Like everyone else’s business, my business as a Massachusetts real estate lawyer runs in spurts. Lately, I have been involved in three situations concerning Easements. In one situation, a client of mine is buying a guest house while the Seller is retaining the major home. All the systems, however, run through the major home. To make things more complicated, some of the utility lines actually leave the street and pass over the land my client is purchasing. A reciprocal Easement is needed to protect both sides in terms of repair and access. With the assistance of an excellent surveyor, who drew up recordable plans which I can use, I should be able to articulate the rights of the parties in a manner that does not give rise to disputes somewhere down the road.

The other Easements were retained restrictions imposed a relatively long time ago by a land owner who wanted to protect the environment. Since these Easements were put in place, the Towns where the property is located have become much more vigilant in enforcing local and state conservation laws and codes. The people who put on the restrictions originally now are willing to remove some of the more onerous restrictions, since times have changed and there has been other development in the neighborhood. We are very close to reaching agreement, which enhance the value of both the retained and purchased land, and still provide requisite environment protections.

Because they represent encumbrances of the title, all Easements start with an accurate title report. Until we know who the current lien holders on the property are, we cannot complete the Easement work. In the case of the major home-guest house, the owner of the major home has a mortgage on his property. A Subordination of this mortgage to the Easement must be obtained before the Easement can be fully in effect. This takes some time, so we will hold back some funds from the Seller until the Seller delivers the Subordination. One never knows how long obtaining the Subordination will take. I am going to request that 1.5% of the purchase price be held back. That should “encourage” the Seller to act quickly.

In the restrictive Easements situations, my goal is to either eliminate, or weaken, the effect of the restrictions. That will take some negotiating and compromise, but restrictions like these, while laudable, can really make the value of property diminish.

The last issue is whether a full certified Plan is necessary for an Easement. I have prepared Easements where a sketch of the property lines and rights of way is adequate. Naturally, I would prefer a Plan prepared by a Surveyor, in recordable form. Most of these considerations are financial, but unless there is precision in Easement drafting, which includes accurate depiction of the property in question, the money saved in the present tense may be spent many times over in the future.