How deep do we own land?

Question

When a property has been bought and is concidered owned, is only it's surface concidered owned? Do people own a depth of the land too? How much?

Would it be perfectly legal if someone made a tunnel under another persons property?

Answer 1

"Both the land surface and the resources below the surface can be owned and are considered property if included as part of a contract. The mineral rights can be owned in total or can be owned by the specific mineral commodity. For example, one company can own the mineral rights to the coal, while another company owns the oil and gas rights.

The owner of the mineral rights can be different than the surface owner. The landowner usually owns the subsurface rights, but sometimes these rights have been severed, or separated, from the surface ownership. Severance of mineral rights occurs when the owner of both the surface and mineral rights sells or grants by deed the mineral rights underlying their property. The landowner may also reserve, or retain, all or a portion of the mineral rights upon sale of the property. Mineral deeds and mineral reservations are recorded with the county register of deeds and are included in any abstract of title to the land involved.

Mineral owners have the right to access and develop their minerals. Landowner rights are preserved, whether or not they participate in development of the mineral rights. Regulations are in place to stop operators if their activities are irresponsible or damaging to the surface. Landowners are entitled to compensation for loss of use or damage to their land. Most operators are willing to work with the landowner to reach a fair settlement for damages, but if this fails, state and federal regulations protect the landowner."

"NOTE: The above information is a guideline only and not intended to be absolute in its description for content or legal applicability in the State of Pennsylvania. This text is for the sake of understanding the general mechanics of mineral rights and not as qualified text suitable for contracts."

Answer 2

No, it would not be legal to make a tunnel under some ones property except by eminent domain. Mineral rights or oil rights can sometimes be reserved under property, but I am not sure about the general depth of ownership. Go to the " law and ethics " section to get an answer.