Before you make an offer on a home, it’s worth looking beyond the home itself. Amenities such as square footage, fences, driveways, and utilities can all be affected by legal agreements attached to the property. Understanding the different types of easements can help you avoid post-closing surprises and ensure your property meets your long-term plans.
Whether you’re buying a home in Seattle, Washington, or a condo in Miami, Florida, knowing how easements work can help you make a more informed purchasing decision. Here’s what every homebuyer should know before signing on the dotted line.
What is an easement?
An easement is a legal right that allows someone else, even if you are not the owner, to use a part of your property for a specific purpose. The property owner continues to own the land, but certain rights are vested in another person, company, or government agency.
Manny Chrysos, CLTP, president of the Pennsylvania Land Title Association (PLTA), explains, “Easements give a third party the legal right to make limited use of someone else’s property. Examples include private road easements, public right-of-way easements, and beach or lake access.”
Many easements, especially accessory easements, remain attached to real property even when ownership changes. However, whether an easement transfers to a new owner depends on the type of easement, its terms, and applicable state law.
Why are easements important when buying a home?
Many easements have little impact on daily life. You might not notice your utility company accessing the subway or your neighbor using your shared driveway. However, some easements can affect how you use your property, especially if you plan on making renovations, landscaping, or adding structures.
For example, an easement could include:
Restrict where you can build fences, sheds, garages, pools, etc. Allow utility companies access to portions of your yard for maintenance and repairs. Allow legal access to neighboring properties through your land. Restricts certain improvements within the easement area.
These restrictions don’t necessarily make a property any less attractive, but they should be understood before you buy.
Common easements that buyers may encounter
Easements can be described in different ways. Some are classified by purpose, such as utility easements, access easements, recreational easements, and conservation easements. Others are classified based on who benefits from the easement or how it is created, such as easements attached to easements, gross easements, implied easements, and prescriptive easements.
Below are some of the easements that homebuyers are most likely to encounter.
public easement
Public easements allow companies to install, inspect, maintain, and repair critical infrastructure such as water and sewer lines, gas pipelines, electrical lines, communications and internet cables, and storm drainage systems.
These easements are often placed along property lines or underground, and are commonly found in residential areas. In many cases, owners can continue to use the surface area, but easement provisions may prohibit permanent structures, large trees, excavations, or other improvements that could impede access to public facilities.
Access or driveway easements
An access easement allows someone to cross another’s property to reach your property. Shared driveways are one of the most common examples. In rural areas, access easements may be essential if the parcel does not have a direct connection to a public road.
“Easements can be important to the use of real estate,” says Chrysos. “If you’re purchasing inland land that doesn’t abut a public road, you’ll need an easement on someone else’s land for access.”
recreational easement
Some properties include easements that provide access to recreational areas such as beaches, lakes, rivers, trails, and parks. These agreements allow limited access to neighboring property owners or the public while maintaining private ownership of the land.
conservation easement
Conservation easements restrict future development to protect natural resources, wildlife habitat, farmland, and historic buildings. These are more common in large rural properties, but can also affect residential homes.
How can an easement affect your property rights?
One of the biggest misconceptions is that owning real estate means you have unlimited control over every inch of it. Easements create legal exceptions that can affect what is allowed.
For example, Chrysos explains: “Sometimes one person’s property is encumbered by another person’s rights. If your gas company has a pipeline easement on your property, you may not be able to build a pool in your backyard.”
Depending on the easement, the following may be restricted:
Construction of permanent structures. Digging or leveling the land. Plant large trees that may interfere with underground utilities. Cut off legitimate access routes.
These restrictions vary by easement, so it’s important to understand the specific terms before purchasing.
How do I know if there is an easement on my property?
Although many easements are recorded and may be identified during the title review process, not all easements are easy to detect. Recorded easements may appear in the following locations:
Real estate agents and title companies can help identify recorded easements, and a survey can show the exact location of the easement on the property. In some cases, unrecorded easements, implied easements, or easements by prescription may require additional investigation. If you’re purchasing vacant land or planning major improvements, it’s even more important to check the current survey.
Questions buyers should ask before closing
If you discover an easement, don’t think it’s a deal breaker. Instead, ask questions that clarify how it affects your plans. Consider asking:
Who benefits from easements? Where are easements located? How often are they actually used? Will future additions or renovations be restricted? Will vehicles and heavy equipment be allowed on the property? Will resale value or future buyers be affected?
The answers will help you determine whether the easement is just a mundane legal detail or something that can significantly affect your enjoyment of the property.
Can easements affect property value?
it depends. Many public easements are common and have little impact on home values because they rarely interfere with daily use. On the other hand, easements that significantly restrict development or reduce privacy can impact buyer demand in certain markets.
Impact is often determined by factors such as:
Easement size and location. Frequency of use. Whether to limit future improvements. Local market buyer expectations.
For most homeowners, it is more important to understand easements than to think that easements automatically reduce property value.
conclusion
Understanding the different types of easements is an important part of purchasing real estate. While many easements are routine and have little impact on your day-to-day life, others can affect how your property is used, improved, and enjoyed.
Before closing, take the time to review the property’s title documents, inspection, and disclosures. As Chrysos advises, “It’s always a good idea for anyone considering selling to ask whether the property benefits from or is subject to an easement before closing, as it can affect your enjoyment of the land.” By doing a little due diligence now, you can ensure that the home and the land it comes with will suit your needs for years to come.
