Easements can affect how real property owners use and access their holdings. In some cases, easements can even impact the value of a specific parcel. Formal easements are often verifiable using the records maintained by the county recorder's office. The state...
Easements
Is a developer allowed to use your street without permission?
You might wake up to the rumble of trucks using your road to reach a nearby build site. A developer has moved in and turned your quiet street into a construction route. If you never permitted that kind of access, are they legally allowed to use your road without...
Can you secure an easement without your neighbor’s consent?
Perhaps you have some rural hunting property with a cabin that does not have any road access. Historically, your neighbor whose property abuts the road always allowed you to drive up their driveway and then veer off to the side onto your property. You haven't had to...
What will a utility easement mean for the use of a property?
Utility companies provide crucial services to help homes become habitable and businesses perform basic functions. Gas, electrical, water and sewer service are the most crucial utilities provided by private companies, although telecommunication utility providers also...
Tips to help resolve common easement disputes
Easements offer property owners a way to solidify the need to access another property owner’s land. These legal documents serve as a tool to help outline the use of the land, offering protection to both property owners. Although generally beneficial these agreements...
Utility easements: what to know
In the Boston metro area, many homes have power lines, gas lines or other utility lines over or under the property. This is usually a sign that the utility company has an easement over the land. An easement grants another party the right to access a property owner’s...
What’s the difference between an easement and a right of way?
Property locations can pose a challenge in Massachusetts. If you own a large section of land, there might be people who want to go hiking, fishing, or hunting on your property. You might also have people who want to cross through your property to get from one place to...
Easement Basics Part III: How Easements Are Extinguished
Having discussed what easements are, and how easements are created, this Part III of our series on easement basics will address how easements cease to exist-are extinguished or terminated. Once granted, an appurtenant easement generally has perpetual existence, as it...
Easement Basics Part II: How Easements Are Created
In this part II of our series on easement basics, we will discuss how easements are created. Broadly-speaking, easements are established in three ways: by (1) express grant/reservation; (2) implication; and (3) prescription. As to each of these theories, "[o]ne...
Easement Basics Part I: What They Are, Appurtenant Versus Personal Easements, and the Taxonomy of Claims
A significant percentage of our case load, here, at , involves disputes over easements, also known as use rights, particularly over access and private way issues. Easement law comprises some of the oldest law in the United States, as we...