Easements are common when purchasing or selling property. An easement is the right to use all, or part of the land owned by another person for a specific purpose.

There are two types of easements in Idaho: appurtenant and in gross.

An appurtenant easement is a right to use a certain amount of land (servient estate) to benefit other land (dominant estate), such as a shared driveway, or road to access other property.

In gross easements benefit the holder of the easement, rather than the land the easement is on. The most common in gross easements come from utility companies. An example of this would be if Idaho Power ran a power line across a property, Idaho Power would benefit from the easement, while the land would be burdened by it.

Any easements on the property will be listed in special exceptions under Schedule B-II of your title commitment. For any questions about easements that may be on your property, please review your title commitment, contact our title department, or contact a real estate attorney.