Glossary · Legal & title
Easement
An easement is a legal right allowing a person or entity to use part of another owner's property for a specific purpose, without owning that land. The owner keeps title but must permit the use. Common examples include utility easements and rights-of-way. Many easements run with the land, staying in effect after the property is sold.
How does an easement work?
An easement grants a defined right to use someone else's land, such as running utility lines or crossing a driveway. The landowner keeps ownership but cannot block the permitted use. Most easements are recorded in public records and appear during a title search.
An easement specifies who may use the land, for what purpose, and often exactly where. A utility company, a neighbor, or the public could hold the right.
Because many easements run with the land, they bind future owners. Buying the property does not erase an existing recorded easement.
Why does an easement matter?
An easement can limit how you use or develop your land. A utility easement may prevent building over buried lines, and a right-of-way may let others cross your property. Understanding easements before buying helps you avoid surprises about what you can and cannot do.
Easements can affect where you place a fence, pool, or addition, since you generally cannot obstruct the easement holder's rights.
They can also affect value and privacy. Reviewing recorded easements and the survey during due diligence helps you understand these limits upfront.
What are the common types of easements?
Common types include utility easements for power, water, or sewer access, rights-of-way that allow passage across land, and shared access easements for private roads or driveways. Some benefit a neighboring parcel, while others benefit a company or the public. Each defines a specific permitted use.
An easement appurtenant benefits an adjoining parcel, such as a landlocked lot's right to cross a neighbor to reach the road. It transfers with both properties.
An easement in gross benefits a person or company rather than a parcel, like a utility's right to maintain lines. Terminology and rules vary by state.
How is an easement created?
Most easements are created by a written, recorded agreement, such as a deed or a developer's plat. Others can arise by necessity, by long-standing use, or by government action. The method affects how strong and enforceable the easement is, and rules vary significantly by state.
A recorded express easement is the clearest kind, since it is written and appears in the public record. Utility easements and shared-access rights usually fall into this group.
Some easements arise without a signed document, such as an easement by necessity for a landlocked parcel or a prescriptive easement from open, continuous use over time. These are more fact-specific and depend on state law.
Worked example. For example, a utility company holds a recorded easement along the back ten feet of a lot to access buried power lines. The owner still owns that strip of land but cannot build a shed or pool over it, and the easement stays in place when the home is sold.
Common mistakes with Easement
- Assuming an easement disappears when you buy the property, when many run with the land and remain in effect.
- Planning a fence, pool, or addition without checking recorded easements that may restrict where you can build.
- Skipping a survey, which can reveal easements and encroachments that a basic title search description alone may not clarify.
- Ignoring a utility easement, then facing removal of a structure built over protected lines.
- Believing a spoken agreement with a neighbor is a valid easement, when recorded, written rights carry far more weight.
Encumbrance
Any claim, lien, or restriction on a property that may affect its use or transfer.
Define TermTitle
The legal ownership rights to a property, including the right to use and transfer it.
Define TermSurvey
A professional measurement of a property's boundaries, structures, and features.
Define TermDeed
The legal document that transfers ownership of real property from one party to another.
Define