Over the past three months, my father has been assailed by multiple, different persons, all requesting limited access to his 245 acre parcel of land in Rusk County/Henderson Texas.
These persons, though associated with different "concerns," all share some unique qualities in so far as how they reach out to my father and how they are requesting access. Foremost, the worst cases, as with a certain bee apiary company who does check out as a known entity, is the pressing need to get my father to grant access THEN and THERE, via a text message as it were, even culminating with the person (before I got involved) texting my father, "JUST GIVE ME A YES, BOSS! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS REPLY YES!!"
That was the worst example of trying to get a simple but effective approval from my father but the other cases, also happening over the past two months have been similar.
Another caller recent phoned him requesting verbal access simply to hunt my father's 245 acre parcel. I got involved, did some legal research and then my father decided to decline.
The most recent is a person who called FIRST, saying he needed access to just a small portion of my father's land, claiming it is related to pipeline survey work.
But, like the other callers, that same conversation then segued into a lengthy discussion of how the caller could also do free gate repair and fence repair while on the property (way outside the areas where the specific survey work area is) and then into further discussion that he'd like to set up a small hunting lease on my father's land as well and at "some time in the future."
In this last (just this week) conversation, I found this to be the oddest factor: that the person called about needing access to a small portion of the land simply to do some necessary survey work related to a pipeline project but then took the conversation into a lengthy discussion about doing work all over the property, including the mentioned desire to possibly set up a hunting lease project on my father's land which, theoretically, could span access to the entire property. This last bit, especially in Texas is important due to "easement by estoppel" laws and precedent cases in Texas. Forgetting the cumbersome legal jargon, the point is that person's can gain immediate access under a loose verbal agreement and, over a decade or so, expand that access to the majority of the property and even ultimately claim right to title over the land (see article: "Texas Supreme Court Rules in Case Involving Implied Easement")
The reason I'm posting the following is my father is completely unaware of the hazards, ESPECIALLY IN TEXAS, of allowing access to a property without first seeing to the necessary work to document exactly what will happen and WHERE it will happen on his property (geo coordinate data for access points/easements, insurance details, how many person's will access the property, vehicle access, deforestation agreements/precise time limits/etc.) and my father is even more unaware of how TEXAS, especially, allows legal claims to title if person's are allowed to operate on Texas parcels without describing exact limits and time lengths to the type and nature of activity that can occur.
So with the help of a robot that is a lot smarter with this stuff than I am, I crafted the following brief "worst case scenario" document that will hopefully be shared with my father and other family members in the coming days to slowly educate them as to why it is SO IMPORTANT in TEXAS that any access to a person's titled property be preceded by the bare minimum, due diligence foot work to ensure there are no disasters 10 years down the road after said persons have accessed the land, whole hog, essentially and without there ever being any originating documents which clearly describe the nature of said person's business on the land.
Land Access By Phone Call:
What Can Really Happen Over the Years
A plain-language guide for any Texas landowner approached about survey, pipeline, or lease access without a written agreement.
The Bottom Line, First
- A person could end up with a legal claim to keep using part of the land — permanently — with nothing ever signed.
- If a worker is hurt on the land, the landowner personally could be sued, with no insurance standing between them and the lawsuit.
- A surprise tax bill — sometimes tens of thousands of dollars — can land on the owner if the land’s use quietly changes.
- Years later, family members can inherit a confusing, disputed situation that lowers what the land is worth or blocks a sale.
None of this requires anyone to act in bad faith. It happens simply because nothing was put in writing before the first visit.
Why a Phone Call or Handshake Isn’t Enough
In Texas, agreements about land are generally only enforceable in court if they are written down and signed.1
This rule is supposed to protect landowners — but it only works if the landowner insists on a written agreement in the first place.
Without paper, there is no record of where someone is allowed to go, how long they can stay, who pays if something breaks,
or what happens if someone gets hurt. Years later, it becomes one memory of a phone call against whatever the other side
kept — photos, notes, and their own version of events.
Warning Signs Worth Taking Seriously
A caller with a genuine, narrow survey request has no real reason to bring up unrelated topics or offer free favors.
When a conversation drifts this way, it is worth paying close attention:
- Unrelated offers pop up. A hunting lease, free repairs, or other favors get mentioned during a call that is supposed to be about survey access only.
- Free work is offered. “We’ll fix your gates and fences while we’re there” sounds generous, but doing unrequested favors is a known way to build a sense of obligation before asking for more.
- No mention of paperwork. A legitimate request should come with a written scope, an insurance certificate, and a map — not just a friendly conversation.
- A sense of urgency or smallness. “It’s just a small corner” or “it’ll only take an afternoon” is used to make a person feel there’s no need to formalize anything.
These signs matter because, under Texas law, a court can sometimes recognize a right to use land based on nothing more
than words and actions — no signature required — if someone can show they were told they had permission,
believed it, and acted on that belief.2 Free favors and repeated friendly visits are exactly the kind of
evidence used to make that case.
What Can Happen, Year by Year
Early on
A crew visits based only on a verbal understanding. Because no map or boundary was ever put in writing, later visits
drift beyond what was originally discussed — and there is no document to point to that says otherwise. Texas is
one of the only states where most private employers can legally skip carrying injury insurance for their workers.3
Roughly one in four Texas employers goes without it.4 If a subcontractor’s worker is hurt and that
company has no injury insurance, the worker can sue the landowner directly — and with no written agreement
setting insurance requirements or limiting liability, there is nothing to fall back on.
One to three years in
A casually mentioned hunting lease becomes real. Because it was never separated from the survey conversation, hunters
and survey crews are treated as generally welcome, with no signed lease or liability waiver for either group. Without
that paperwork, Texas’s usual legal protections for landowners hosting recreational guests may not fully
apply,5 leaving the landowner exposed if a hunter is hurt. If the land carries a lower agricultural tax
valuation, unrelated changes on the property — new roads, cleared brush, construction activity — can be
treated as a change in how the land is used. That can trigger a retroactive tax bill covering up to five years of back
taxes plus 7% annual interest, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, arriving as a surprise.6
Three to seven years in
By now, years of relaxed, undocumented access have built a pattern that works against the landowner in any negotiation.
If a real, paid pipeline easement is ever proposed later, the landowner has less leverage — the company has
already had years of free access and goodwill, plus a credible argument that some rights already exist.
Seven to ten-plus years in
Texas law allows a person to gain an actual legal right to keep using a specific part of land if that use has been
open, ongoing, and unchallenged for at least ten years.7 Without a written record showing the access was
always meant to be temporary and revocable, years of loosely defined use become exactly the kind of history used to
argue a permanent right exists. If the land is ever inherited or sold, the unresolved history can show up as a title
problem, complicating or reducing the value of the sale — leaving the next generation to untangle a situation
they had no part in creating.
What to Do Instead
- Put everything in writing before anyone sets foot on the property — the exact area, the exact activity, and an end date.
- Keep survey access and any future hunting-lease idea on two completely separate written agreements, never blended into one loose understanding.
- Politely decline free “extra” work, or if it happens, get it written down as a one-time, limited item — not an ongoing relationship.
- Ask for proof of insurance before anyone enters the property, since Texas does not require most employers to carry it.
- Confirm the caller’s full name, company, and project details in writing before agreeing to anything.
A short conversation now, put in writing, prevents years of uncertainty later. None of this assumes bad intent on
anyone’s part — it simply means insisting on paper before a favor, a handshake, or a friendly phone call
is allowed to stand in for it.
Sources
- Texas Statute of Frauds, Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 26.01 —
statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Easement by estoppel under Texas law —
agrilife.org/texasaglaw
- Texas is the only state where workers’ compensation is optional for most private employers —
policybenchmark.com
- About 25–28% of Texas private employers are non-subscribers to workers’ compensation —
tdi.texas.gov,
employers.com
- Texas Recreational Use Statute and hunting-lease liability —
longilbert.com
- Agricultural (open-space) valuation rollback taxes: up to 5 years back taxes plus 7% annual interest —
comptroller.texas.gov,
texaslandtax.com
- Texas prescriptive easement / adverse possession, 10-year rule —
codes.findlaw.com,
thlg.law
