Easement
A legal right for someone else to use part of your land for a specific purpose.
An easement gives another person, a utility, or a government body the right to use a defined part of your property for a defined purpose. You still own the land. You simply cannot block the use the easement protects.
Most easements are recorded, which means they appear in the county land records and travel with the property when it sells. A few are created by long use or by necessity and never appear on paper at all.
Why it matters when you buy
An easement can decide where you may build, fence, plant, or pave — often on the most usable part of a lot.
Related terms
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.
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