Easement Attorneys

If you’ve recently looked into buying a property to build a new house, you might notice that there’s no way to get to this property without crossing someone else’s. This can put a halt to any plans you have. You don’t want to go through with buying and/or building on a property you can’t legally access. To fix this, you could secure a real estate easement.

Subsequently, if you’re selling a landlocked property, you might receive a request for an easement. If you feel inclined, you can accept or offer terms that will allow someone else to access or cross your property with an easement.

In both situations, you need a qualified real estate easement attorney who can view your property lines and contracts to assure that both the property owner and easement user are treated fairly. The Tennessee real estate easement attorneys at Tressler & Associates, PLLC are well-practiced in helping clients in either situation.

What are Real Estate Easements?

Easements are nonpossessory rights to use, enter, and/or take something from another property the user does not own. With an easement, an entity, whether it be a person, a family, a corporation, or government, can allow someone access to another’s property with open permission. Because easements can be used for multiple purposes and made between multiple entities, there are several different types of easements and reasons to create one.

The Different Types of Easements

With real estate easements, you can have one that fits multiple types. They’re categorized by who and what they give access to.

1. Affirmative easements – This gives someone the right to use another’s property for a specific purpose, such as travel or to reach natural resources. Most easements are considered affirmative easements.
2. Public easements – An easement for public use. People are given the right to use public highways and parks through public easements.
3. Private easements – Easements held by individuals or private entities, such as an easement between two neighbors or two companies.
4. Appurtenant / in gross / access easements – This easement allows one person access to another’s property. This can be to cross into their own property, to use a shared gate, or to access a pool of water like a lake that’s owned by someone else.
5. Floating easements – This is an easement without any fixed location, route, method, or limit to where they can go. This would allow someone into a field they can freely move through, rather than along a specified path.
6. Express easements – Anytime an easement is created in a deed or a will, so the property rights have the easement in them.
7. Easement by necessity – When the easement is created by law, not a promise between property owners. Consider the use of eminent domain to acquire land for a road for public use.
8. Negative easements – This type restricts others from performing actions that restrict another’s property. An example would be an easement restricting a neighbor from putting up a tree or building that blocks another neighbor’s view of a mountain or lake.

Common Reasons to Acquire an Easement

While it would be impossible to list each and every reason to request an easement, there are several reasons that prompt easements more than anything else.

1. Travel – People commonly need to request easements if they own a landlocked property they can only access by traveling through yours. Sometimes, your local or federal government will request or force easements that allow for pathways for the public to use for travel.
2. Natural Resources – Resources like fresh water and natural gas may warrant a company or local government requesting an easement to access someone’s property. The easement includes the right to access this resource. They can also be used to restrict the property owner from damaging or accessing natural resources on their property for the goal of preservation.
3. Providing Utilities – Electrical power lines and sewer lines can only go through so many places, and if the most affordable path lies over or under someone’s property, an organization will request an easement.

Contact the Tennessee Real Estate Easement Attorneys

Our Tennessee real estate easement attorneys can help anyone write fair easements. We can help you request much-needed access that would allow you proper access to your own proper or utilities. We can also protect you from making agreements that put you in unfair positions when people want access to your property. If an entity forces their needs for your property onto you, a real estate easement attorney can protect you and your right to privacy.

Contact the attorneys at Tressler & Associates, PLLC for any help you need regarding easements.