Definition

What is an easement?

An easement is a right or interest in a property belonging to another individual that allows for a specific use of the property. The most common easements are for access and for utilities.

There are two main types of easements, Easements in Gross and Appurtenant Easements.

An Easement in Gross is an allowance for an individual or entity to use the land of another. Examples of this include a Water District that has an easement for their water line that runs across your property, or a particular neighbor that has been granted an easement to cross your property to access something on the other side of it, such as a trail system or a lake.

An Appurtenant Easement is one that “runs with the land,” that is its rights are attached to a specific parcel of land. These are typically for access and utilities to cross over another parcel of land, usually by necessity. An example is a driveway that crosses your neighbor’s property so that you can access your own property, because you don’t have direct road access. In this example, your property is the “dominant estate,” with an appurtenant easement and the neighbor’s property that your driveway crosses over is the “servient estate,” burdened by the easement.

In Washington, to grant an easement it must be in writing, in the form of a deed, and recorded. Easements can also be formed through other legal methods, such as by prescription, implication, or litigation.

Not sure if there are easements burdening or appurtenant to your property? The first place to look is in your deed that conveyed the property to you. An appurtenant easement should show up as part of the legal description, and a burdening easement should be cited as a reservation.

If you have a Warranty Deed, often there will be a list of “Exceptions” that will typically include any easements that burden the property. The next place to look is at the original plat that includes your property, sometimes easements are only listed in the notes, sometimes they are graphically depicted. For a more complete search, especially without a Warranty deed, ordering a Subdivision Guarantee from a Title Company is the next step. This document is a compilation of all the recorded documents that relate to a parcel of land, compiled through an investigation of the chain of title.

How can we help you with easements?

New easements

Looking to create a new easement? We can help. First, we’ll write a legal description of the area that is being conveyed, and how it relates to the boundaries of the land. This may mean a field visit by our survey crew to map in the easement area, as well as some of the land boundaries, to ensure that what is described in the document encompasses what is intended on the ground.

Typically, a map exhibit is included that shows the easement location relative to property lines, and though this is not always a requirement it’s highly recommended for maintaining a clear understanding of the easement in the future. Once we have the legal description written and an exhibit map drawn, these will be included in a conveyance document (a deed) that is created by an attorney. Once the deed is created, the easement may then be granted and recorded with the county auditor, and that’s it. If you need referral for a land use attorney to create the deed, we have several we work with regularly that we would be happy to refer you to.

Easement Staking

Wondering where the extents of an existing easement are, on the ground? Staking such is a task that as land surveyors we’re uniquely qualified for with our training in boundary law and legal descriptions. Whether it’s for utilities, access, or some other purpose, we can stake out the extents of your easement.

Research / Map Depiction

Want to see what easements look like in relation to your property on a map exhibit? Need help with the research? We’re happy to review your deeds, Title Report, a Subdivision Guarantee, plat maps, to compile a picture of what easements may burden, or be attached to, your property. To make sure that this process is economical, we typically limit our scope of research to review a specific set of documents, the most comprehensive being a Subdivision Guarantee provided by a Title Company. You may be interested in the “Cadillac” of surveys, an ALTA/NSPS survey, more on those in another blog post.

Unrecorded Easements

Our research services are limited to recorded documents, and we will never certify that all easements are depicted on your map exhibit. There are many avenues that unrecorded documents and other actions can mature into real property rights. If you have evidence (like a deed or other writings) that indicate there may be easements we didn’t find in our research, please share them and we can see how they might relate to your property.

- Ralph Hayden, LSIT

Easements: researching, staking & creating