If another party asks you to grant an easement, know that granting an easement is literally transferring ownership or control of a portion of your land. An easement is the right of a person or legal entity to use the property of another person or legal entity for a specific purpose.
A commonly known example of an easement that encumbers residential and commercial land is the power company’s easement that is recorded in the public records of the county where the land is located and allows the power company to enter your land to install, maintain, and replace utility poles and overhead or underground power lines.
An easement may be for a specific time period or it may be perpetual, as is often the case with a power company’s easement. There are numerous other examples of easements, such as a permanent or perpetual reciprocal easement between the owners of two shopping centers to allow for cross-access and parking on another’s commercial property.
Before you sign for the approval of an easement, it is best practice to have your real estate attorney review the proposed easement agreement or grant of easement document and discuss with you any benefit you may receive from the easement and how the easement may prevent or inconvenience you from using your land in the way you intended. At the minimum, your attorney should review the proposed easement document to determine if the easement will be binding and therefore enforceable on you and the party receiving the benefit of the easement. The review should include confirming the easement document’s language is clear and unambiguous in stating the essential terms of the parties’ agreement, such as including a legal description prepared or approved by a surveyor showing what part of the land will be impacted by the easement, showing the size and location of the proposed easement, and including a statement spelling out the purpose and use of the easement and whether it is for a stated time period or is perpetual.
The easement document should state the details as to all that will be necessary to give effect to the easement. The idea is that if a dispute arose about the use of the easement, a judge reviewing the easement document will know from reading the document’s content why the easement is needed, what the easement’s limitations are, whether the easement is intended to be perpetual or has a date stated for its termination, and any other detail important to decide the dispute between the parties about the application of the easement.
The items to review noted above are the minimum review guidelines. Some commercial easements can be complex and require your real estate attorney’s careful review and discussion with you for other important details associated with the requested easement, including what you, as the person that grants or gives the easement, will receive for granting the easement to the requesting party.
When you are faced with a request for granting an easement to a third party, call Stross Law Firm, P. A. at 813-852-6500, for an initial courtesy discussion on how our attorneys may help you with your decision.
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