Easements in San Francisco County, CA

Easements you'll see most often here

• Party wall and shared foundation easements between attached buildings
• Light well and shaft easements between narrow lots
• Shared stair, deck and rear yard access easements
• Encroachment agreements for bay windows and stoops over the public way

Local things to watch for

• Encroachment permits for stoops and bay windows are revocable city permissions, not permanent property rights.
• Condominium conversions commonly create exclusive use easements over roof decks and parking that are easy to miss in the deed.

How to pull an easement document in San Francisco County

The whole search takes about half an hour once you know what the index wants.

1. 1

   Collect what the San Francisco index searches on

   Write down the parcel number from your San Francisco tax bill and the names of the current and previous owners. The San Francisco Assessor-Recorder indexes instruments by party name, not by street address, so the owner names are what actually find the document.

2. 2

   Run the names through the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder index

   Search grantor and grantee for each owner across the full period they held title, then repeat for the owner before them. In San Francisco the documents worth opening are party wall and shared foundation easements between attached buildings, light well and shaft easements between narrow lots, shared stair, deck and rear yard access easements and encroachment agreements for bay windows and stoops over the public way. That is what dominates local title work here, so filter to those types first if the search screen allows it.

3. 3

   What a San Francisco hit looks like

   A result row gives you a recording date, an instrument or book-and-page reference, the parties and a document type. None of which tells you where the strip runs. Open the image and read for the width in feet and the distance from the lot line. Encroachment permits for stoops and bay windows are revocable city permissions, not permanent property rights.

4. 4

   Cross-check on the San Francisco parcel viewer

   San Francisco County publishes a free public parcel viewer. Find the lot, turn on the plat or easement layers, and see how the recorded strips sit against your boundary. Particularly party wall and shared foundation easements between attached buildings. Treat the lines as approximate: county GIS is digitized from tax maps and routinely sits several feet off a surveyed line.

5. 5

   Order the copy from the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder

   The Assessor-Recorder charges the California first page and per page fees plus city transfer tax filings handled at the time of recording. A plain copy is enough to read and to hand a contractor; a certified copy is only needed for a court filing or a lender.

6. 6

   What the San Francisco record will not show

   Condominium conversions commonly create exclusive use easements over roof decks and parking that are easy to miss in the deed. No index anywhere shows a prescriptive claim or an easement implied by necessity, because neither is ever filed. Walking the San Francisco lot for worn paths, poles, meters and vent stacks catches what the record misses.

Once you have the document, how to read a recorded easement walks through each clause and what to confirm before you build.

How to get an easement in San Francisco County

Creating a new easement is a different job from finding an old one. Here is the local sequence, from the first conversation to a stamped instrument in the San Francisco County index.

1. 1

   Start with a specific ask, not a favor

   Write the deal points down before money or drawings appear: what the Party wall and shared foundation easements between attached buildings right covers, where it runs, how wide it is, who maintains the surface, and what happens if the use ever stops. Everything after this step is just execution of that list.

2. 2

   Turn the agreed route into a legal description

   The surveyed exhibit is the most expensive part of the job and the part that prevents every later argument in San Francisco County about where the strip actually runs. The San Francisco County parcel viewer is fine for planning the route, but its lines are digitized from tax maps and are not survey grade, so never let a grant rely on them.

3. 3

   Put it in a recordable CA instrument

   The instrument must be signed and acknowledged before a notary to be recordable. California recording requirements sit at Cal. Gov. Code § 27201 (instruments the recorder must accept). Add restoration terms for grade, paving and landscaping, and say whether the right is permanent or ends when the use does.

4. 4

   Record it with the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder

   Recording is what makes the right bind the next buyer of the burdened San Francisco lot. The Assessor-Recorder charges the California first page and per page fees plus city transfer tax filings handled at the time of recording. Local context worth knowing: Encroachment permits for stoops and bay windows are revocable city permissions, not permanent property rights.

5. 5

   Verify the recording before you rely on it

   A few days after filing, search the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder index under both party names and confirm the instrument appears with the correct document type and book or instrument number. If the index shows the wrong parties or a missing exhibit page, fix it now with a corrective instrument rather than at closing years from now.

• Getting an easement across someone else's land
• Granting an easement on your own land
• What it costs to record an easement
• Utility corridor requirements: what is allowed inside the strip

Typical easement widths here

San Francisco County does not publish a free document setting easement widths in feet, so we do not list local numbers here rather than guess at them. The width that applies to your lot is on the recorded plat or in the grant itself. Common widths used across the country gives you a sense of what the ranges usually look like.

How to dispute an easement in San Francisco County

A plain walkthrough of the sequence owners generally follow, with the local office for each step. This is background reading, not legal advice. A property attorney licensed in California should look at anything contested.

1. 1

   Pull the recorded instrument first

   Before anything else, get the document itself. Search the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder index by your name, the prior owner's name, or the parcel number, and download the recorded easement with its exhibit. A strip drawn on a plat or shaded in a county map viewer is a depiction, not the grant. The recorded instrument is what controls the width, the route, and what the holder may do inside it.

   Through: San Francisco Assessor-Recorder

   • San Francisco County recorded-document search
2. 2

   Read the legal description against your lot

   Compare the description in the grant with your deed. Check the stated width in feet, the point of beginning, and whether the strip is fixed by bearings and distances or described loosely as a route "as now used." Vague descriptions are the most common reason a strip ends up in the wrong place, and they are also the most common reason a dispute is winnable.

   Through: Your own deed and title policy

3. 3

   Get a current survey staking the strip

   A surveyor licensed in California can set the recorded strip on the ground and show whether the pipe, pole line, driveway, or fence actually sits inside it. Encroachment outside the recorded corridor, or use well beyond the stated purpose, is the factual basis most disputes turn on. Bring the surveyor the recorded instrument and the plat, not just the county map.

   Through: A surveyor licensed in California

4. 4

   Check whether the right was ever properly created

   An easement binds your lot if it was granted in writing and recorded, implied when the land was split, taken by a public body, or built up by 5 years of open, continuous, and adverse use under Cal. Civ. Proc. Code §§ 321, 325; Cal. Civ. Code § 1007. If none of those fit, for example the use was always by permission, or the grant was never recorded before you bought, the claimed right may not attach to your title at all.

   Through: California recording and prescription rules

   • California official state code
5. 5

   Put the objection in writing to the holder

   Write to the utility, district, or neighbor who holds the right. State what the recorded document allows, what is happening instead, and what you are asking for. Relocation, repair, a narrower corridor, or a written release. Utilities and districts often have a right-of-way or encroachment desk that resolves overbuilt strips without litigation, and a dated letter also stops a neighbor's permissive use from hardening into a prescriptive claim.

   Through: The easement holder's right-of-way department

6. 6

   Record any agreement you reach

   A relocation, a reduction in width, or a full release only binds the next owner if it is recorded. Have it drafted with a legal description and an exhibit, signed and notarized, then filed with the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder.

   Through: San Francisco Assessor-Recorder

7. 7

   Quiet title is the remaining route

   If the holder will not release or correct the strip, the dispute is decided by the trial court that hears real property cases for San Francisco County. A quiet-title or declaratory action asks the court to say what the easement is, where it sits, and whether it still exists. Deadlines, notice requirements, and the standard of proof vary by state, so speak with a California property attorney before filing.

   Through: The trial court serving San Francisco County

Look up another county or read the California easement law page for the statewide rules behind these steps.

Nearby counties we cover

• Los Angeles County (Los Angeles)
• San Diego County (San Diego)
• Riverside County (Riverside)
• Orange County (Anaheim)