Easements and Your Property Rights: What You Need to Know

What Is an Easement? Understanding Property Rights and Access

An easement is a legal right that allows someone to use a portion of another person's property for a specific purpose. Unlike outright ownership, an easement grants limited use rights rather than possession. When you purchase property, understanding any easements that affect it is crucial because they can impact how you use your land, what improvements you can make, and potentially your property's value.

Easements are more common than many homebuyers realize. Your property may have easements allowing utility companies to maintain lines, neighbors to access their property, or water to flow across your land. This comprehensive guide explains the different types of easements, how they're created, how to discover them during your home purchase, and what they mean for your property rights.

How Easements Work

Easements create a relationship between two parcels of property or between a property and another party. Understanding the terminology helps clarify these relationships:

Key Easement Terms

• Dominant estate (or tenement): The property that benefits from the easement
• Servient estate (or tenement): The property that's burdened by the easement
• Easement appurtenant: An easement that benefits a specific parcel of land and transfers with that land
• Easement in gross: An easement that benefits a person or entity rather than a parcel of land (like utility easements)

"Running with the Land"

One of the most important concepts about easements is that they typically "run with the land." This means the easement remains in effect even when the property changes ownership. If you buy property with an existing easement, that easement continues to burden (or benefit) your property. You can't simply cancel an easement because you're a new owner.

Common Types of Easements

Easements come in many forms, each serving different purposes. Here are the types you're most likely to encounter:

Utility Easements

Utility easements grant utility companies the right to install, maintain, and access infrastructure on private property. These are extremely common and may allow:

• Electric power lines and poles
• Gas pipelines
• Water and sewer lines
• Cable and telecommunications lines
• Access for meter reading and maintenance

Utility easements are usually easements in gross—they benefit the utility company rather than a neighboring property. They may restrict what you can build or plant in the easement area.

Access Easements (Right-of-Way)

Access easements allow someone to cross your property to reach another property. These are common in situations where:

• A landlocked parcel needs road access
• Shared driveways serve multiple properties
• Pedestrian or vehicle paths cross private land
• Properties share a common entrance from the road

Access easements are typically easements appurtenant—they benefit a specific neighboring property and transfer with that property.

Drainage Easements

Drainage easements allow water to flow across property, ensuring proper drainage for an area. These may be natural drainage patterns that have been formalized or constructed drainage systems. Property owners typically cannot obstruct drainage easements or alter the flow of water.

Conservation Easements

Conservation easements restrict development on property to protect natural resources, scenic views, wildlife habitat, or agricultural use. A landowner might grant a conservation easement to a land trust or government agency, limiting future development rights in exchange for tax benefits or other compensation.

Conservation easements are permanent and remain in effect even when the property sells. A buyer purchasing property with a conservation easement must honor those restrictions.

Solar Easements

Solar easements protect a property owner's access to sunlight for solar energy systems. They may prevent neighbors from building or planting in ways that would shade solar panels.

View Easements

View easements protect sight lines, preventing neighbors from constructing buildings or growing trees that would obstruct views. These are more common in scenic areas and can significantly impact property values.

How Easements Are Created

Easements can be established through several different methods:

Express Grant or Reservation

The most common method is an express written agreement. A property owner may grant an easement to another party, or when selling property, may reserve an easement for their own benefit over the property being sold. These easements are documented in a deed, agreement, or other recorded document.

Implication

Easements by implication arise when property is divided and the circumstances suggest an easement was intended, even if not explicitly stated. For example, if a property is divided and one parcel has no road access except across the other parcel, an easement by implication may exist.

Necessity

An easement by necessity is created when a parcel of land is landlocked—it has no legal access to a public road except across neighboring property. Courts may grant these easements to prevent property from being completely unusable.

Prescription

A prescriptive easement is acquired through continuous, open use of someone else's property for a statutory period (usually 5-20 years depending on the state). It's similar to adverse possession but grants use rights rather than ownership. If someone has been crossing your property to access theirs for many years, they may have acquired a prescriptive easement.

Dedication

Property owners can dedicate easements to the public, typically for roads or pathways. This often occurs during the subdivision process.

Discovering Easements During Your Purchase

Before buying property, you need to know what easements affect it. Easements are discovered through several sources:

The Title Search

A thorough title search examines recorded documents to identify easements. The title company reviews deeds, easement agreements, and other recorded instruments that might create or reference easements.

The Title Report

Easements discovered during the title search appear in your preliminary title report. This report lists exceptions to title coverage, including easements. Review this report carefully and ask questions about any easements you don't understand.

The Survey

A property survey shows the physical location of easements and can reveal easements that might not appear in recorded documents. The surveyor identifies utility lines, access roads, and other features that suggest easement rights.

Physical Inspection

Walking the property can reveal evidence of easements—utility poles, worn paths, drainage channels, or shared driveways may indicate easement rights even if documentation is unclear.

How Easements Affect Your Property Rights

Understanding how easements impact your ownership rights helps you make informed decisions:

Limitations on Use

Easements may restrict what you can do in certain areas of your property. You typically cannot:

• Build permanent structures in utility easement areas
• Block access paths covered by access easements
• Alter drainage in drainage easement areas
• Develop land covered by conservation easements

Maintenance Responsibilities

Easement agreements typically specify who's responsible for maintenance. The party benefiting from the easement often (but not always) maintains it. Review any easement documents to understand your obligations.

Impact on Property Value

Easements can affect property value positively or negatively depending on their nature:

• Major utility easements across the center of a property may reduce value
• Access easements benefiting your property add value by ensuring access
• View easements protecting your views add value
• Conservation easements may reduce market value but provide tax benefits

Future Development

If you're planning to build, add structures, or develop the property, easements may limit your options. Check easement locations before finalizing development plans.

Easement Disputes and Resolution

Easement disputes can arise between neighbors. Common issues include:

• Disagreement about the scope or location of an easement
• Alleged overuse or misuse of an easement
• Obstruction of easement rights
• Maintenance disputes
• Claims of prescriptive easement rights

For information about resolving property disputes, see our guides on Boundary Disputes and Resolving Property Ownership Disputes.

Terminating Easements

While easements are generally permanent, they can sometimes be terminated:

• Expiration: If the easement was created for a limited time
• Release: The easement holder formally releases their rights
• Merger: The same person acquires both the dominant and servient properties
• Abandonment: The easement holder clearly demonstrates intent to abandon the easement
• End of necessity: If the easement was created by necessity and that necessity ends
• Condemnation: Government action eliminates the easement

Title Insurance and Easements

Standard title insurance policies list recorded easements as exceptions—meaning the policy doesn't protect against the existence of those disclosed easements. However, title insurance does protect against:

• Easements that should have been discovered but weren't disclosed
• Incorrect descriptions of easement locations or terms
• Claims that easements are broader than recorded documents indicate

For comprehensive title protection, learn more in our guide What Is Title Insurance?

The Bottom Line on Easements

Easements are a common feature of property ownership that every homebuyer should understand. While they may limit how you can use portions of your property, they also serve important functions—ensuring utility access, providing necessary passage, and protecting valuable resources.

Before purchasing any property, carefully review the title report to understand existing easements. Ask questions about anything unclear, and consider how easements might affect your intended use of the property. With proper due diligence, you can make an informed purchase decision that accounts for any easement-related limitations.