Property Easements: Overview

Anyone owning or purchasing real estate naturally hopes that it's truly, fully theirs. On the other hand, most homes, particularly in urban areas, come with what are called "easements." These constitute someone else's legal right to use your land for a particular purpose; though in many cases, it's a purpose you'll hardly notice.

For example, the municipal water company might have an easement to run water pipes under your property. Your name would still be the main one on the property deed as title holder and property owner, but the water company's easement would likely also be mentioned in the title paperwork recorded with the relevant county government office.

Other easements might more directly impact your day-to-day use of the property, such as neighbors' easement to use your driveway in order to access their home. In any case, you'll want to understand what easements are attached to your property, particularly if you're in the process of buying it.

Can I Get Rid of Easements If I'm Buying a Property?

Easements are part and parcel of the land they affect. They don't change when the property changes hands. Subsequent owners are obliged to let whoever owns the easement use the property. This means you'll want to find out exactly what easements a property you plan to buy is subject to before finalizing the purchase.

Fortunately, you're not alone in figuring this out. The title papers prepared by a title insurance company or attorney in the course of issuing you title insurance will most likely turn them up.

What Types of Easements Might Be Attached to My Property?

There are several types of easements, including:

• utility easements
• private easements
• easements by necessity, and
• prescriptive easements (acquired by someone's use of property).

We'll describe each one here and how it might impact your property rights.

How Might Utility Easements Affect My Property Ownership Rights?

The most common kind of easement is one that has been given in writing to a utility company or a city or municipality. Utility easements are sometimes described in a property deed or certificate of title as "those certain utility easements as set out and shown on the map and plat of record in [such-and-such a book] on page [something-or-other]." The existence of these easements doesn't have much day-to-day effect on your life. You can plant on the property, live on it, even build on it, as long as you don't interfere with the utility's use of the easement.

If you want to know where any utility easements are located on your property, call the utility company. Or, contact the county land records office or city hall and view a map of the easement locations. A survey of the property will also show the location of utility easements.

How Might Private Easements Affect My Property Ownership Rights?

In addition to utility easements, a property owner may sell an easement to someone else—for example, to use as a path or driveway or for sewer or solar access. Private sewer easements are often sold when an uphill house is being built, so the pipe from the house to the street can slant properly—sometimes right under your property.

If your title contains private easements, you should get copies of the actual easement documents. You need to know where the easements are and what uses they allow. If a solar access easement has been sold to a neighbor, for example, you could find that you are severely limited in what you can build or grow on your property, because you can't block sunlight to the neighbor's solar collectors. If you are unaware of the terms of a private easement, you could unknowingly interfere with the easement rights and be liable for damage.

Any private easement referred to in your property papers should have a reference number, such as a book and page number. Your county clerk can help you locate it in the public records and obtain a copy to keep with your deed.

How Might Easements by Necessity Affect My Property Ownership Rights?

Even if it isn't written down, a legal easement can exist if it's absolutely necessary to cross someone's land for a legitimate purpose. The law grants people a right of access to their homes, for example. So if the only access to a piece of land is by crossing through your property, the law recognizes an easement allowing access over your land. This is called an "easement by necessity." When land is subject to such an easement, the landowner may not interfere with the neighbor's legal right.

How Might Prescriptive Easements Affect My Property Ownership Rights?

Someone can acquire an easement over another's land for a particular purpose (such as accessing their own home) by using someone else's property openly and continuously for a set period of time. This is called a prescriptive easement, and typically one is created when someone uses land for access, such as a driveway or beach path or shortcut.

The length of use required for a prescriptive easement varies from state to state and is often the same (ten or 20 years) as for adverse possession (which is when someone acquires legal ownership of land by occupying it).

While prescriptive easements and adverse possession might be the same in terms of length of use required, there are important differences. For example, payment of property taxes is not necessary for a successful prescriptive easement claim, while some states require a trespasser to pay property taxes to obtain legal ownership.

Also, to acquire a prescriptive easement, a trespasser does not need to be the only one using the land. More than one person can acquire a prescriptive easement in the same portion of land—an example would be a driveway on another's land or a path people use as a shortcut.

If you don't mind someone using part of your property but don't want that person to gain the legal right to do so, the simplest way to prevent a prescriptive easement is to grant the person written permission to use the property. For example, if your neighbor is parking his car on a small strip of your property and you give him permission to do so, your neighbor is no longer a trespasser, and he can't claim an easement by prescription. Giving permission to a current user also prevents people who move in later from claiming that they inherited a prescriptive easement.

To find your state's law on prescriptive easements, look up "easements" in the index to your state statutes. To understand how the courts in your state have interpreted different requirements, you might also want to check your state's court decisions on prescriptive easements.

How to Avoid Legal Disputes Over Easements

As a property owner, you may not interfere with the purpose of a legal easement. If, for example, the electric company has wires strung across its right of way, you cannot take them down or block their path. If you interfere with an easement, you could end up liable to the easement owner for damage and be subject to a court action ordering you to stop.

If you find yourself in a dispute over an easement, or if you feel someone is illegally trespassing on your property—for example you are a new homeowner who just discovered that your neighbor is using what you believe is a private drive for access to her own property—see an experienced local real estate attorney. The laws on easements vary from state to state, and you will probably need tailormade advice for your situation.

It's especially important to consult with an experienced real estate attorney if there is nothing in writing (for example, in a deed or title papers) about the easement. The legal doctrines of unwritten easements that are created by people's actions and certain circumstances can be complicated, and you'll want advice from someone experienced in your state's real estate law and up to date on relevant court decisions.

More Help with Easements

To learn more about easements, how to give written permission for an easement, and other issues involving your land, get Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees, Boundaries & Noise, (Nolo).