Easements Flashcards
express easement
created in writing,
- legally binding non-possessory interest
Affirmative easement
holder has right to do things things on land that holder could not other wise do
- allows holder to do something on another individuals land
negative easement (restrictive covenant)
holder can stop a possessor of land
- prevents the owner of the right to do something on the property
appurtenant easement
- easement that attaches to and benefits the land (dominant estate)
- automatically transfers with the land
- side by side, easement that “runs with the land”
- where two properties are linked together as servant and dominant estates
servant estate - allows the easement,
dominant estate - the one that benefits from the easement
conservation easement
voluntary, legal agreement,
- permanently limits use of the land to protect conservation values
easement in gross
benefit of the easement is mainly economic
- rebuttal assumption is that it is assignable
- easements that do not attach to the benefit parcel of land,
- personal to easement owner like (e.g. utility line on property)
- benefits property owner as individual not the property
- easement in gross is invalid if the property is sold, transferred, or inherited by a new party
- new party does not have an obligation to act according to agreement norms
contracts allow utility companies to access property owned by another entity for maintenance and repair services to sustain telephone service, electricity, television cable, or natural gas.
older view - there is a rebuttable presumption that the easement is non-transferrable
modern view - there is a rebuttable presumption that all easements are transferable
- where it is for a commercial purpose
unless - circumstances suggest parties reasonably expected the benefits would not pass to an assignee
profit
non - possessory right to enter another land and to remove natural resources
(timber, mineral, crops)
created by –> grant
- prescription
-prior use
- estoppel
- CANNOT BE created by necessity
how can it be terminated
- merging of ownership of benefitted and burdened land
- written release from benefit holder
- permanent physical abandonment by the owner of the privilege
- estoppel
prescription
- condemnation or destruction of burdened property
- misuse of profit by increasing the burden
express agreement by grant
- when serveint estate owner grants easement to dominant owner
- by grant or deed - expressly
profit appurtenant
means owner of one piece of land has right to use resources, like minerals, or timber from another piece of land nearby
this right stays valid even is ownership of the land where resources are located changes, as long as it is properly recorded and documented.
express agreement by reservation
- allows a property owner to retain rights to the property during ownership transfer
what an express agreement needs
- in writing
- identify parties (who is the holder of the dominant estate/ and servient estate)
- describe the land
- describe exact location of easement on servant land
- state purposes for which easement may be used
profit in gross
freely transferable by its owner, unless expressly identified as being exclusive to the grantee
belongs to the individual holder, and is transferable
Easements
a non possessor right to enter and use another’s land for a limited purpose
how they are created –>
- grant
- prescription
-from prior use
-necessity
-estoppel
how to terminate an easement
through estoppel
- prescription
-end of necessity for easement
- condemnation or destruction of burdened property
- or sale to a BFP without notice of an easement by grant
