What Is an Easement?
When you buy a house, you may raise the question “What is an easement?”
Easements are a common thing that many people come up against, whether you are buying a new house or selling your home. Easements are very important as a homeowner, as they will impact the use of your land or how you use someone else’s. It is something you will have to consider when buying or selling a house, so you know what rules apply to you and others.
To help you better understand what an easement is, here is some important information you should know.
What is an Easement?
An easement is created by a type of grant or legal need and concerns a piece of land. It grants a right of access to another to use the land. This is typically a right of way to cross the land or use it for a specific purpose. If there is an easement on your land, even if you own the land, you cannot control the other parties from using the land. The only exception to this is if they are not the specified party, or are not using it for the use specified in the easement.
If you are buying or selling a property, you must find out if any easements exist, so you move forward with the process with all the information you need to know. You should also consult your attorney for further information about the easement that exists and how it will impact you. Easements will not disappear when you buy or sell the property.
Three Main Types of Easements
Typically, you will see three main types of easements in your research to find out what easements are and they are all relevant to the process. These include:
In gross
Appurtenant
Prescriptive
Easement in Gross
An easement in gross is only relevant to one property and is typically owned by public utility companies. This type of easement provides the owner of the easement with access to the property if it relates to their work, such as gas, water, or electricity for operations, maintenance, and repairs. For example, if there is a public gas line running under your property and there is an issue, as long as there is an easement in gross in place, the utility company has the right to access your property and do what they need to do to fix the issue. This could just be attending your land, but it could also mean digging up your yard. This is why it is important to know what easements are in place and how they could impact you. The worst-case scenario is important to consider, as you never know what could happen. Knowledge about easements will ensure you can make an informed decision about the property,
Easement Appurtenant
An easement appurtenant is known as a right-of-way easement. When it comes to real estate, this could be between two neighbors, where one (servient estate) has to provide access to the other (dominant estate). An example of the access that is given, could be access to a utility, a public park, or even access to drive across your property so they can access their own. These easements don’t typically have an expiry date, so even if it was agreed upon 50 years earlier, it still has to be honored when you buy or sell the property.
You should learn from your attorney more about this easement when buying or selling your house. If you are buying a house, you want to know how the agreement has worked over the years, if there have been any challenges or disputes, how the neighboring party perceives the easement and treats it, and more. You want to gather as much as you can about all the small details, as well as the legal details. This will also include the maintenance of the access, for example, how to mow the lawn.
Prescriptive Easements
Prescriptive easements do not need the landowner's permission to occur. In real estate, this could be someone moving their fence line onto your land. This action alone does not mean they win the right over your land, but over time, it can become an easement that goes into effect.
Right over land has to meet certain criteria for it to come officially a prescriptive easement. It needs to be:
Done in the open, and not hidden from the landowner
Clear, so the homeowner can easily see that the action has occurred
Completed without consent
Over an extended period, legally this means 5-25 years
The party who completes this action without the consent of the landowner must file a claim after the legal amount of time with a claim. This claim must include evidence of meeting the criteria above to gain a prescriptive easement for actions that have occurred.
Prescriptive easements are very rare, but they are a type of easement that you need to know about in case you do come across one when buying a house, or when you are selling a house. If you have, or come across a prescriptive easement, you must seek legal advice. They should be disclosed in the initial attorney forms when you go through a transaction, but you can also look up public records if there are any doubts.
The Importance of Understanding What Easements Are
Easements are important to know about and understand completely when buying or selling a property. They will impact how you use your property/surrounding land and how you are impacted by it. It will also impact the sale of your property and must be disclosed to the sellers. Even if you are buying the property or land to own it outright, it won’t be 100% yours to control if there is an easement on the property.
You should learn whether there is an easement attached to the property you are buying, and consult your attorney to guide you through the process. You want all the details about what the easement is, so you can make an informed decision.
If you require help on your journey to selling your home, contact CT Cash Homes for help.
