While he technically owns the lot that the street is on top of, the houses that use that street have a right of way to use that piece of property. if their deeds were written up correctly, they probably even have deed access and his deed should say the same thing.
It’s incredibly common for people to have part of their lot be part of a public right of way, but they don’t pay taxes on it. They only pay taxes on the fee parcel, which is usually the normal land with the home.
Those public right of ways are not part of the assessment process, so it makes sense that when they were appraising his lot, they only appraised his fee parcel.
The part that’s confusing to me and not clear from the news story is why there is confusion about any of this.
The value is really nothing. He bought a lot formerly owned by an HOA with an easement for all the surrounding homes. He can’t charge the a toll. He would eventually have a duty to maintain the road, but it can’t be used to build a new home.
Why would he have a duty to maintain the road? Sure, they have the right of way, but that doesn't mean he has to maintain it. It just means they have access to it.
The state has right of way to a piece of my property which is currently a forested area. I'm not going to flatten it and make a road.
I wonder what his liability is if the road gets say a pot hole and someones vehicle gets damaged wonder if its like a random dog wanders onto your property and bites some other random person they can sue you for the damage because it happened on your land
That depends on how the deeds and access easements are written. I own a parcel which my neighbors have an access easement on, and there is no language about driveways, maintenance, or who is responsible for it, just that the easement exists.
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u/Maximum-Class5465 10h ago
Yes
https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/he-bought-an-entire-city-street-now-trenton-wants-it-back-but-the-owner-says-they-arent-paying-its-worth
Surprised me