Utility requests

A utility company wants an easement on my land. What now?

Treat it as selling a property right, not signing a form. The first offer is an opening position, and the terms usually matter as much as the price.

The document in front of you was drafted by the utility's lawyers to give the utility maximum flexibility: a generous width, the right to add future lines, unrestricted access, and few obligations to restore your land. None of that is fixed. Easement grants are negotiated every day, and the terms in the first draft are the ones most easily improved.

Understand who is asking. A regulated utility or public agency may hold condemnation power, which means it can take the corridor through a legal process if you refuse, paying compensation set by that process. A private developer or telecom without that power needs your agreement, which puts you in a far stronger position.

Get the corridor defined before you sign. A grant that names a fixed width in a fixed location on an attached exhibit is far better for you than a floating or blanket right somewhere on the parcel.

What this looks like in practice

The packet that arrives in the post is a template, and templates are written for the sender. Common features worth changing: a width larger than the project needs, permission to add unrelated future facilities, unrestricted access anywhere on the parcel, and restoration language that promises only to leave the site in a reasonably clean condition.

Landowners who do best treat it as a transaction with several variables rather than one number. Route, width, depth of cover, access gates, timing around planting or grazing seasons, fence and drainage restoration, and whether the grant ends when the use ends are all negotiable, and several of them are worth more over decades than a bump in the cheque.

What to do next

1Ask in writing which entity is acquiring the right and whether it claims condemnation authority.
2Request the survey exhibit showing the exact route and width before discussing price.
3Mark up the draft: fix the width, delete future-facility language, add restoration and access terms.
4Get an independent valuation of the corridor and of damage to the rest of the parcel.
5Keep every version of the draft and every letter; the negotiation record matters if it goes further.

What to look for

A fixed width and a surveyed location, rather than a blanket right across the parcel.
Whether future additional lines are permitted inside the same corridor.
Restoration duties: topsoil, fencing, drainage, crops, and timber.
Access route and gate rules, so crews do not cross the rest of the property at will.
Whether the grant is permanent or expires if the use ends.

Questions people ask next

Should I use my own lawyer or appraiser?

For anything wider than a service line, yes. The acquiring party has both, and the cost of independent review is small against a permanent right that runs with your land.

Is the first offer negotiable?

Almost always. Initial offers are commonly built from a per-foot schedule that ignores damage to the remainder, which is exactly the component an appraisal tends to add.

Alabama prescriptive easement law

In Alabama, prescriptive easements generally require 20 years of open, continuous, and adverse use. Read the full Alabama summary.

Related terms