If you’re hoping to use a landowner’s property for a specific purpose or you’re interested in allowing someone else to use your property subject to specific conditions and limitations, it’s important to speak with an experienced real estate attorney who is well-versed in easement issues. When money is tight and time is precious, it can be all too tempting to approach a legal matter on your own. However, real estate law is very complex and is impacted by ever-evolving state and local changes to existing codes and regulations. It will likely cost you more in both time and money overall to “DIY” your easement issues than it will to pay an attorney a modest fee to help you create an easement properly, “the first time around.” Attorneys know real estate codes inside and out and can help you avoid unnecessary fees, legal disputes, and red tape.
Express Easements
Express easements are relatively straightforward, provided that both parties generally agree to the terms of the easement in question. These easements are either created by contract or by contract language inserted into another legal document, such as a mortgage agreement. It is important to speak with a lawyer, like a real estate lawyer in Sacramento, CA from Kassouni Law, before creating an express easement as the legal language used must be precise, clearly articulated, enforceable, and properly recorded if the rights of all involved are to remain protected.
Easements by Use or Court Order
It is particularly important to speak with an attorney if you hope to create an easement via court order or through continued use of a landowner’s property. Easements may absolutely be created in these ways, provided that certain conditions are met. However, easements by necessity, implied easements, and prescriptive easements are governed by state-specific laws and local regulations. Therefore, making any kind of assumptions about how to go about creating such easements before speaking with a professional well-versed in these nuanced codes is generally a bad idea. Similarly, if you believe that your usage of another’s land has already met the requirements for easement creation, you’ll want to speak with an attorney about formalizing your rights before the landowner does something to compromise your interest in that prescriptive or implied easement.
Legal Assistance Is Available
If you’re interested in creating an easement, know that scheduling a consultation with an experienced real estate attorney is a confidential, no-risk, no-obligation process. Consultations are designed to ensure that potential clients can ask a professional their questions and have their situation clarified before they commit to any plan of action or inaction. As this process will help you make an informed decision about your circumstances and you have nothing to lose by taking this meeting, consider scheduling a consultation today. Proactive choices now may benefit you significantly later on.