A quitclaim of the easement would be a decent remedy. But given the propensity for this neighbor (Jean’s) to use the driveway, I doubt they will be willing. While their garage seems to have a curb cut, it’s fairly obvious that they have more cars coming and going to their house than the front garage and driveways and street parking can handle.

Enforcing the current restriction which is that neither can park in the driveway, seems to be the issue. Sounds like even Jean herself does not obey that restriction and sometimes parks in it too.

Reviewing title is a lot easier than a survey, and if Jean can find 4′ somewhere the issue will likely be more typical than yours was. Let’s hope it is.

That would be an easement type shared driveway. Our situation was such that each driveway was full with, but just adjacent to each other.

Also, to determine how much someone really owns, you’d need to have a survey done. Absent that I don’t think you could safely say one owns X’ and the other Y’.

The point is, shared driveways are just a bad idea in general, with or without an easement.

Seems to me the agent likely had it right in his representation. Shared driveway; neither side is allowed to block the driveway. Given the neighbor has no place to park in the rear, they shouldn’t be using the driveway except maybe as a load and unload once in a while.

They have the right to pass over it…not be IN it.

Originally when the driveway easements were created, most homes had a small “garage” in the rear of the house and each would turn right and left into it over the shared drive. As people tear down their rear garages to make more yard or tear down the whole house in favor of a new house with a front entry garage, logic defies law.

Logic (and sometimes the building permits) says the house that now has a front entry garage no longer needs to use the driveway. But the building permit for the new house does not change the property line from up the middle of the driveway, nor does it change the easement.

That’s clear as mud, but quite common. Often one neighbor never uses the driveway and the other gets to park in it. But then owners change and that common arrangement is no longer in play.

Easy to say don’t buy a shared driveway…but in Seattle, that is not necessarily an option for many people. Unfortunately not “allowed” to park in the driveway and not parking in the driveway are two different things. Being blocked in and not being able to get your car out is definitely a “war zone” situation. But I don’t see anyone at fault here except the neighbor who seems to be parking in a place where they are not allowed to be parked.

What scares me most about Jean’s comment is her husband wanting to put a fence on the property line. Usually the easement would prohibit him from doing that, and clearly he needs legal advice before spending a dime doing anything like that. The only way that might be possible is if the neighbor would sell him the easement to eliminate it from title. Her husband seems to own all the land he needs to accomplish his objective, but clearly the easement must be extinguished, and likely he would have to pay the neighbor to remove it. It is an excellent remedy to the situation and should be pursued…here’s hoping the neighbor is reasonable in that regard.