When I Discovered The Clause
After I hung up with Brad from Summit Tree, I went inside and pulled out the easement agreement. Filed away with my father’s other documents, organized in the way that someone from his generation organized important things—carefully labeled, in a manila folder, in a box clearly marked “Property Documents.”
I read through it carefully, my anger building with each paragraph. Found the clause my father had insisted on, the one that gave him—and now gave me—a particular kind of power that most people wouldn’t recognize until the moment they needed it.
“The grantor reserves the right to revoke this easement upon thirty days’ written notice if the grantee or its members cause material damage to the grantor’s property or interfere with the grantor’s quiet enjoyment of the land.”
Six mature sycamores, cut down without permission, without notification, without even the basic courtesy of asking if they were actually on the property they claimed.
