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Boston area property developers are familiar with the many nuance that come with purchasing and developing property in the area. Most properties require many permits, approvals, etc. One thing a buyer should be aware of is any existing easements that may affect a...
Boston area property developers often understand that development can be complicated. One of the issues that frequently comes up are easement disputes.When right-of-way disputes come up it is important for a person to have an experienced legal team. Easement issues...
Utility easements are something most business owners probably do not even think about until it affects their site planning and development. Suddenly, they find themselves wondering not only what a utility easement is, but also how to circumnavigate the restrictions...
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) confirmed that its move away from the common law requirement of mutual consent for easement relocation was broad and included the ability to alter not only the location but the dimensions of easements. The SJC's decision...
Landowners who purchase and combine multiple, adjoining lots can sometimes find themselves in a quandary if there is an existing easement that benefits only one of those lots. To illustrate, picture three adjacent lots: A, B, and C. When these lots were initially...
The age of Massachusetts lends itself well to preservation easements. These kinds of easements, also referred to as preservation restrictions, create tax and other benefits for owners of historic properties in exchange for certain restrictions that will protect and...
On February 8, 2013, the Supreme Judicial Court another land use/real estate decision in White v. Hartigan, 464 Mass. 400 (2013), a case on direct appellate review from the Land Court. At issue in the case (a quiet title action) was whether the plaintiffs owned a...
Easements come up a lot in our practice at (for a recap of easement basics, see our April 19, 2012 post). When we receive a call involving an easement, the easement, or right of way, is typically the focus of the dispute, but sometimes an...
A few months ago we briefly covered prescriptive easements in a general land use post about different types of appurtenant easements.To recap, to prevail on a claim of prescriptive easement-which is governed by M.G.L. c. 187, § 2-claimants must show that they (or...
Earlier this month, the SJC remanded an interesting easement case back to the Land Court and ordered the Land Court judge (Piper, J.) to take a second look at the width of the easement that he had laid out to the extent that it conflicted with local subdivision road...