Easements, Profits, Covenants, and Servitudes Flashcards
Easement
An easement is the right to use land for a particular purpose, often for ingress (entrance) and egress (exit).
Profit
A profit is the right to take specific things, such as timber, from the land.
License
A license results from a failed attempt to create an express easement, and is terminable at will.
Types of Easements
(1) Express
(2) by implication
(3) by necessity
(4) by prescription
(5) by reservation
Express Easement
Preferably with a deed, since the Statute of Frauds requires easements, which are an interest in land, to be evidenced by a writing by the grantor—the party to be charged.
Easement by Reservation
Where the grantor reserves an easement as part of the conveyance of the property to another
Easement by Implication
Usually by permitted conduct over a long period of time amounting to consent.
Easement by Necessity
Where the party asserting the easement owns landlocked property and the two parcels were originally part of the same ownership at one time.
Easement by Prescription
Adverse possession of an easement.
Termination of an Easement
Easements are terminated either in writing or orally plus an action of an abandonment. Failure of an express easement may result in a license, which is revocable at any time.
Equitable Servitudes and Covenants
Covenants and servitudes are binding promises regarding the use of the land. If the plaintiff wants to recover damages, he must sue for a breach of a covenant. If the plaintiff wants an injunction or specific performance, he will need to show an equitable servitude.
When a Burden on a Servient Estate Runs with the Land
Requires:
(1) an intent to create the interest that is the subject of the covenant;
(2) Notice of the covenant or interest created by the covenant. Three types of notice: actual notice, constructive notice, and inquiry notice.
(3) Horizontal privity: the covenant was set forth in the granting instrument between the original parties
(4) Vertical privity: the successor holds the entire estate held by the original covenantor
(5) The covenant must touch and concern the land: the effect of the interest created by the covenant is to make the land more useful or valuable to the benefited party.
When a Benefit to the Dominant Estate Runs with the Land
(1) an intent to create the interest that is the subject of the covenant;
(2) Vertical privity: the successor holds the entire estate held by the original covenantor
(3) Vertical privity: the successor holds the entire estate held by the original covenantor
Defense to Equitable Servitude
Changed neighborhood conditions. Look for facts showing a very different neighborhood, relative to the purpose of the covenant when it was originally created, than exists presently.
