OH · Columbus
Easements in Franklin County, OH
Columbus-area subdivisions carry standard platted utility easements, while older parcels can still be crossed by rail and interurban corridors.
Franklin County Recorder
Visit the office websiteThe county publishes a free public parcel viewer showing platted easement strips.
Filing fees
Ohio charges a first-two-pages fee plus a per-page fee after that, and requires a separate fee for each additional reference to a prior instrument.
Check the current fee scheduleAbout 21 years of open, continuous, adverse use is generally required.
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2305.04
Read the Ohio rulesEasement lookup by address in Franklin County
Have a Columbus-area street address? Enter it on our free lookup and we match it to the right lot, then show where recorded strips sit on an aerial map.
- Type the full street address, including Columbus or the city name.
- Confirm the lot outline. Franklin County publishes a free public parcel map, which we use to match the address to its lot.
- Compare any strip we show against the recorded document at the Franklin County Recorder; the recorded grant is always the final word on location and width.
Easements you'll see most often here
- Public utility easements along lot lines
- Storm and sanitary sewer easements
- Former rail and interurban corridor easements
- Shared driveway easements in older neighborhoods
Local things to watch for
- Abandoned rail corridors may have reverted, or may not. The original conveyance language controls.
- Sewer easements often run down the shared line between two lots.
How to pull an easement document in Franklin County
The whole search takes about half an hour once you know what the index wants.
- 1
Collect what the Franklin index searches on
Write down the parcel number from your Franklin tax bill and the names of the current and previous owners. The Franklin County Recorder indexes instruments by party name, not by street address, so the owner names are what actually find the document.
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Run the names through the Franklin County Recorder index
Search grantor and grantee for each owner across the full period they held title, then repeat for the owner before them. In Columbus the documents worth opening are public utility easements along lot lines, storm and sanitary sewer easements, former rail and interurban corridor easements and shared driveway easements in older neighborhoods. That is what dominates local title work here, so filter to those types first if the search screen allows it.
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What a Franklin 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. Abandoned rail corridors may have reverted, or may not. The original conveyance language controls.
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Cross-check on the Franklin parcel viewer
Franklin 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 public utility easements along lot lines. Treat the lines as approximate: county GIS is digitized from tax maps and routinely sits several feet off a surveyed line.
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Order the copy from the Franklin County Recorder
Ohio charges a first-two-pages fee plus a per-page fee after that, and requires a separate fee for each additional reference to a prior instrument. 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.
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What the Franklin record will not show
Sewer easements often run down the shared line between two lots. No index anywhere shows a prescriptive claim or an easement implied by necessity, because neither is ever filed. Walking the Columbus 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 Franklin 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 Franklin County index.
- 1
Settle scope with the burdened owner first
Owners around Columbus say yes far more often to a specific request than a general one. Bring the purpose, a route you can point at, a width in feet and an offer, and the conversation is about price rather than about whether the idea is reasonable at all.
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Fix the location with a OH licensed surveyor
Nothing gets signed until a Ohio surveyor stakes the route and writes a legal description keyed to the current deed call. The Franklin 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.
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Write the grant narrowly, then have it acknowledged
The instrument must be signed and acknowledged before a notary to be recordable. Ohio recording requirements sit at Ohio Rev. Code § 317.08 (records the recorder must keep). Because Storm and sanitary sewer easements rights are common here, spell out whether this grant covers only the stated use or opens the strip to other utilities later.
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Record it with the Franklin County Recorder
Recording is what makes the right bind the next buyer of the burdened Franklin lot. Ohio charges a first-two-pages fee plus a per-page fee after that, and requires a separate fee for each additional reference to a prior instrument. Local context worth knowing: Abandoned rail corridors may have reverted, or may not. The original conveyance language controls.
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Check the index, then file the stamped copy
A few days after filing, search the Franklin County Recorder index under both party names and confirm the instrument appears with the correct document type and book or instrument number. Send a stamped copy to the title company and to any lender that consented, then store the survey with it so a future buyer inherits the whole picture.
Franklin County recording rules in detail
Transcribed from the office’s own published pages. Fees change, so check the current schedule before you file.
- Office that records easements
- Franklin County Recorder
- How fees are structured
- Ohio prices the first two pages at a base rate under R.C. 317.32 and then charges per additional page, so exhibit-heavy easements cost more here than in a flat-fee state.
- Formatting that gets a document rejected
- Ten point or larger type in blue or black ink, with no highlighting.
- Letter or legal size paper, one-inch side and bottom margins, a three-inch top margin on page one and one and a half inches on the rest, as R.C. 317.114 requires.
- A legal description on initial recordings.
- A preparer name and address plus a return-to address.
- Electronic recording
Typical easement widths here
From Franklin County Stormwater Drainage Manual, Part I and Part II (design criteria for publicly maintained storm sewers and stormwater control practices).. These are the widths the county requires when new strips are created; the easement on any one lot is whatever its recorded plat or grant says, which can be wider or narrower.
Publicly owned storm sewer easement - 30 feet
A publicly owned and operated storm sewer must sit in an easement at least 30 feet wide centered on the pipe, or 5 feet beyond the trench limits on each side, whichever the manual's formula makes larger.
Stormwater control practice easement (pond or basin) - 20 feet
The easement around a stormwater control practice such as a detention pond must extend 20 feet beyond its maximum design flood limits, and a county-maintained facility needs a dedicated access easement of at least 20 feet from that easement to the nearest public right-of-way.
Maintenance vehicle accessway within a stormwater access easement - 15 feet
Centered inside the wider access easement, the manual requires a mowed or graveled accessway at least 15 feet wide so a maintenance vehicle can reach the pond and its inlet and outlet structures.
How to dispute an easement in Franklin 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 Ohio should look at anything contested.
- 1
Pull the recorded instrument first
Before anything else, get the document itself. Search the Franklin County 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: Franklin County Recorder
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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
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Get a current survey staking the strip
A surveyor licensed in Ohio 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 Ohio
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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 21 years of open, continuous, and adverse use under Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2305.04. 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: Ohio recording and prescription rules
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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
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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 Franklin County Recorder. The same formatting rules that apply to the original easement apply here.
Through: Franklin County Recorder
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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 Franklin 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 Ohio property attorney before filing.
Through: The trial court serving Franklin County
Look up another county or read the Ohio easement law page for the statewide rules behind these steps.
Nearby counties we cover
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Common questions about finding easements in Franklin County
How do I find out if my Franklin County property has an easement?
Start with the title commitment or owner's policy from your purchase. Easements are listed in Schedule B. Recorded easements are also indexed by the Franklin County Recorder, and the county's free public parcel viewer usually shows platted easement strips. A current survey catches anything used on the ground but never recorded.
What easements are most common in Franklin County?
Public utility easements along lot lines, Storm and sanitary sewer easements, Former rail and interurban corridor easements, among others. Abandoned rail corridors may have reverted, or may not. The original conveyance language controls.
Can a neighbor gain a permanent right to cross my Franklin County land?
In Ohio, open, continuous, and adverse use generally has to run for about 21 years before a prescriptive easement can be claimed. Permission given in writing usually stops the clock, because the use is then no longer adverse.
Does an easement lower property value in Columbus?
It depends on where it sits and what it prohibits. A narrow utility strip along a rear lot line rarely affects value. An easement that crosses the buildable area, bars fences and structures, or gives someone else a driveway through the yard can meaningfully limit what the property can become.
How do I get an easement in Franklin County?
Agree the purpose, route and width in feet with the other owner, have a Ohio licensed surveyor prepare an exhibit and legal description, sign a written grant before a notary, then record it with the Franklin County Recorder. Recording is what makes the right bind the next buyer of the burdened lot.
What does it cost to record an easement in Franklin County?
Ohio charges a first-two-pages fee plus a per-page fee after that, and requires a separate fee for each additional reference to a prior instrument. The survey and drafting normally cost far more than the filing itself, so budget for those first.
Work on easements in these counties? Get listed free.
Our directory is for licensed surveyors, title abstractors, abstract and search companies, and real estate attorneys. Listings are free, we verify the license number before anything is published, and we never list a firm that did not ask to be there. People reach these pages already holding a title commitment or a plat with a corridor across it, which is the point at which they start looking for someone local.
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General educational reference only. Prescription periods and their exceptions change, and several states set the period by case law rather than by statute. Read the linked official code and consult a licensed attorney in that state before relying on any of it.