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SJC: Land Registration Not a Factor in Right-Of-Way Dispute Key Ruling Continues Court’S ‘Balanced’ Approach to Easement Law

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SJC: Land Registration Not a Factor in Right-Of-Way Dispute Key Ruling Continues Court’S ‘Balanced’ Approach to Easement Law Established 1872 Reprinted from the issue of March 10th, 2014 www.BankerandTradesman.com T HE R EAL E S T A T E , B ANKING AND C OMME rc IAL W EEKLY FO R M ASSA C HUSE tt S A PUBLICATION OF THE WARREN GROUP PROPERTY LAW SJC: Land Registration Not A Factor In Right-Of-Way Dispute Key Ruling Continues Court’s ‘Balanced’ Approach To Easement Law BY ASHLEY H. BROOKS SPECIAL TO BANKER & TRADESMAN land. dimensions of all easements easement, (b) increase the n a recent major real es- Clifford Martin owns a va- appurtenant to it … are immu- burdens on the owner of the tate law ruling, the Massa- cant lot of registered land table, and Martin has a right of easement in its use and enjoy- Ichusetts Supreme Judicial in an industrial/commercial access over the full width of ment, or (c) frustrate the pur- Court (SJC) extended owners subdivision on the Medford– [the easement].” pose for which the easement of registered land the same Somerville line. The lot has no The SJC disagreed, how- was created.” flexibility frontage on a public way, but ever, and reiterated the Land And even though the dis- that own- is accessible via a right of way Court judge’s finding that pute in Martin v. Simmons ers of un- easement on property owned there is “no principled distinc- Properties involved registered registered by Simmons Properties, which tion between easements on land, the court said: “We dis- land have easement is noted on the cer- registered land and easements cern nothing in the land reg- to defend tificate of registration issued on unrecorded land … ” istration act … to support a easement by the Land Court for Martin’s different understanding of the claims. property. ‘No Additional Property law of easements concerning ASHLEY H. BROOKS The In 1993, Simmons Proper- Rights For Registered Land registered land as opposed to SJC decision in Martin v. ties made several improve- Holders’ recorded land ... The act states Simmons Properties LLC up- ments to its properties in the The court’s decision in explicitly that an ‘owner of holds a 2011 Land Court rul- subdivision, including install- this case reinforces what it registered land may convey, ing that allowed a property ing a loading dock, a parking described in its 2004 M.P.M mortgage, lease, change or owner to make improvements deck and stairwell, and park- Builders’ ruling as a “bal- otherwise deal with it as fully on a right of way easement on ing spaces, along with curbing anced” approach in the law of as if it had not been regis- a registered land parcel that a and landscaping. All of the im- easements, which maximizes tered.’” neighboring owner of regis- provements protruded in some the value of property to the The SJC further opined that tered land claimed interfered way onto the easement. owner of a servient estate (the the land registration act pro- with his deeded easement Martin filed suit in 2007, landowner on whose property vides that when land is regis- rights. alleging interference by Sim- the easement is located), while tered the transfer certificate Massachusetts is one of mons with his right of access protecting the rights of an of title shall set forth all ease- fewer than a dozen states with to the easement. easement holder. ments to which the land is a limited implementation of The Land Court ruled in In its earlier decision, the subject but otherwise creates the 19th century Australian favor of Simmons, holding SJC adopted into law a rule no property rights distinct “Torrens Act,” a land registra- that although Simmons had regarding easement modifica- from or in addition to those tion system. Land registration made certain encroachments, tions, which states: “Unless ex- accorded any owner of real provides a certainty in owner- the right of way was still wide pressly denied by the terms of property. ship and legal descriptions. enough for its intended pur- an easement … the owner of It is a recognized principle The registration process in- pose of access. the servient estate is entitled that easements create only volves a legal procedure in Martin appealed, and the to make reasonable changes a non-possessory interest in which a certificate of title is commonwealth’s Appeals in the location or dimensions land and the benefit of such issued by a Land Court title ex- Court reversed significant por- of an easement, at the servi- easements should be con- aminer. tions of the Land Court deci- ent owner’s expense, to permit strued in a limited fashion About 15 to 20 percent of sion. Because Martin’s parcel normal use or development of relating only to the particular property in Massachusetts is is held under a Land Court the servient estate, but only if purpose of such easements. registered land. Non-registered certificate of registration, the the changes do not (a) signifi- The right of way, as currently land is referred to as recorded Appeals Court stated, “the cantly lessen the utility of the Continued on next page 2 B ANKER & T RADESMAN MARCH 10TH, 2014 configured, “is a more than adequate opening, and Martin does not As the SJC addresses other registered land cases, it will be in- appear to disagree, conceding that there has never been any im- teresting to see whether Martin v. Simmons Properties repre- pact on his ability to use [the right of way] in this area … for pas- sents a trend to limit the advantages of registered land, or merely sage to and from his land,” the court noted. reflects the court’s concern that easements not unduly burden the “As they exist today, and given Martin’s current use of his prop- development of land, regardless of its registered or unregistered erty, the encroachments into [the right of way] do not lessen its status. n utility for vehicles much larger than any in existence when the way was created, do not increase the burden on Martin in his use Ashley H. Brooks is an associate in the real estate department of of the way, and do not frustrate the purpose of travel to Martin’s Sullivan & Worcester’s Boston office. lot, ” the SJC concluded. Email: [email protected] Reprinted with permission of Banker & Tradesman. This document may constitute advertising under the rules of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts..
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