Below is a "nice" example of a COUNTY EASEMENT MESS.
The question of the day: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Mr. Buyer bought a townhouse in a condo development about 5 years ago. It's a mid-unit in a block of 10 which was built in 1980. All units have a fenced in limited common area out back, extending 25 feet out with more or less land- and hardscaping. Mr. buyer did do his homework and read the condo docs from front to back. His lender did not require a survey at time of purchase. 
Fast forward 5 years, Mr. buyer is very happy with his little "yard", maintaining and enjoying it until he - and his 9 neighbors - receive multiple notices, certified, delivery confirmation and signature required:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Currently, the County is performing the construction of Capital Project xxx Water Main Replacement. During the construction it was brought to our attention that the addresses xxxx to xxxx have erected permanent structures, including but not limited to, fences and sheds within the limit of the County Public Water Main Easement. The encroachments of this section of homes are in violation of Section 18, Subtitle 1 of the Code of Ordinances.
All violations must be remedied as soon as possible. Any structure removed by the County will be discarded. Attached please find a drawing which shows units xxxx to xxxx have approx. 13 feet and units xxxx to xxxx have approx. 9 feet from the unit foundation to the Public Water Main Easements. The water main is centered within the easement.
Regards,
The County
The neighbors get together for an impromptu meeting and not one of them has any record from the Condo Association disclosing the limited common element to be 9 or 13 feet. All records show it to be 25 feet. Furthermore, according to the rules & regulations all exterior improvements require prior approval from the Architectural Committee, thus all fences and sheds had to be requested in writing and were approved by the Board in the past. All unit owners acquired their property with the fence in place!
Things heat up and a special meeting is called between the unit owners, the Board of Directors & the Associations legal Counsel and County representatives. A serious attempt was made to find a solution. The county suggested that the Board submit a petition on behalf of the unit owners for the fences to be re-erected. The county is likely to allow encroachment of the easement but within limits - no permanent structure is allowed within 3 feet of the "ditch" thus adding another 6 feet to the 9 and 13 feet respectively, but still taking away 6 to 10 that the owners have enjoyed thus far.
Understandably, all owners are terribly upset. In their opinion they were misled by the Condo Association and led to believe they had "exclusive right of enjoyment of 25 feet of limited common elements" when in fact they hadn't. Most would not have purchased their unit if either it was not fenced in to begin with or a disclosure was made that the fence is in violation of County regulations and the limited common element is only 9 or 13 feet.
Furthermore, all unit owners are required to replace their fences at their own costs. The Board appears to also be in favor of over-regulation and will not allow any landscaping beyond the 9 or 13 feet, even though the County does not consider landscaping a permanent structure.
And if this wasn't enough, the unit owners also face several days or weeks without cable/Internet as the Board authorized the installation on the easement which now needs to be "studied" and reconfigured. Nobody yet knows what will happen to the transformer that encroaches on the easement as well and will have to be removed in order for work to be completed.
What do you think?
Do the unit owners have any rights or merit to pursue their case? If yes, against whom? Do they even have a case or do they just have to accept a smaller "yard"? How would it affect their chance for resale and value?
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