Q: When we started building an addition to our house, we discovered the next-door neighbor has an easement for a sewer line running right across our intended building site. Are we allowed to build on top of this easement? What obligations do we have regarding the easement? Also, when we bought this house a few months ago, the seller never disclosed this easement. Do we have any recourse against him if the sewer line must be rerouted?

A: "As a general rule for easements, you may do anything you wish on your property that doesn't interfere with the purpose of the easement and isn't inconsistent with any other specific limitation written in the easement," says Seattle attorney Rebecca Wiess, who handles a lot of easement cases. So the question here becomes whether by building atop the easement you're interfering with the sewer line; your local building department can help you with that one.

As for the nondisclosure question, Wiess says there were two ways the easement could have been disclosed to you before purchase. The first is on the seller's Form 17 disclosure statement, which does ask about easements. However it requires the seller to disclose only an easement that "may affect the owner's use of the property." Did you tell the seller of your building plans?

Second, your preliminary title report should have alerted you to the easement. "If the title company missed a recorded easement, then there's an absolute liability there." In any case, Wiess says you have no legal right to require that the neighbors reroute the sewer line. "This is one where I would immediately open negotiations with the neighbors because you may find it much cheaper to reroute the neighbor's line at your own expense than to go the other routes here," she advises.

Q: Is a condo board required to treat all units equally when it comes to the allocation of funds for landscaping and beautification? Also, can a board require some units to accept the presence of recycling bins or a parking lot full of recreational vehicles in their front yards?

A: A board certainly should try to treat all units equally, "but it's unrealistic to say that everyone is always going to be treated 100 percent equal in a condo environment," says Jim Comin, president of the Kappes Miller condo management firm. This is because the board must do what's best for the community as a whole, and "if there's a problem they're solving, sometimes it has detrimental ramifications to certain units."

Comin doubts you'd have much luck forcing a reallocation of landscaping funds unless you could prove you were being discriminated against. Ditto the issue of recycling bins. If you do think you can prove discrimination, see a lawyer. More realistically, make sure the condo board knows of your position; perhaps you can work with them toward a more favorable outcome.

Home Forum answers readers' questions every Sunday in the Home/Real Estate section. Send questions to Home Forum, Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, or call 206-464-8510 to leave your questions on Home Forum's recorded line. The e-mail address is erho-new@seatimes.com

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