Sell for More Trivia is a weekly blog series that playfully presents a trivia question about commercial real estate.
An issue that comes up during title search is dealing with easements and encroachments…which are often confused.
Easements and encroachments both explain the use of one person’s land by another person.
Easements
Easements are agreements that authorize the right to use someone else’s property.
Examples of everyday easements include buried utility lines for natural gas or electricity.
They are typically registered with the title of the property and often include a rough drawing of where the easement lies.
Encroachments
An encroachment is where real property hangs from one property over the property line of another landowner’s premises.
This could be a result of landscaping such as trees or bushes, or elements of construction such as stairways, fences, or signage.
Encroachments are usually an error in identifying appropriate property lines or setback requirements before constructing something.
Encroachments may also surface when receiving a survey of the property.
The excuse “it’s been like that since I bought it” is simply not going to work if the encroachment needs to be remedied or is impeding other development.
Most times an Encroachment Agreement can be created by the affected landowners to manage the situation without any serious re-construction.
The encroachment can then be left with the understanding that if the structure encroaching is ever removed it cannot be placed back with the same encroachment.
In extreme cases, however, this can result in demolition.
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About Beau Beach, MBA CCIM
Beau is a tenacious Commercial Real Estate Broker, author and adoring father of four. His clients appreciate his no-nonsense demeanor and his legendary work ethic.
Beau leads Beachwood which is a commercial real estate broker for sellers in the Nashville, Milwaukee and South Florida markets.
He’s the author of the books The 3 Reasons: Why Most Commercial Properties Don’t Sell and True Wealth: What Every Seller Should Know About 1031 Exchanges.
Beau can be reached at 800-721-3287, click to schedule a call or Beau@soldbybeachwood.com