How long does it take to create a prescriptive easement in Maryland?

20 years of open, notorious, continuous and adverse use is the period generally applied in Maryland, commonly cited to Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-103. The clock only runs while the use is visible and without the owner's permission; written permission restarts it.

Can someone take ownership of my land in Maryland, not just a right to cross it?

A prescriptive easement only creates a right of use after 20 years. You keep title. Ownership claims run through Maryland's separate adverse possession rules, which require possession of the strip itself rather than a shared use of it.

What has to be proven for an easement claim in Maryland?

Twenty years of adverse, exclusive, continuous use. Long, unexplained use raises a presumption of adversity that the owner must rebut.

Where are easements recorded in Maryland?

Easements are recorded at the county level. For the Maryland counties we cover that means Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Land Records, Montgomery County Circuit Court, Land Records Department. 2 of those counties publish a free public parcel viewer you can check before you order title work.

Does a Maryland title commitment list every easement on the property?

Schedule B lists the recorded exceptions the title company found, which covers most utility, access and drainage easements. It will not show a prescriptive easement created by 20 years of use with nothing on paper, and it rarely tells you where on the lot the easement actually sits. That takes the recorded instrument plus a survey.

What have Maryland courts paid landowners for an easement?

Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC v. 76 Acres (Boyce) (2017) is one published example: Permanent 50-foot corridor of 0.68 acres, plus temporary construction easements of 0.38 and 0.32 acres. The total award was $246,331, of which $167,011 was damage to the land left over rather than the strip itself. We summarize 3 Maryland decisions with stated dollar figures on the valuation calculator.

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Maryland prescriptive easement law

Q: Which Maryland law actually sets the clock?

Garrett v. Gray, 258 Md. 363 (1970). In its own words: "It is a familiar principle that to establish a right of way by prescription it is necessary to prove an adverse, exclusive and uninterrupted use of the way for twenty years." We transcribed that from the official text on September 7, 2026.

Q: What does it cost to record an easement in Maryland?

Maryland records with the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Land Records Department. Recording fees are set by statute at Md. Real Property § 3-601 and carry a state surcharge on top of a page-count-based fee. Confirm the current amount with the clerk before filing.

Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-103

Prescriptive period

20 years

What actually decides a claim here

Twenty years of adverse, exclusive, continuous use.
Long, unexplained use raises a presumption of adversity that the owner must rebut.

The rule that matters most

Maryland's twenty-year prescriptive period is common law, not statute, and Maryland presumes adversity from unexplained, uninterrupted use unless the relationship between the parties suggests permission.

Maryland preserves the common-law doctrine of prescription separately from its statutory twenty-year period for actions to recover land. A claimant must show use of a defined way that is open, continuous, and adverse for twenty years, and Maryland case law recognizes a presumption of adversity once open and continuous use for that period is shown, subject to rebuttal, for example by evidence of a family or otherwise permissive relationship between the properties.

What a claimant must prove in Maryland

The claimant must prove the underlying use and its duration; once open, continuous, unexplained use for twenty years is shown, the burden effectively shifts to the owner to produce evidence that the use was permissive.

Continuous use for twenty years

The use of the claimed way must persist for the full period recognized under Maryland's common-law prescription doctrine.

Open and unexplained use

The use must be visible and not accompanied by an explanation, such as an express permission arrangement, that would prevent the presumption of adversity from arising.

Exclusivity appropriate to the claimed right

The claimant's use must be independent of merely sharing in general public or neighborhood travel over the same ground.

No controlling permissive relationship

Maryland courts examine family ties, landlord-tenant links, or other relationships that can make an otherwise qualifying use look like an accommodation instead of an adverse claim.

What can break the claim

A person who begins using a right-of-way while living on a relative's property as a minor, or otherwise dependent on the owner, may find the use presumed permissive rather than adverse.
Use by invitees of someone who already has permission does not create a separate adverse claim in the invitee.
Maryland's Real Property Article contains related but separate limitations periods for other rights, so a claim should be matched to the specific doctrine and statute in play.
An outdated or informal survey can leave the exact boundary of the claimed way uncertain, undermining an otherwise strong prescriptive claim.

Worked homeowner example

A Baltimore County connector road serving several lots

Facts: Several unrelated landowners have used a gravel connector road across a neighbor's parcel for more than twenty years to reach a public road, without any family relationship among the parties and without ever asking permission.

How the rule applies: Because the users are unrelated neighbors rather than family members or tenants of the servient owner, the twenty years of open, unexplained use is more likely to trigger Maryland's presumption of adversity than in cases involving dependent or family relationships.

Practical next step: Confirm the exact width and route of the historical use through surveys and aerial photographs, and document that no landowner ever granted express permission for the road.

A published Maryland example

Mahoney v. Devonshire, Inc. (86 Md. App. 624, 587 A.2d 1146 (1991))

Several corporations that owned adjoining developed lots near Reisterstown sued neighboring landowners to establish rights to a roadway connecting two county roads, relying in part on a jury finding of a prescriptive easement.

Outcome: The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland upheld the finding of a prescriptive easement and addressed the proper scope of the right the jury had found, including the extent to which the roadway could be improved and used.

Why it matters: Even where a prescriptive easement is established, Maryland courts separately examine how far the scope of that easement can be expanded to match evolving uses.

Read the published decision

The Maryland law in its own words

Maryland does not spell the prescriptive-easement period out in a single statute. The 20-year clock comes from decided cases reading Garrett v. Gray, 258 Md. 363 (1970), which means the elements a judge will hold you to are found in the opinions rather than in the code book.

“It is a familiar principle that to establish a right of way by prescription it is necessary to prove an adverse, exclusive and uninterrupted use of the way for twenty years.”
Garrett v. Gray, 258 Md. 363 (1970) · checked 2026-09-07

Open Garrett v. Gray, 258 Md. 363 (1970)

Recording an easement in Maryland

Maryland records at the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Land Records Department. Recording fees are set by statute at Md. Real Property § 3-601 and carry a state surcharge on top of a page-count-based fee. Confirm the current amount with the clerk before filing. See the fee authority.

Maryland records deeds and easements with the clerk of the circuit court for the county, or with the equivalent land records office in Baltimore City, where the property is located. Confirm that office's current recording requirements and include a metes-and-bounds description matching any plat referenced in the agreement.

Primary sources for this guide

Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-103 - Maryland twenty-year limitations period and preservation of common-law prescription
Md. Code, Real Prop. § 3-101 - Maryland land-records recording framework

Need the document itself? Follow the step-by-step records walkthrough to pull the recorded easement on your parcel from free county, state, and federal sources.

How Maryland compares with the rest of the country

Maryland runs a longer clock than most of the country: 20 years against a 15-year national median, so use that started recently is unlikely to have ripened into a prescriptive right yet. 21 states in total use a 20-year period. Nationally the periods run from 5 to 30 years, and 27 states are quicker than Maryland.

What Maryland courts have awarded

Published Maryland decisions that put a dollar figure on an easement or right-of-way. The pattern worth noticing: the strip itself is often the smaller number.

Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC v. 76 Acres (Boyce) (2017)
Permanent 50-foot corridor of 0.68 acres, plus temporary construction easements of 0.38 and 0.32 acres
Strip itself: $29,216. Damage to the rest: $167,011. Total: $246,331.
The jury priced the permanent strip, the temporary work space, and the harm to the rest of the farm separately; only the temporary-easement figure was sent back for retrial.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Read the decision
Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC v. 76 Acres (Boyer) (2017)
Permanent easement of 0.67 acres, access-road use of 0.09 acres, temporary easements of 0.29 and 0.12 acres
Strip itself: $27,872. Damage to the rest: $93,948. Total: $127,964.
Damage to the remainder came to more than three times the value of the strip itself, and the award was affirmed in full.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Read the decision
Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC v. 76 Acres (Kenney) (2017)
Permanent easement of 0.9965 acres, temporary construction easement of 0.4664 acres, temporary license of 0.0101 acres
Strip itself: $43,268. Damage to the rest: $130,668. Total: $181,575.
The award itemized a $7,639 temporary easement, and the court revived the owner's separate claim for the value of timber that had been cut.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Read the decision

Easements you actually see on Maryland title work

Across the Maryland counties we publish guides for, these are the exceptions that show up most often in Schedule B: Agricultural land preservation easements on northern farms, BGE electric and gas distribution easements, Historic and agricultural preservation easements, Pepco transmission and distribution corridors, Reservoir watershed protection and forest buffer easements, Shared driveway and private lane easements in older suburbs. The recorded instrument controls the width and location. A plat note or a county parcel viewer is only a starting point.

County-by-county recording rules in Maryland

Easements are recorded county by county, and the filing rules are set by the office that takes the document. Not by the state. Open a county to see who records there, how that office structures its fees, what makes a document get rejected, and where the free official index and parcel viewer live.

Look up Maryland county records to jump straight to a county page with its recording rules, typical strip widths in feet, and the steps for disputing an easement.

Browse free Maryland easement records and parcel GIS sources

Maryland easement questions

Read the official Maryland code Estimate the value impact Check a property in Maryland

Common questions from homeowners

Related terms

prescriptive easement

easement by necessity

right of way

encroachment

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.