Overhead utility line right of way/easement and fence headache. What are my options?

I’ll try and keep this short and sweet because I’m not sure what to do.

I’m in the process of buying a non-HOA home where there’s a large easement/right of way in the back with power lines running perpendicular to it. Seller put up a brand new fence that goes between the house and ends right under the power lines. Meanwhile, neighboring fences are set back about 15 feet from them.

During and right after the negotiation period I explicitly asked all parties about this, didn’t really hear much other than attorneys were working with the seller on making sure it was approved by the easement owner. This went on for weeks, not really much word back.

Meanwhile, because I was very skeptical, I read up on the utility’s right of way requirements. I drove around looking at nearby with the same H-frame power lines and saw some with fences extending underneath. Seemed fine. Some friends even said I was being paranoid.

Now we’re days past the contingency period still waiting on hearing back from the seller on formal repair requests acceptance, and I come to find out today from my realtor that the seller/seller’s parties spoke with someone at the utility/easement owner on the phone (nothing written), and they now have to pay to bring the fence in-line with the neighboring fences. This reduces the backyard pretty substantially than what I was expecting.

When I asked about alternatives or figuring out if I could possibly extend the fence all the way with appropriate access even at my own expense (12-16’ fence gate for example), apparently I was supposed to do that as part of my due diligence. Which may be true, but am I now forced to accept this much smaller fenced-in backyard with no other alternatives?

I already sent an email to the utility company today asking about proposed options for fence extension that could possibly be approved, but that’s up in the air and I’m not the property owner so who knows if they’ll even follow up. Am I now SOL? Is my EMD lost as well if I don’t want to accept this change to the property?

tl;dr the seller put up a fence on an easement that wasn’t authorized, and now post-contingency period they have to reduce the fence space, and I don’t know if I want this house if (1) the useable backyard has to be cut in half, AND (2) there’s no other approved alternatives in the future.

submitted by /u/UnSCo
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1s5g54y/overhead_utility_line_right_of_wayeasement_and/