What You Need to Know About Property Easements? Know Before You Build!

This is not legal advice, but informational for residents of Johnson Ranch, Bulverde, TX.

Most, if not all, properties in Johnson Ranch have Property Easements. Some of these easements are owned by the HOA, some by the MUD, and some by the utility companies.

Besides the “normal” type of easements ( i.e., water, electrical, gas, cable), we also have drainage/storm water runoff easements.

Before building anything on or over an easement located on your property, you will need to understand the easement. In most cases, the entity exercising its access rights to the easement, does NOT have to repair or r eplace anything they damage or remove from the easement area. If you build a pool in an easement and the easement needs to be accessed, the pool could be removed and/or damaged with no obligation to repair or replace the pool.

Even if you are not aware of an easement, an easement may be located on your property. Easements usually lie there quietly, not affecting you for years or decades. Then, when you decide to add an addition, dig a pool, or install flowerbeds, you find out that you have a legal easement running through your property. Can you build on the most common type of easement, a utility easement? If so, to what extent can you build and will you ever be forced to tear down any of the items that you have built?

What Is a Property Easement?

Easements are legal designations that allow individuals or entities to use portions of your property (to build on or for physical access), even though you still own the land and technically have a right to build on it. The person or entity who can do this is called the dominant estate; you are the servient estate.

Property easements come in many shapes and forms. There are utility easements that allow sewer and gas lines. There are sidewalk easements that allow the public to walk in front of you r property if they stay on the sidewalk.

These easements allow the public, government agencies, and utility companies to have access to your property, although you still own the property. If you truly do own your house and land in full, how can someone lay claim to your property in perpetuity? Therein lies the core issue. Although you do own your property, due to a greater public goo d, you have agreed to allow access to part of your land in service of that good.

How to Find out If You Have an Easement

Most homeowners should already know that their property contains an easement as it is right there in the title documents when you buy the house. But as the years go by, we tend to forget such things. If the homeowner dies and the house goes to a child, it is easy to miss such details altogether when the transaction is made. Any good real estate agent or title clerk will point out that the property you intend to purchase has an easement running through it.

If you cannot find your title documents, c heck with the county clerk. Likely they can help you find documents relating to your property, including your property survey or plat, depicting the easements

Property Easements That May Affect You

The most common easements in residential areas are: Utility Easements (Below Ground)

Storm drains, sanitary sewer mains, or natural gas lines frequently run through and under private property. Cable, internet and electrical are often underground these days.

Utility Easements (Above Ground)

Electrical power lines or telephone lines also run over private property.

Storm Water Drainage Easement

A drainage easement is a legal right to use a parcel of land for a specific purpose. In this case, orderly flow of water. They are essential for control ling stormwater runoff and often contain engineered best management practices. Oftentimes, drainage easements contain multiple structures and cross several property lines.

Sidewalk Easements

Sidewalk easements are the most common type of easement, the type which countless homeowners have on their property. Even if a sidewalk is not physically in place, you may still have a sidewalk easement in place on paper.

Building Fences on Easements

Fences regularly get built along or across easements. Homeowners who do this must expect the chance that their fence might be pulled down by a dominant estate (utility company, for example). A few utility companies state that, as a courtesy, they will do their best to reconstruct the fence.

Building Hot Tubs and Pools on Easements Above - ground hot tubs and pools are also subject to removal. In - ground pools are more problematic, not only because they cannot easily be removed but because they may interfere with in - ground easements. It would not be wise to put an above - ground hot tub or pool across an easement.

Planting Shrubs and Grass on Easements

Bushes, lawn, and other shallow - rooted shrubberies may be planted in easements. Trees and other major vegetation should not be planted on easements. One common scena rio: you have an above - ground garden planted on an easement, covering the manhole to the sewer main. Workers regularly access this manhole, working around the plantings. Shrubs are removed only in key areas.

In Closing

A survey should have been provided when you closed on the purchase of your home. It normally depicts easements and setbacks specific to your property. Title work provided during your purchase will also note the easements in the exceptions portion of the title report.

No entity can waive an easement right without it being cleared/removed from the property deed. For example, although you may receive approval from the HOA to build a pool, if it encroaches on all or part of a utility or MUD easement, and an easement holder needs access , the easement holder has the right to access the easement. If that access involves removing all or part of your pool, the easement hold er is NOT obligated to repair or replace any damage done to the pool. The approval of one easement holder does not wave the rights of another easement holder.

This is not legal advice, but informational for residents of Johnson Ranch, Bulverde, TX.

Know Before You Build!