real-estate easement
Emergency Egress Blocked by Construction Fence and Planned Construction
<p>I live in Philadelphia in a townhouse with a fenced rear yard.  The rear yard has an emergency egress shaft from the basement that opens into it and it also has a gate in the fence that opens onto an adjoining empty lot.  This gate is part of the emergency egress path from the basement and required for the egress to be up to code.  The only other access point to the rear yard is through a door to my house on the ground floor.</p>
<p>Recently the property owner of the adjoining property has erected a construction fence around the property.  The construction fence blocks egress through the gate.  Further the planned construction includes a wall that will permanently block the gate.  These obstructions cause my basement emergency egress to fail to meet the fire code.</p>
<p>The owner of the adjoining property has refused to move the construction fence and is unwilling to alter the construction plans to not block the gate.  Do I have a legal recourse to ensure continued egress through my back gate for the purposes of an emergency fire exit?  Could an easement already exist for such a purpose, and if so, how would I find that or what would I have to do to prove that?  Are the adjoining property owners in violation of the fire code by blocking my emergency exit?  I couldn't find language in the fire code stating a duty to adjoining properties.</p>
<p>My house is 13 years old. I do not know what structure existed on the parcel before my house. I also do not know the history of the adjoining lot. Prescriptive easements require 21 years of use in Pennsylvania to be established.  If such exists it would require investigating the previous structures on both properties (in addition to the other requirements for a prescriptive easement).</p>
<p>Further details:</p>
<ol>
<li>The adjoining lot is large as it is the merger of multiple parcels.  The construction is of a mixed use structure with over 50 residential units.</li>
<li>The current construction plans call for a patio for the portion of the property adjacent to my rear yard.  The patio opens onto the street and could be part of an emergency fire egress.</li>
<li>My house was developed along with multiple others in a row.  Several (maybe 6) of these are in the same situation with their basement egresses.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Do you have an easement?</h2>
<p>For the emergency escape route to legitimately cross someone else’s property, you have to have an easement for that purpose (a carriageway). Normally easements must be registered on the title deed of the relevant property although, in some cases, consistent and notorious usage for many years (like using the path several times a week for a decade or more) can create an easement through adverse possession if local law allows.</p>
<p>If you do have such an easement then the property owner cannot obstruct it. If you don’t, then they are unrestricted and if that makes your property non-compliant, that’s your problem.</p>
