Easement and Covenant Notice

Background: The title to a house or other real property details the rights the owner has in the property. Property rights are often described as a bundle of rights and comprise the rights of possession, control, exclusion, enjoyment and disposition. Because of the importance of the title, a title search is conducted when a property is sold so that the buyer will have notice about whether the full vested rights in the property are being conveyed. If the property is subject to a property restriction such as an easement or covenant, the property owner’s rights of enjoyment, exclusion and control may be significantly reduced. Easements and covenants may allow other people to have access to the property and may limit the title owner’s use of the property.

Why This is Important: Although a title search will typically discover an easement, covenant or other property rights restriction on the property, there are times when a title search fails to discover the restriction. Few title searches go back longer than 60 years and many title searches only review title changes in the last 20 years. As a result, if an easement or covenant was placed on the property outside of time frame of the title search, the buyer may not discover that a neighbor has access to use his driveway or prohibit her from adding a second story to his home. This bill would give an easement or covenant holder the right to record notice of the easement in the property records as often as they want to ensure that the property restriction is discovered in a title search.

Maryland REALTORS® Position: Maryland REALTORS® supports this legislation. It is important that buyers have notice of restrictions in their use and enjoyment of their property, and it is important that easement holders have a tool to protect their rights.

Legislative History: A similar bill was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2019. That bill, SB 25, was sponsored by Senator Zirkin at the request of the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The bill established a recording notice right but only for holders of environmental easements and covenants. The bill passed unanimously in the both the Senate and House.