What type of easement is it? Or are you asking about setbacks? Around here in California easements are for right aways, utilities, parking spots, ect..

Setbacks are the distance from property lines you can build structures and driveways (including decks).

If your neighbor built his deck without meeting the setbacks or on the easement, he may have built without permits. If the this is the case the city may very well make him tear it down or make it right.

I can't provide a very extensive answer, but in a nut shell an easment gives a 'right' [hence, right-of-way] to a specific entity for a specific use-- for instance, a utility company easement gives them the right to build and maintain lines, but not to host a company picnic.

If the pool deck were over a power line easment, the power company could destroy it to fix/expand the line. If it were on an access easement, it would have to go if it interfeared with people's access.

If there is a recorded easement here, there should be some specifics: how wide, who owns the easement and for what purpose, etc. Anything interfearing with this purpose is in violation, and may have to be removed at the homeowner's expense, and the homeowner would not need to be compensated.

To cover their own exposure, the owner of the easment would need to keep any damages resonable, and do their best to mitigate them by [for instance] not removing a tree if they could acheive their goals by pruning it.

So a lot depends on the language granting this easement. If the fence is on your property line, the easment probably allows you and the neighbor to maintain the fence, even if it means stepping over the actual line. But you probably can't get the pool deck removed unless or until it impacts that maintenence. It would be an issue for the courts, not the city bureaucrats.

But there may be separate regulations about structural setbacks that would give you a bit more leverage.

I have to admit, it would really bug me for the neighbor to have a deck beside this sort of fence if it gives them an eagle eye veiw into my yard. I might have to give them a bit of a show from time to time, just to discourage them from looking.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my vague questions. It's a utilities easement on either side of the fence/property line. My street is brand new and I think the neighbors and I would get off on the wrong foot if, during the course of building my house, the city discovered that they violated some kind of easement issue with their deck/pool and required them to rip it out. Not my fault, I know, but I like to know what to expect before it (possibly) happens!

Oruboris - I don't like that their pool and deck are right up against the fence for the very reason you state: as they walk on their elevated deck, they peer down into my backyard and first-floor windows. There is definitely no privacy. Our neighb covenants say that fences can be no more than 6' tall. But - we haven't lived there yet so we don't know if these people even use the pool. Maybe they installed it and are never outside to use it. One can hope. And I doubt they will enjoy looking at us any more than we'll like looking at them, so perhaps we can agree to plant some trees that will provide both parties some privacy. We'll see...

try_hard

my stepdad's house had an easement down one side for a future city alleyway and for utilities. every homeowner had some sort of shed or other structure in the easement. the city finally abandoned the easement and signed it back over to the homeowners since the utilities did not use it either.

my grandmother's house had a 10 ft easement along the back line. 10 ft of her yard and 10 ft of the back neighbor's yard all the way down the street. the utilities used it as well. many homeowners had sheds and such in the easement here too, and i remember the POCO had to replace a pole a few years back in a neighbor's backyard. when they showed up the guy had a huge shed with an awning actually built AROUND the pole. the POCO tore it down, replaced the pole and left. he did not get reimbursed since it was technically not supposed to be there and the easement said anything built on the easement was at homeowners expense to replace if it had to be removed for access. he tried to sue and the POCO sent him a bill for the labor to tear down his shed as well! he lost it in court. other homeowenrs placed their stuff so that it was not right next to a pole and the utilities always worked around them.

anyway, i would not worry about if your neighbor gets in trouble or not. MOST likely all that will happen is they will have to move it or lose it. easement violations are rarely fined, at least in my area.

You are assuming that the neighbor isn't aware of the easement or doesn't have a permit.

When I built a structure on a utility easement in my yard, I asked the easement owner (the utility company) for permission. Only after I got the permission from them did the city give me a building permit.

Maybe your neighbor has a permission to build his deck on the easement? An easement doesn't necessarily mean that nothing must ever be built on it.
It means that the owner of the easement has certain rights (for example, the utility company that gave me permission only did so with the disclaimer that I have to remove the structure whenever they need access - which in 10 years was _never_).

I believe you are are confusing easements with set backs. A set back is a buffer area at the property lines that cannot be used for various purposes. For example, in our neighborhood houses have to be 40' from the property line and sheds/outbuildings have to be 10'. An easement is an estate in land that gives the holder of the easement the right to use property owned by someone else for some specific purposes (utility, driveway, etc.). For example, our neighbor has a utility easement that runs 200' into his property (also happens to be within the set back) so the power and phone companies and reach the transformer for the underground utilities. They cannot obstruct this easement, even with plantings (you may plant to your heart's content in a mere set back).

Rules on set backs are VERY locally specific. It is possible the set back you have allows non-permanent structures. An above ground pool may be considered non-permanent (you need to read the regs). Or it is possible they are within the set back. What happens will again vary widely. DH used to work as a builder in a town where if you violated the set back they would ALWAYS make you tear the impinging thing down. There is a house in that town with a corner chopped off because of this. But other towns just give you a little slap on the wrist and say "don't do it again, but we'll let it pass this time". Also, if you are in the same subdivison it is possible the set backs were established in the rules and regs and you may have a right to seek they be enforced.

Where we are we own the land under the easements and can build on the easements but.... the utility company at any time has the right to clear what ever they need within that easement.
Our easement is 15 feet back into the property. We planted Leylands 10 feet back. When we planted them 9 years ago, I did not know the set back was 15 feet. Every three years, the electric company trims back trees within that 15 feet limit. In three more years my trees may get topped off or bush hogged.

We wanted columns at our driveway and placed them 20 feet in but we are adding smaller columns off to the side about 12 feet in. We realize someday these smaller columns may have to be removed if any water lines need to be dug up etc.

We are in a rural area so a city or subdivision would have different laws and rules.

If there is an easement issue, it likely will not be addressed until whoever has said easement requires use of it. (Servicing underground/overhead lines.)

If there are setback issues... The city/township will likely be more aggressive/concerned about seeing these enforced.

Thanks everyone. Looks like there is alot more to this than I realized! We'll just see if anything is said when the city comes out to our site in a few weeks.

try_hard

Also, if there's a utility easement the right belongs to the utility not you, so you really have no right asserting that they're over the line. They may have a problem with the utility one day, or they may not--that's the risk they bear. You of course may make a different choice, because you don't want to take the chance of having your pool deck removed or trees uprooted.

If it's your easement (e.g., for view, driveway, or something), then you definitely need to do something because you could ultimately lose the right to the easement.