At Gravis Law, our skilled and experienced Licenses and Easements team can help you.
Leaders for licenses and easements matters
Licenses and easements can all be somewhat confusing, as they all involve the use of someone else’s land. Whether you plan to allow your land to be used or use the land of another, proper documents could save you from litigation later.
What are common easements?
One of the most common easements is one used for the right to travel over someone else’s property to reach one’s own property. Easements can also include such rights as the right to place utilities under someone else’s property, or the right to keep the airspace above someone else’s property free from obstructions.
Prescriptive easement
This arises when the person claiming such an easement has used the servient property in a manner that is “open, notorious and hostile” for a period of at least 10 continuous years, so as to give notice to the owner of the servient property that they are claiming the right to use the property in the manner being used.
Easement by necessity
These are less common and only arises when a party conveys a “landlocked” property to another without expressly granting a right of access to the landlocked property owner over the property of the grantor.
Appurtenant easements
An appurtenant easement is one that is created for the benefit of the benefitted land itself, as opposed to for the benefit of the owner of the land, and is said to “run with the land,” meaning that it will continue to exist regardless of any subsequent conveyance of the benefitted or of the burdened land.
Easement in gross
An easement that is created for the personal benefit of a landowner is classified as an “easement in gross.” Such easements do not run with the land, and the party benefitted by such an easement typically may not transfer it to others.
License to real estate
A license gives the permission of the owner to an individual or an entity to use real property for a specific purpose. It does not transfer an interest in the real property. It is personal to the licensee and any attempt to transfer the license terminates it. It is usually revocable and can be either exclusive or non- exclusive.
Licenses are sometimes buried in other agreements, e.g. a memorandum of understanding. It is highly recommended that a separate license be created whenever a right to use another party’s space, usually for a shorter term, is part of a larger relationship. The separate license should be attached as an exhibit to the more general agreement.
Hire a Gravis Real Estate Law Attorney
Let our experienced attorneys draft the easement agreements and licenses for you. Our knowledge of real estate law and real estate litigation will provide you with the quality and personalized help and tools you deserve. We look forward to assisting you through your real estate matters and beyond – making the process as smooth and uncomplicated as possible.