An easement is one of those legal concepts that many property owners do not think about until it directly affects them. You buy a home, and then discover your neighbor has the right to drive across your back yard. Or a utility company shows up to dig trenches, and you learn they have had the legal right to do so for decades.
Easements are common in Western Pennsylvania, particularly in older neighborhoods and rural properties. Understanding what they are and how they work is essential for any property owner.
What Is an Easement?
An easement is a legal right to use someone else's land for a specific, limited purpose. The easement holder has the right to use the land but does not own it. The property owner retains title but must allow the easement holder's use. The property that benefits is the dominant estate; the property that is burdened is the servient estate.
Types of Easements
Utility easements. The most common type. Utility companies and municipalities hold easements to install, maintain, and repair power lines, gas pipelines, water mains, and sewer lines. These typically restrict the property owner from building permanent structures within the easement area.
Access easements (rights of way). These give the holder the right to cross another person's property, typically to reach a public road. They are common in rural Westmoreland County, where landlocked parcels may have no other access.
Prescriptive easements. Acquired through long-term, open, and continuous use of another person's property without permission. In Pennsylvania, the required period is 21 years. The use must be open and notorious, continuous and uninterrupted, and adverse (without the owner's permission). A common example: a neighbor uses a path across your property for 25 years without your permission and may have acquired a legal right to continue.
Easements by necessity. These arise when a property is landlocked and has no access to a public road. Pennsylvania courts will imply an easement if the parcels were once under common ownership and the necessity arose when they were separated.
Express easements. Created by a written agreement between property owners and recorded with the county. The terms, location, scope, and duration are specified in the document.
How Easements Are Created
Easements in Pennsylvania can be created by express grant or reservation in a deed (must be in writing under the Statute of Frauds), by prescription through 21 years of open adverse use, by necessity when a parcel has no other access, by implication when the use was apparent at the time the property was divided, or by condemnation through eminent domain.
How Easements Affect Property Value
Easements can significantly affect what you can do with your property. A large utility easement may limit where you can build. An access easement means vehicles crossing your property regularly. A prescriptive easement creates a permanent right that runs with the land and binds future owners.
When buying property in Western PA, your attorney should review the title search for all recorded easements. Not all easements appear in the deed itself. They may be recorded separately, noted on a subdivision plat, or established by prescription without any recording.
Can Easements Be Removed?
Terminating an easement is possible but not simple:
- Agreement. The easement holder releases it by recorded document.
- Merger. The dominant and servient estates come under the same ownership.
- Abandonment. The easement holder demonstrates clear intent to abandon (mere nonuse is usually not enough).
- End of necessity. An easement by necessity terminates when the necessity ceases.
- Quiet title action. A property owner can file suit to challenge a claimed easement.
Protecting Yourself
If you discover someone using your land without permission, address it promptly. Allowing open, adverse use to continue for 21 years creates a prescriptive easement. A simple written permission letter can defeat a future prescriptive easement claim by establishing that the use was permissive, not adverse.
At Ament Law Group, we help Western Pennsylvania property owners understand, negotiate, and resolve easement issues. Whether you are buying a property with easement questions or dealing with a neighbor's use of your land, call us at (724) 733-3500 or contact us online to schedule a consultation.
Related resources:
- Deed Transfers in Pennsylvania
- Title Insurance Guide for Western PA Homebuyers
- Real Estate Services
- Schedule a Consultation
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