Contact a Florida Real Estate Attorney If you have questions about easements or need assistance with other real estate issues, contact the Law Offices of Larry E. Bray, P.A. in Florida at 561-571-8970 to schedule a consultation. https://www.braylawoffices.com/florida-residential-property-short-sales/
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Florida law also recognizes easements by prescription. To establish an easement by prescription, a claimant must satisfy a four prong test by proving that: He had actual, continuous, uninterrupted use of the claimed easement for 20 years; His use was adverse to that of the owner of the land and under claim of right either with the actual ...
Some of the common issues and disputes related to easements and rights-of-ways in Florida include: • Determining the exact location and boundaries of the right-of-way or easement; • Using the right-of-way for another purpose other than crossing the land; • Whether a legal easement or right-of-way was created.
When you are facing a dispute over an easement or boundary issue on or near your property, contact the experienced Real Estate attorneys at KALIS, KLEIMAN & WOLFE, the South Florida-based real estate law firm today at (954) 791-0477.
Contact a Florida Real Estate Attorney for Help. If you believe your land is affected by an easement or an easement you benefit from has been challenged, contact a Florida real estate attorney of the Law Offices of Larry E. Bray, P.A. at 561-571-8970. Resources:
An easement is a nonpossessory interest in another person's property. In other words, an easement grants you the right to use the property for a specific purpose, but the easement does not transfer any ownership in the property to you. Several different types of easements maybe granted under Florida laws:
When you are facing a dispute regarding access to your property or access to an easement or right-of-way, you need an experienced Florida real estate lawyer to review the facts and circumstances in the case, conduct a title examination, and research relevant Florida laws to determine your options for resolving the dispute.
In many cases, property owners litigate these matters because they cannot settle the dispute between themselves. While some easement, right-of-way, and access issues will be settled in court, many of these matters can be handled through negotiation.
Our Daytona real estate attorneys are skilled negotiators who can work with you to discover a compromise that can save you time and money. However, if the other party refuses to negotiate in good faith, our lawyers are trained and aggressive litigators who are prepared to take the case to court if it is necessary to protect your property rights and best interests.
Dealing with a dispute regarding access can be frustrating and time-consuming. We can help. Call (888) 316-2131 to speak with our Daytona real estate lawyer to discuss your real estate matter.
However, a right-of-way does not give you access to another person's property for “use” of the property. A right-of-way only allows you to pass over another person's property. Rights -of-way are for travel purposes across the land, such as a driveway or a walkway. They do not allow you to use the land for any other reasons.
Even though easements and rights-of-ways are similar, there are some very distinct differences that are important, especially when access disputes between property owners or third parties arise.
An easement, in general, is a right to go onto someone else’s land without having any ownership interest in it.
The land that has the easement on it is called the servient estate while the land that benefits from the easement is known as the dominant estate. These easements are attached to the land itself and pass from one person’s ownership to another automatically. An easement in gross benefits a person or entity and not a parcel of land.
Types of Easements. Not all easements are exactly the same. There are two broad categories of easements: easement appurtenant and easement in gross. An easement appurtenant benefits one parcel of land to the detriment of another parcel of land. The land that has the easement on it is called the servient estate while the land ...
How Easements Are Created. Landowners and other individuals create easements in a number of ways. An express easement is a formal way of creating this right and requires a written agreement. The contract must be signed by both parties involved and are usually recorded on the property deeds.
When the land that is subject to the easement is sold, the easement generally transfers with the land. However, when the individual or entity who benefits from the easement changes, it may not pass the easement to a new person.
The individual’s use of the land is open and notorious, meaning it is not kept secret
In Florida, prescriptive easements only exist under the common law and not by statute, unlike express or implied easements. For a prescriptive easement to be created under Florida’s common law, the follow elements must be met: The individual’s use of the land is open and notorious, meaning it is not kept secret.
Easements can be complicated, so it’s best to speak with a skilled West Palm Beach real estate attorney who can explain your particular legal situation. If you believe your land is affected by an easement or someone is challenging an easement you benefit from, contact the Law Offices of Larry E. Bray, P.A. today.
Generally speaking, an easement is the right to enter someone else’s land despite not having an ownership interest in it.
There is something called an easement appurtenant, which provides benefit to an adjoining piece of land, regardless of who owns the land. This easement is for the benefit of a specific parcel of land, and that means there must be dominant and servient tenements. The land that benefits from the easement is the dominant tenement while the servient tenement is the one who is burdened by it.
These include water and sewer lines, power, and telephones. A property that is served by public utilities will have an easement in gross. Where these become complicated is when utilities are underground, for example, and you want to build a pool. Easements in gross typically cannot be assigned, sold, or inherited by the one benefitted.
One of the most common disputes with easements involve boundary line disputes when one of the parties wants to make improvements. Sometimes, a property owner will add a wall or fence or make some other type of modification that encroaches on the adjoining land, the owner may be told to remove the improvement or be required to pay the landowner for the easement.
The law also recognizes something called a prescriptive easement, which is when an individual uses someone else’s land for a certain amount of time. These are not covered by statute like other types of easements, and exist under common law. There are a number of certain conditions that must be met for a prescriptive easement, including that the individual has to have used the land continuously for at least 20 years and the use is limited to a defined route or area. Your Florida real estate attorney can explain all the other conditions that must be met.
An easement can be created through a number of different ways. The first is an express easement, which is a formal process that includes a written agreement. The agreement must be signed by both parties and typically recorded on the property deeds.
The most common easement is a written easement which is very much like a deed where you layout the legal description and you layout the specifics of the easement. For instance the right to ingress and egress an automobile over this particular strip of land to enter and leave your property. The one thing really about the written easement is you make sure that the legal description is right because somebody’s going to have to carve out the legal description of the area over which the easement runs. You just can’t use the overall property description.
Now the most disputed type of easement is what we call a prescriptive easement, this is a situation where there has been no written agreement as to a easement, and sometimes it might be called an implied easement. Basically, what happens here is the law imputes an easement when certain conditions are met. When one party is actually using the property of another for a specific purpose. And that the use is continuous. It doesn’t go on for a year or two and then it stops and then maybe it picks up after three or four years. It’s a continuous ongoing thing. Now that doesn’t mean every day but it does mean regular and ongoing without any significant breaks in the pattern.
If you’re buying a piece of land either out in the country or a commercial property in the city you can’t rely solely on the public records to determine if there are easements because obviously prescriptive easements are not going to be there. You can ask the seller to disclose in writing any prescriptive easements that he knows of or which might be claimed which might meet that general criteria. If you’re uncertain sometimes what you want to do is just ask the adjoining landowners.
An easement attorney should be well-schooled and experienced in the various easement laws in the State where they operate, and because these laws can be quite different from State to State and even from one county to another, hiring someone who knows the local layout, as far as easement laws, is pretty important. Those who run into various easement issues are sometimes surprised by the commonality and the wide spectrum of easement cases.
An easement is a somewhat unique situation, but may be more common than many property owners realize. This is when someone besides the owner of a piece of land or property has some right over some portion of that property, either to use the land for a particular purpose, run the land, even live on a piece of the land. The specific details of various easements vary quite a bit and there is a near limitless number of possibilities. Easements are not always for individuals. More commonly it is for some government (local or federal), a business, or a utility company.
If you allow one to use land put in writing that it is not and easement, the help of a lawyer to draw this up is recommended. Check property regularly to ensure it is not being used in such a way that may lead to an easement should it continue for whichever time frame local governments have specified. Give permission, which can seem counter-intuitive but which can establish that you are lending in a limited timeframe preventing an easement.