One of the most common things found on properties is what is called an easement. Wikipedia defines it as follows:
An easement is the right to use the real property of another without possessing it… An easement is considered as a property right in itself at common law and is still treated as a type of property in most jurisdictions.
Easements are usually used for utility companies to have access to install and maintain their equipment or for one user to have the right to use part of another’s property, often for driveways or other property access. Cities also have easements along streets and alleys to allow them to maintain, and sometimes rebuild or widen, the roads. Another type of easement we are beginning to see more of are conservation easements, which require areas of the property to remain natural or wild, often as an environmental buffer between the development and nature.
Easements need to be recorded against the property at the county and once recorded they remain a part of the property in perpetuity unless otherwise amended or noted in the original easement. Without easements we would have a very difficult time getting power, water, sewer, gas, phone or cable to our homes!
Most easements occur along the edges of the property but sometimes can be found going right through the middle of a property too! It is important when considering any construction project (fence, shed, garage, addition,etc.) that you know where the easements are and the restrictions surrounding them.
The Star Tribune had an article recently where a homeowner’s plans for a new garage were affected by the power company’s relocation of a power pole. It sounds as if the power company is going to accommodate the home owner’s wishes to move it back to where it was but they aren’t legally required to do so – it seems to be more of a PR decision. A road close to my house is being completely rebuilt and many of the homeowners built their fences over the city’s right of way and therefore have been forced to take them down.
Check with your city’s planning department for more information – they usually have the utility and street easements on file, but won’t necessarily have private party easements in their system.
