What is an easement?

The basic vocabulary

• Servient estate — the land burdened by the easement (the land crossed).
• Dominant estate — the land that benefits (the land whose owner uses the easement).
• Appurtenant easement — attached to a piece of land and passes automatically when either property is sold.
• Easement in gross — benefits a person or company rather than neighboring land; utility easements are the most common example.
• Affirmative easement — the right to do something on another's land, such as cross it.
• Negative easement — the right to stop the owner from doing something, such as blocking a view or light; less common and often created as a conservation easement.

How easements are created

1. Express grant or reservation — a written, signed document, usually recorded in the county land records. A seller can also reserve an easement over land being sold.
2. Implication — when a single property is divided and one part has been obviously and continuously used for the benefit of the other (for example, a sewer line), courts may imply an easement.
3. Necessity — when a parcel is split and one part is left with no access to a public road, the law implies an easement across the other part. It usually ends when the necessity ends.
4. Prescription — like adverse possession: open, continuous, hostile use of another's land for the state's statutory period (often 10 to 20 years) can create an easement without the owner's permission.
5. Estoppel — if an owner lets a neighbor use land and the neighbor reasonably relies on it, for example by building a driveway, a court may prevent the owner from revoking it.
6. Condemnation — government bodies and utilities can take easements through eminent domain, paying compensation.

Common examples

• Driveways and access roads shared between neighbors.
• Power, water, sewer, gas, cable and fiber lines.
• Drainage and stormwater channels.
• Conservation easements that restrict development in exchange for tax benefits.
• Public beach or trail access.

Rights and responsibilities

The easement holder may use the land only for the stated purpose and in a reasonable way, and generally must maintain the easement area they use unless the agreement says otherwise. The landowner keeps ownership and can use the land in any way that does not unreasonably interfere with the easement — they can usually plant grass over a utility line but cannot build a garage on it. Expanding use beyond the original purpose, such as turning a footpath into a truck road, can be an overburdening of the easement and may be stopped.

Watch

Easement vs. license

A license is informal permission to use land — letting a neighbor park in your driveway, or a ticket to a concert. It usually can be revoked at any time and ends when the property is sold. An easement is a property right that normally cannot be revoked unilaterally.

How easements end

• A written release by the easement holder.
• Merger — when the same person comes to own both properties.
• Expiration of a stated term or end of the necessity that created it.
• Abandonment — non-use alone usually is not enough; there must be clear intent to abandon.
• Condemnation or court order.

Buying property with an easement

Easements appear in the title report and on a survey. Before buying, read the recorded easement documents, check where the easement runs, and consider whether it limits building plans, fencing, privacy or resale. Title insurance generally excludes recorded easements from coverage, so knowing about them before closing is essential. Unrecorded prescriptive easements can be discovered through a survey and by looking for paths, driveways and utility lines.

Disputes

Easement disputes — over blocked driveways, maintenance costs, or whether an easement exists at all — are common between neighbors. A written easement and maintenance agreement prevents many of them. If a dispute arises, a real estate attorney can review the recorded documents and, if needed, bring an action to quiet title or to enforce or terminate the easement.