What to Know About Easements By Prescription

04/10/2024 12:16 PM Mark Goodman

Easements come in a few different forms. One such form is an easement by prescription (also known as a prescriptive easement). In this article, we are going to discuss a few things you should know about easements by prescription.

What is an Easement By Prescription?

Prescriptive easements allow adverse possession of a property for a limited purpose. Let’s take a look at an example to explain in more detail.

Let’s say there are two property owners who own land next to each other. One of the property owners needs to use a driveway to access their property. However, that driveway exists partially on the other person’s property. Now let’s say that a dispute arises between those two property owners about the use of the driveway. If the property owner using the driveway can prove that the use of that driveway was adverse, they may be able to get a court to grant a prescriptive easement for the driveway. But if the other property owner (on whose property the driveway is located), allowed the other property owner to utilize the driveway, then a court would likely not grant a prescriptive easement because the use would not be considered adverse. This is important to establish as many title companies will not insure an easement by prescription absent a court order.

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