If you are buying a home and find out there is an easement on the property, you may wonder what this means, how this will affect you, and if there is a way to get rid of it. Easements are legal rights that can be found on almost any property, but you will know if a property has one when the title search of the property is conducted. Here are a couple things to understand about easements.

What is an easement?

An easement gives someone legal permission to use land that another person owns. If property has a legal easement, it will be discovered on the title work of the property. In some cases, easements are designed to last forever, but there are also times when they are created for a limited amount of time.

The downside to having an easement on your property is that it gives other people the right to use this part of the land. In other words, even though you own this part of the property, you may not have the right to change it in any way. For example, if there is an easement that allows utility workers access to telephone poles behind your home, you cannot turn this area into a garden. If you did, you would be removing the access the utility workers have to these telephone poles, and this is illegal to do, even though you own the property.

How can you get rid of an easement?

There are several routes you can take that may help you get rid of an easement found on your property. The first option to look into is the time frame for the easement. There is a chance that the easement was only designed to be used for a few years. If this is the case, the easement may have expired. In this situation, you would simply have to request that the easement be removed from the legal description of the house.

Another way easements go away is when a person purchases properties that are joined by the easement. For example, if there is an easement that is used to get to a home that is located behind your house, you could get rid of the easement if you purchased the property of the home behind yours. When two adjoining properties are owned by the same person, the easement that was used is often eliminated simply by a person purchasing both properties.

The best way to find out how to deal with an easement is by hiring a real estate attorney or agent. To learn more, call a company like Reece Nichols Real Estate.