juristictions, I never assume I have the answer to any question, until I hear it from the horse's mouth. One county official will tell you that you absolutely cannot proceed without, XY and Z, notorized and filed, the same guy in the next county will look at you like you have two heads when you ask if he wants XY and Z........... you can't win by guessing, at least I can't. Good luck


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