Easements are defined as “a right of use over the property of another” and “a right to cross or otherwise use someone else’s land for a specified purpose”. Easements give their holder a non-possessory interest in another person’s land and they impact all types of real estate. Easements are used for many things including roads, utility and phone companies for the right to bury cables or access utility lines, or even entities such as transportation companies to access things like train lines if a property abuts it.

Easements can be found in the public records for your area and are part of the search the title company performs when determining the clear picture of a property during a real estate transaction. It is important to know what easements are included in a property you are thinking of buying because there are certain setbacks and restrictions that may come with an easement. For example, if you are thinking of buying a property with an easement through the middle of the backyard for the utility company to access utilities in your potential neighbor’s yard, there may be restrictions as to what you can build on the property. You may not be able to put in the swimming pool or shop you were dreaming of in this case.

Easements are even used for conservation preservation and historic preservation purposes.

Despite how common they are many people do not understand easements and the legal problems that can arise in their implementation. While an easement does give the easement holder access rights to access the land, it does not allow the easement holder to occupy the land or interfere with the property use (except as outlined). Easements are usually created by conveyance in a deed or another legal document like a will or contract and they stay with the property until legally removed or it expires. Simply selling a property does not nullify the easement.

Oftentimes the written document that created the easement is unclear or vague. For example, if an easement grants ingress and egress to another property (such as a driveway), but does not determine the width of the easement, that could be a challenge down the road if one of the neighbors wants to make the easement wider or narrower. If you are buying real estate I recommend having any terms such as these clarified during the title review period so there isn’t any confusion once you own the property. The easement intent may need to be clarified by a more in-depth title search or by a court if that information is not available. But remember that courts generally assume that the easement was created to last forever unless a specific timeline was indicated in the document. Therefore when buying a property it is important to make sure the language in the easement is clearly stated.