EASEMENTS

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Easements

An easement is a legal right to use the real property of another for a specific purpose. Easements may be identified on a subdivision plat, survey, or in the legal description of a recorded deed. The easement itself is a real property interest, but legal title to the underlying land is retained by the original owner for all other purposes.

Easement disputes frequently arise among owners of adjoining parcels of land. Common examples of easement disputes that arise include the right of a property owner to use a particular segment of a neighbor's land to gain access to a street or road, or the right of a municipality to run a highway or sewer line (“right of way”) across an owner's land. Our attorneys have been involved in many easement dispute cases and have the experience to assist you, whether the dispute is with a municipality, or with an adjoining neighbor.

Types of Easements

Easements are granted for a variety of reasons depending on the needs and circumstances of the parties. The most common types of easements are for ingress and egress, right of way easements, driveway easements, and utility easements. Other types of easements include:

Irrigation Easements
Landscape Easements
Conservation Easements
Drainage Easements
Cross-Access Easements
Right-of-way Easements

Frequently Asked Questions about Easements

What types of legal issues could easements cause?

After we purchased our home in Gilbert last year, we noticed that our neighbors were using a portion of our land for the driveway to their home. The sellers said that our neighbors have been using that driveway for more than ten years and that they never gave our neighbors permission to use the driveway. Do our neighbors have the right to use this driveway?

Although the law is basically the same, there is a difference between adverse possession, i.e., ownership of the land, and a prescriptive easement, i.e., the right to go over another person’s land for ingress and egress. Unfortunately, if your neighbors have been using the driveway on a regular basis for more than ten years without permission from the sellers of your home, your neighbors probably have acquired a prescriptive easement to use the driveway over your land. A survey of the driveway should be obtained and an easement for the driveway should be recorded by you and your neighbors.