Types of easements
What is a conservation easement?
A conservation easement is a permanent legal agreement that limits development on a property to protect natural, scenic, or historic values.
Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between a landowner and a qualified organization, usually a land trust or government agency. The landowner keeps ownership but gives up certain development rights forever.
These easements can provide significant tax benefits, including federal income tax deductions and estate tax reductions. The value of the deduction is generally based on the difference in value before and after the restriction.
Because conservation easements run with the land forever, they bind all future owners. Before buying a property with a conservation easement, review the exact restrictions and the easement holder's enforcement rights.
What this looks like in practice
A conservation easement is a voluntary, recorded restriction that limits development on land in order to protect its conservation values, habitat, farmland, forest, water quality, or scenic character. The landowner keeps title and can usually keep farming, ranching, or living there; what is given up is a defined set of development rights, permanently.
Unlike a utility easement, it is negative in character: it stops the owner from doing things rather than letting someone else use the land. A land trust or government agency holds the easement and monitors compliance, typically with an annual site visit. Because it is perpetual, it binds every later owner and shows up in every future title search.
What to do next
- 1Read the specific restrictions. Permitted structures, subdivision limits, and reserved rights vary enormously between documents.
- 2Identify the holder and ask for its baseline documentation report, which describes conditions when the easement was granted.
- 3Check whether any amendment or approval process exists for future changes.
- 4For a purchase, price the property on what the easement allows, not on unrestricted comparable sales.
What to look for
- The conservation easement deed and any approved uses.
- The easement holder's monitoring and enforcement rights.
- Tax benefit documentation if the easement was donated.
- Any reserved rights such as limited building envelopes or agricultural use.
Questions people ask next
Can I still build a house on it?
Only if the document reserves a building envelope or a specified number of dwellings. Many do reserve some residential use; others prohibit new construction entirely.
Is there a tax benefit?
Donating a qualifying perpetual conservation easement to an eligible organization can support a federal charitable deduction, and some states add credits. The rules are detailed and heavily audited, so this is professional-advice territory.
Can it be removed later?
Very rarely. Perpetual conservation easements are designed to be permanent, and extinguishing one typically requires court involvement and a showing that the conservation purpose has become impossible.
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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