What Is an Easement? Types, Rules and How to Find One

An easement is a legal right to use someone else's land for a stated purpose without owning it. The land that carries the burden is called the servient estate. The right belongs either to a neighboring parcel, called the dominant estate, or to a person or company. A shared driveway that crosses a neighbor's lot is a common example.

Pillar, a land research software company, wrote this guide. Easement law is state law, so each rule below is an example from the state named and links to its source. We checked every source on November 14, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to a specific property with a real estate attorney licensed in that state.

What is an easement?

The Texas Supreme Court defines an easement as "a nonpossessory interest in real property that authorizes its holder to use another's property for a particular purpose" (Albert v. Fort Worth & Western Railroad Co., Tex. 2024). Montana's code names the two sides: "The land to which an easement is attached is called the dominant tenement. The land upon which a burden or servitude is held is called the servient tenement" (MCA 70-17-103). The Texas court calls the same two parcels the dominant and servient estates.

Two points follow:

• The owner still owns the land. The holder gets a defined use. San Bernardino County, California states the owner's limit: "You cannot build anything on an easement that would infringe on the easement holder's limited use as conveyed by the grant of easement" (land use FAQ, April 27, 2022).
• It is more than permission. A Texas A&M Real Estate Center report, Easements in Texas (revised 2013), says a license "is merely permission given to an individual to do some act or acts on the land of another" and that licenses "generally are revocable at any time." This guide calls it the Texas report. A structure that crosses a property line with no right at all is a different problem, covered in our encroachment guide.

What are the types of easements?

The labels answer separate questions: who benefits, whether the easement allows or forbids something, what it is for, and how it was created. One easement carries a label from each group.

Appurtenant and in gross: who benefits

Easement appurtenant. It benefits a parcel. Rhode Island's Supreme Court says easements appurtenant "benefit property and must have both a dominant and a servient tenement" (McAusland v. Carrier, R.I. 2005). Utah's Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman says such easements "are transferred along with the property" (Utah OPRO). Our easement appurtenant guide follows one through a sale, a subdivision and a merger.

Easement in gross. It benefits a person or a company, not a parcel. In the Rhode Island court's words, easements in gross "benefit a person directly" and have "a servient tenement, but no dominant tenement." The Texas report's example: "Pipeline easements are in gross." Whether one can be sold or assigned depends on the state and the document. See our easement in gross guide.

Affirmative and negative: allow or forbid

The Texas report sorts appurtenant easements into two more groups. An affirmative easement "gives the dominant tenement the right to actively use the easement on the servient tenement's land." A negative easement "restricts the use of the servient tenement's land in favor of the dominant tenement."

Common easements by purpose

• Utility easement. Utah defines a public utility easement as "the area on a recorded plat map or other recorded document that is dedicated to the use and installation of public utility facilities" (Utah Code 54-3-27). Our utility easement guide covers what an owner can build inside one.
• Access easement or right-of-way. A right to cross. Montana's code lists "the right-of-way" among the burdens on land that are called easements when attached to other land (MCA 70-17-101). The term has a second meaning, a road or utility corridor, covered in easement vs. right-of-way.
• Drainage easement. Raleigh, North Carolina describes drainage easements as "stormwater related easements that allow for surface flow of water and/or protect underground and above ground stormwater infrastructure." In its guidance on private drainage easements, the city says its code prohibits "fences and walls" within drainage easements. A fence can be approved by the Engineering Services Director through a Design Exception Application, or by showing during the application process that it meets the city's listed design criteria (City of Raleigh).
• Conservation easement. For its conservation easement chapter, California defines one as a limitation in a deed, will or other instrument, in the form of an easement, restriction, covenant or condition, that is executed by or on behalf of the landowner, is "binding upon successive owners of such land," and has the purpose "to retain land predominantly in its natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, forested, or open-space condition" (Cal. Civ. Code § 815.1). In California it "shall be perpetual in duration" (§ 815.2).

How are easements created?

• Express grant or reservation. The easement is written down. Utah's ombudsman says one may be created "by a deed or other conveyance, which shows an intent to create an easement, and which states the location and purpose of the easement with reasonable clarity." In Texas, because easements appurtenant are interests in real property, "the statute of frauds generally requires that a signed writing evidence their creation or transfer" (Albert).
• Implied from prior use. No document mentions it, but the use was in place when one owner divided the land. Utah requires four things: the two parcels were once owned by one person, the use was "apparent, obvious, and visible" before the division, the easement is "reasonably necessary for enjoyment of the dominant estate," and it has been used continuously rather than sporadically (Utah OPRO).
• By necessity. A conveyance leaves a parcel with no way out. Florida presumes a right-of-way was granted or reserved where a person grants land "to which there is no accessible right-of-way except over her or his land," or keeps land that is inaccessible except over the land conveyed. There must be no other reasonable and practicable way in or out, the way must be reasonably necessary for the beneficial use or enjoyment of the part granted or reserved, and the parcels must share a common source of title other than the original grant from the state or the United States (Fla. Stat. 704.01(1)). See our easement by necessity guide.
• By prescription. Long use without permission becomes a right. Wisconsin's general rule reads: "Continuous adverse use of rights in real estate of another for at least 20 years, except as provided in s. 893.29 establishes the prescriptive right to continue the use" (Wis. Stat. 893.28). In Texas the use must be "adverse, open and notorious, continuous, and exclusive for the requisite ten-year period" (Albert). See our prescriptive easement guide.
• By estoppel. The Texas report describes an easement that arises "from the acts and/or oral expressions of the grantor that indicates the existence, creation or conveyance of an easement." If the other party relies on them, accepts the grantor's offer and is damaged, the grantor is barred from denying the easement.

The last four arise without a signed easement document. In Utah, claiming an easement by implication, necessity or prescription "is not sufficient, no matter how strong the evidence that the right should be recognized." The claimant must either reach an agreement with the owner of the land used or file a court action to prove the right.

How do I find out if there are easements on my property?

No single document lists every easement. Work through the records in this order, and note what each one shows and what it misses.

1. Your deed, and the deeds before it. Search for "easement," "right-of-way," "subject to," "together with" and "reserving." Van Buren County, Michigan tells owners that easements are "often noted on the deed, so this is a good place to start" (county FAQ, May 9, 2025). Shows: easements created or mentioned in that deed. Misses: an easement a past owner granted in a separate document that later deeds do not mention.
2. The recorded plat. If the legal description names a subdivision and a lot, get the plat. Wisconsin requires a final plat to show the "exact width of all easements, streets and alleys" (Wis. Stat. 236.20(2)(f)). See our plat map guide. Shows: the easements drawn or noted on the plat. Misses: anything granted after the plat was recorded.
3. The title commitment or title policy. On the 2021 ALTA commitment form, Schedule B, Part II is headed "Exceptions," and the policy "will include the following Exceptions unless cleared to the satisfaction of the Company" (2021 ALTA commitment). Ask for a copy of each easement document listed. The width, route and terms are in the document. See our title commitment guide. Shows: the easements listed as exceptions. Limit: it does not establish that no unrecorded easement exists, and coverage may exclude them. New Mexico requires every commitment to carry a standard exception for "Easements, or claims of easements, not shown by the public records" (13.14.5.10 NMAC).
4. A survey. An ALTA/NSPS land title survey must show the "location, width, and recording information of all plottable rights of way, easements, and servitudes burdening and benefitting" the surveyed property, as evidenced by the documents the surveyor is given or obtains. It must also show evidence of easements or other uses by someone other than the apparent occupants that those documents do not disclose, if they are on or across the property and were observed in the fieldwork. The standard's examples include "roads, drives, sidewalks, paths and other ways of access" (2026 standards, Sections 5.E.ii and 6.C.i). What a boundary survey shows depends on its scope. See our boundary survey guide. Shows: where a documented easement falls on the ground, and physical signs of undocumented use. Misses: as we read the standard, the survey reports the evidence. It does not decide whether the use has become a legal easement.
5. The county recorder's index. The recorder, called the register of deeds or county clerk in some places, keeps the documents themselves. Search each past owner by name, and look for document types such as easement, right-of-way and release. Shows: recorded documents. Misses: years the online index does not cover, and anything never recorded.
6. The utilities and the ground. Van Buren County's list also says to check with utility companies. Then walk the property. Look for a drive or path that someone else uses, overhead lines, manholes and ditches.

Two county systems, checked November 14, 2026:

• King County, Washington. The Recorder's Office records search is free. "Most documents recorded on or after August 1, 1991 are available online." Earlier documents are on microfilm at the King County Archives. You can search by name, document type, parcel ID, legal description and other fields, but "Searching by parcel ID will only pull up recorded documents from 1997 to current."
• Maricopa County, Arizona. The Recorder's document search takes a recording number, a docket or book and page, or a name with an optional document code and date range. The code list includes "EASEMENT." On the day we checked, the page showed name data from June 1, 1871 through November 10, 2026.

What the records cannot show

An easement can exist with nothing on record. The Texas report says a written easement "need not be recorded to be effective," and that easements by implication, estoppel and prescription arise with no written document at all. In Texas, evidence on the ground can count against a buyer. The report says a transfer of the burdened land includes the easement "if the purchaser has actual or constructive notice of the easement's existence," and that constructive notice covers the deed records "as well as any facts a physical inspection or visible examination would reveal."

Can a property owner block an easement?

Not an established one, under the two sources here. The Texas report says the owner of the burdened land "may not interfere with the use and enjoyment of the dominant estate's easement across the land." Utah states the rule in both directions: an easement's use "may not unreasonably interfere with the property rights of the servient estate," and "the use of the servient estate may not unreasonably interfere with the rights of the easement owner" (Utah OPRO).

The owner of the burdened land keeps some tools:

• Gates. In Virginia, a person who owns land over which others have a private road or right-of-way "may, except when it is otherwise provided by contract, erect and maintain gates across such roads or right-of-way at all points at which fences extend to such roads on each side thereof." A court may, on petition, require the landowner to make changes that are "necessary and reasonable in the use of such roads for both the landowner and the petitioner" (Va. Code § 33.2-110).
• Holding the holder to the scope. Utah's ombudsman: "It would not be permissible to expand a narrow access driveway into a four-lane road, if that was not anticipated when the easement was created."

In Utah, as noted above, a claimed easement that has not been agreed to or proved in court is not yet established. Get legal advice before you block a route a neighbor claims a right to use.

Who maintains an easement?

Start with the document. Where it is silent, state law fills the gap, and the states differ.

• Oregon. Holders of a private right-of-way easement "shall maintain the easement in repair." The cost is shared under any agreement between them or the recorded instrument that created the easement. Without an agreement or maintenance provisions in the recorded instrument, it is shared "in proportion to the use made of the easement by each holder." Unless that conflicts with an agreement or the recorded instrument, holders responsible for damage "because of negligence or abnormal use shall repair the damage at their sole expense." The owner of the land crossed counts as a holder if that owner has the legal right to use the easement. These sections apply to easements existing on or created after January 1, 1992. They do not apply to rights of way held or used by providers of public services when used solely to provide service or to maintain or repair facilities for providing or distributing service (ORS 105.170 to 105.185).
• Texas. The Texas report puts the work on the holder: "Any repairs or works necessary to effectuate the use and enjoyment of the easement must be made by the dominant owner."

How are easements terminated?

The Texas Supreme Court gives a short list: "Easements appurtenant can terminate by merger of the dominant and servient estates, abandonment, prescription, or failure of purpose" (Albert). The routes, with a named state for each:

• Release. The holder gives the easement up. Utah's ombudsman says an easement "may be terminated by agreement between the property owners," and that if it was created by deed, "a quit-claim deed terminating the easement should be recorded."
• Merger. One owner ends up holding both sides. In Montana a servitude is extinguished "by the vesting of the right to the servitude and the right to the servient tenement in the same person" (MCA 70-17-111). Montana makes one exception: a conservation easement "may not be extinguished by taking fee title to the land to which the conservation easement is attached."
• Expiration. The Texas report's example: "an easement granted for a term of 15 years expires automatically at the end of the designated 15-year period." It also says an implied easement by way of necessity "continues only so long as the necessity exists."
• Abandonment. Not using it is not enough in Texas. Abandonment takes "cessation of use" together with "a clear intent never to use the easement again," and "Mere nonuse does not constitute abandonment" (Texas report).
• Adverse use. The Texas report says adverse possession of an easement by the owner of the burdened land for ten continuous years will terminate it, where the claim unmistakably asserts exclusive ownership for those years.
• Sale to a buyer without notice. The Texas report calls conveyance of the burdened land to a bona fide purchaser, who pays valuable consideration and takes title without actual or constructive notice, "the most universal means of terminating private easements."

However an easement ends, the Texas report advises that a written release be signed and placed in the county land records.

Easements when you are buying or developing land

How easements cut the buildable area

Some local codes leave land in a utility easement out of the area they count as buildable. Two New York towns:

• Town of Newburgh. Buildable area is an area of a lot within the building envelope "not constrained by" a list of features that ends with "rights-of-way of existing public or private roads or utility easements" (code definitions).
• Town of Marlborough. Net buildable area is the gross acreage of a proposed development site less wetlands, slopes in excess of 25%, floodplains, water bodies "and lands that are otherwise restricted from development, such as by a utility easement." Net density is the number of allowed dwelling units divided by the net buildable area (code definitions).

Read the code's definitions of lot area, buildable area and density before you count lots.

Which easements to map before an offer

1. Access the site relies on. If the parcel reaches the road over someone else's land, find the recorded easement and read its width and permitted use.
2. Access others hold across the site. A neighbor's appurtenant driveway or road easement passes with the neighbor's land.
3. Utility corridors and blanket easements. For each easement in the title evidence, an ALTA/NSPS survey must note when "it is a blanket easement" or when "its location cannot be determined from the record document" (Section 6.C.ii).
4. Use with no document. A worn road, a path or a line found on the site walk may be evidence of an unrecorded claim.

What to ask the title company and the surveyor

1. Title company: Will you send every document listed in Schedule B, Part II, and not only the list?
2. Title company: Will you remove the standard exception for easements not shown by the public records, and what do you need to do it? New Mexico requires each commitment to say it may be deleted from a policy upon compliance with the applicable rules, payment of the added premiums, receipt of the required documents and compliance with the company's underwriting standards.
3. Surveyor: Will the survey plot every easement that can be plotted, note each one that cannot, and show evidence of use by others that is not in the documents?
4. Surveyor: Will you report any recorded easement you find that the title evidence does not list? The 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards require the surveyor to advise the insurer of one before delivering the survey (Section 6.C.viii).

Where Pillar fits

Pillar's property search finds a parcel by address, APN or owner name and shows floodplain, wetlands, slope and roads on it. A parcel map shows a recorded easement only if the source data includes it, so use the records above to find them.

Quick answers

What is an easement in simple terms? A right to use part of someone else's land for a stated purpose, such as a driveway, a power line or a drainage path. The owner keeps the land.

Do easements transfer when a property is sold? In Texas, an easement appurtenant conveys with the benefited parcel, and a sale of the burdened land includes the easement if the buyer has actual or constructive notice of it.

Can a property owner block an easement? Not an established one. In Texas and Utah the owner of the burdened land may not interfere, or unreasonably interfere, with the holder's use.

Who maintains an easement? Start with the easement document and any agreement between the holders. For Oregon private rights of way under the statute above, costs follow the agreement or the recorded maintenance provisions; without either, holders share them in proportion to use, and a holder who causes damage through negligence or abnormal use repairs it alone. The Texas report puts repairs on the holder.

How do I find out if there are easements on my property? Read your deed, the recorded plat and Schedule B of your title commitment or policy. Search the county recorder's index and have a survey plot what the documents describe. An unrecorded easement will not be in the records.

How are easements terminated? Depending on the state, by a recorded release, by merger when one owner holds both sides, by expiration, by abandonment, by adverse use, or through a sale of the burdened land to a buyer without notice.