Property Rights
Real Estate Easement Types Explained
Easements are one of the most tested encumbrance topics on the real estate exam. Understanding the different types — and how they're created, transferred, and terminated — is essential for a passing score.
Key Easement Types
Easement Appurtenant
Benefits an adjacent parcel (the dominant tenement) by burdening another parcel (the servient tenement). Runs with the land — when the dominant parcel is sold, the easement transfers automatically.
Easement in Gross
Benefits a person or entity, not an adjacent parcel. Examples: utility company power line easements, billboard rights. Does not run with the land unless the right is commercial and explicitly assignable.
Express Easement
Created by written agreement (deed, separate easement agreement, or reservation in a deed). The most common and most clearly enforceable type.
Implied Easement
Arises by operation of law from circumstances, even without a written agreement. Created when prior use was apparent, continuous, and reasonably necessary at the time a parcel was divided.
Easement by Necessity
Created when a parcel is landlocked — has no access to a public road — and must cross another parcel to reach it. Courts impose these to prevent property from being unusable.
Prescriptive Easement
Acquired through open, notorious, hostile, and continuous use for the statutory period (similar to adverse possession but results in an easement, not fee title). No payment required.
Dominant Tenement
The parcel that benefits from an easement appurtenant. The property whose owner can exercise the easement right.
Servient Tenement
The parcel that is burdened by an easement appurtenant. The property across which the easement runs.
How Easements Are Terminated
Release: the easement holder signs a written release of the easement right
Merger: when the dominant and servient tenements come under common ownership, the easement is extinguished
Abandonment: nonuse combined with clear intent to abandon (nonuse alone is usually not enough)
Expiration: if the easement was created for a fixed term
Destruction: if the structure for which the easement was necessary is destroyed
Condemnation: government taking of the servient tenement may extinguish the easement
Prescription: the servient owner interferes with the easement use continuously for the statutory period
Easement FAQ
Does an easement show up on a title search?
Express easements recorded in the deed records will appear on a title search. Implied and prescriptive easements may not appear in the record — this is a risk title insurance is designed to address.
Can you build on an easement area?
Generally no — the easement holder has the right to use that area for its intended purpose. A structure that blocks a utility easement, for example, can be ordered removed at the landowner's expense.
Who is responsible for maintaining an easement?
Typically, the party who benefits from the easement (the dominant tenement owner or easement in gross holder) is responsible for maintaining it, unless the easement agreement specifies otherwise.
What's the difference between an easement and a license?
A license is a revocable personal privilege to use land — like permission to park in a neighbor's driveway. It creates no property right and can be revoked. An easement is a property right that runs with the land and is not easily revoked.