I have something similar, only it’s me who wanted to trim mature trees because the limbs were damaging our vehicles, and the neighbor said “you can’t touch them”, believing they were his, when they are fully on the common easement. I just wrote him a letter, per my attorney’s advice, advising him that he had 15 days to remove the limbs on his own, which he didn’t, so I took the worse limbs down.
You may want to check with a local RE attorney familiar with laws in your state. I don’t know if he can force you to pay for gravel, when you might choose to just grade it. Seems like he couldn’t force you to pay for paving, so how could he force you to pay for gravel? Check with an attorney, though.
There is a 60’, ingress, egress and utilities easement across our 5 acres. The existing road is only 20’, and volunteer trees as well as planted trees are fairly mature on either side, but not blocking the road for the homeowner.
The new owner claims any trees are planted illegally, and that he has the right to take them out as he pleases, without informing us. Is this true?
Also, the easement is written that we both share maintenence, yet we NEVER drive on the road nor do we need it for our utilities. Are we obligated to help buy gravel? We already pay the tax on a piece of land we can’t use!
Thank you.