Interests In the Land of Another Flashcards
Easements and other Conveyances
Easement (Defined)
the nonpossessory right to enter and use land in possession of another and obligates the possessor not to interfere with the uses authorized by the easement
Affirmative Easement
entitle one to do acts upon the land or which affect that land
Negative Easement
entitle the owner of the easement to prevent the owner of the land from making certain uses of the land
Appurtenant Easement
Benefits its owner in connection with his ownership of neighboring land and is said to be appurtenant to that land (adjoining/common border) – requires writing and runs w/ the land
Dominant Tract v. Servient Tract
The tract that is benefited v. the tract that is burdened
Easement in Gross
Profits are viewed as a type of limited interest in the land to enter upon the land to remove something from it – requires an easement because to extract, they need to access the land
License
Licenses are a revocable use of land for a specific purpose; are not required to be in writing; almost all licenses are fully revocable at any time by the licensor for any reason or no reason at all
Restrictive Covenants
Restraints on the landowner’s use of the property (I.e. HOA regulations)
Express Creation
An intent to convey and easement/interest, delivery of the instrument, and acceptance of it
Express language is not required to create an easement where there is evidence of the grantor’s intent to create one (majority rule)
Easement Estoppel (Irrevokable)
Where a parol licensee expends money or labor in the exercise of rights granted under the license, the license operates as the equivalent of an easement. It continues for as long as its nature requires
The landowner is estopped from denying an easement if injustice can be avoided only by the establishment of the easement
Landowner permitted use of their land under circumstances OR landowner represented the land was subject to an easement in which the landowner could have reasonably foreseen the user would substantially change their position in reasonable reliance on the belief the permission would not be withdrawn
Right of Way by Necessity
- There was common ownership of the dominant and servient parcels and a conveyance separating that ownership
- Before conveyance, the Grantor used part of the parcel to benefit another part that was apparent, obvious, continuous, and permanent
- The claimed easement must be necessary and beneficial to the enjoyment of the parcel retained by the grantor
Other Paths to Creation by Implication
1) It may be enacted even if prior owners had access provided by strangers if those routes are NOW no longer available
2) Statutes that create this action without prior unity of title–as a type of eminent domain–are generally unenforced unless they compensate the owner.
Creation by Prescription
1) Intentional use of the land of another
2) Open, Notorious, Exclusive, Adverse
3) Continuous for the period required by the jurisdiction
Expanding a Prescriptive Easement
Prescriptive easements acquired by a particular use of the property cannot ordinarily justify an added use in connection with the dominant estate in a manner far different from the original use
