Easements are often known as a right-of-way. Easements are the right to use part of another person’s land for a specific purpose. A simple example is the right to travel on a private road to gain access to otherwise inaccessible land. The easement holder does not have a right to possess the land – it is only a right to access the servient property for a specific purpose. The easement holder is also prohibited from using their access in a way that would unreasonably disrupt the landowner’s enjoyment of the property.
Easements are usually created by a contractual agreement or negotiated through a deed transfer as part of a property sale. But easement rights can also arise without a written agreement such as a right of way for a land-locked property (“implied easements”), or when a landowner fails to stop continued trespass for 21 years (“easement by prescription”).
