What Is The Easement In My Backyard?

Backyard means an area of land surrounding a house or other building, normally open to the sky. Easement is a legal term used in English law meaning an exclusive right over the use of property.

Easements are a form of land ownership and possession reserved for specific purposes. In exchange for allowing public access, landowners can charge fees to compensate them for their costs involved with maintaining and safeguarding the public’s easement rights on the property.

An easement is an interest in one property that allows someone other than the property’s owner to use that property for a specific purpose. For example, when someone installs a fence on his or her land, he or she can retain the right to walk across your lawn to go from his or her yard to the sidewalk.

Or sometimes a power company installs rights-of-way for its lines and wires so it can access your rooftop from its utility pole, it may also retain the right to put in a new pole on your land if the existing one is damaged or removed.

Can You Trespass On An Easement?

Yes. You can cross an easement to pass through it; but you have no right to remain or be on the easement. You must not interfere with the use of an easement by the owner or someone authorized to use the easement.

A person who trespasses is liable for damages and might be prosecuted for trespassing. If you intend to trespass, make sure that:

Don’t hurt anyone physically or damage their property, such as a fence or crops.  An easement is a legal right given to someone to do something, like pass over another person’s land, as long as they do not interfere with the owner’s enjoyment of that land.

For example, a person who trespasses on your property has no legal right to walk across the land you own; they have no right to be on your property and you can sue them if they trespass.

Is A Private Right Of Way An Easement?

A private right of way is an area of land used for public access across your own land, such as a driveway. It can also be used for utility lines or gas and telephone lines.

The owner of the property has the right to block a private right-of-way for his or her own benefit, such as requiring people to pay a toll to use it or blocking access if he or she doesn’t want traffic coming through.

It is also difficult to get a court order forcing an owner to give up his or her rights in this manner. A private right of way is a legal right given by a deed to pass over someone else’s land. It is similar to an easement, but it is an interest in the legal title of a property.

The private right of way deed must be recorded to be legally enforceable.

What Is A Private Easement?

A private easement is a legal right over someone’s land. It gives someone the right to pass over it without permission as long as they do not interfere with the owner’s enjoyment of the land.

A person who trespasses on your property has no legal right to walk across your land and you can sue him or her for trespass if he or she does; they have no right to be on your property and you have no obligation to allow them to be there.

A private easement is created by deed, not by law. The owner may enforce it against the whole world, but only if they hold the legal title to that property; for example, a landlord who owns the freehold to a rental property may not be able to enforce a right of way against the tenant who lives there.

A person, who acquires an interest in the legal title to someone’s land, such as a mortgage or security interest, can make use of its private easement(s) without permission.

In practice, it is rare that an easement is used by someone other than the owner, except for utilities companies and other public service providers.

What Is A Storm Drainage Easement?

A storm drainage easement is an area of land where water is directed toward the public’s drains and sewers. For example, when you look at the property plans of a subdivision in which you want to purchase a lot, you will see blue lines indicating where storm drains and sewers are located.

Since their purpose is to provide drainage to prevent flooding and water damage to nearby properties, they are usually in public spaces such as roads, parks and utilities corridors such as hydro corridors.

Storm drainage easements exist because of the danger these ditches present when overflowing. A person who creates a storm drain easement has an interest in the property’s public access and improvement.

The owner can limit that use to only a certain amount or allow all uses to save money, both of which are legal under state law. If a person keeps unauthorized vehicles on or off, they might incur fines or be prosecuted for trespassing.

What Is Appurtenant Easement?

An appurtenant easement is an interest in a property that benefits another property, such as a dirt path from the first property’s driveway to the second driveway.

The owner of one property has an interest in providing access to his or her neighbor’s property, which has no right to be there but may have other rights like access across the owner’s land.

 For example a tenant of the property next door may have a right to use the property’s driveway since it is owned by the owner.

Like an easement in land, an appurtenant easement is a legal right created by deed, not by law. The owner can also limit or waive it, though it might be difficult if the adjacent party doesn’t agree to them as well.

Can A Perpetual Easement Be Terminated?

A perpetual easement is a legal right that can’t be terminated. However, it can be modified if the original owner agrees.

A property owner might agree to restrict a perpetual easement to certain uses, for example because her property isn’t used for its intended purposes anymore or because she doesn’t want it there.

An appurtenant easement can be terminated by agreement of all parties; it may also be modified by agreement of the parties or modified in court if the parties don’t agree on terms;

Termination of perpetual easement is even more difficult; only the original owner can agree to termination, and the agreement must be in writing.

Can You Build A Fence On An Easement In Texas?

Yes, but there are certain conditions. The easement holder has no legal right to prevent you from building a fence on the easement;

However, there is a technicality. Since an easement is a right across someone else’s land that can be modified to suit the interests of all parties.

If you build a fence with an iron or fiberglass mesh fence and there are no gates at the two ends, you can violate the easements; this could result in lawsuits against both parties. In Texas, if the land is not in use and it’s not fenced off, a fence can be built on an easement.

If you have a fence on an easement and want to replace the old one, you need to keep the old one and add a new one on top or next to the old one. You can also install another structure such as a gate but only if it is located where the previous gate was.

Is A Prescriptive Easement Legal or Equitable?

Prescriptive easement is a legal right to an easement. It is created by deed and may only be used if the original parties agree. However, like any other property right you can use it according to state law without the consent of the party who had the original easement;

A prescriptive easement is usually created by sellers of land, who grant it to buyers as a special condition of sale. They must keep it in writing, and the local title company keeps a copy for its records.

In Texas, you create a prescriptive easement by deed as long as the parties agree to it and keep it secret; for example, if you own land and provide access to your neighbor’s land through an existing easement, that neighbor cannot know about it because they would not grant their consent.

You can prove that you have a prescriptive easement by the type of the evidence. It must be by long use and possession: you must show how long you have had the use of the easement – it could be as short as two years or a tracing paper or clear title.

What Is A Railroad Easement?

A railroad easement is a legal right, usually found in a deed that allows companies such as railways to run their lines through private property.

It gives them the necessary rights to do their work on land that does not belong to them or on land over which they have no rights except to negotiate with someone who uses or owns it.

In Texas, railroads don’t have access by default; they must get an easement from the property owners whose land they want to cross.

Under Texas law, a railroad can be created by simple prescription. In other words, if a company has had legal access to part of your property for more than 15 years, you may have granted it an easement without knowing it;

You can prevent this from happening by recording in the county land records that you do not want railroads to come across your property. You must also notify them in writing; this notice applies to any future owner of the property, unless he or she decides to allow the railroad passage.