What is an easement on a property?

Sometimes a buyer may find out that a property has an easement while purchasing a home. But what is easement in property law? A property easement is a legal arrangement whereby the landowner recovers title to a particular area of land but grants another person the ability to use it for a certain purpose. I have shared more details on it below for your reference.

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What is the Easement on My Property?

An easement is a legal right that allows a person to use another person's land for a specific purpose without owning it. Here, the Indian Easements Act, 1882 governed easements. This right is seen where one property owner needs access through another’s land or requires certain utilities like water or light.

Here are some types of easements, you must check.

1. Continuous Easement: Exists without human intervention (e.g., the right to receive light or air).

2. Discontinuous Easement: Requires human action (e.g., the right to pass through another’s land).

3. Apparent Easement: Visible (e.g., a pathway through a neighbor’s land).

4. Non-Apparent Easement: Not easily noticeable (e.g., underground drainage rights).

5. Positive Easement: Grants the right to do something on another’s land (e.g., walk through a pathway).

6. Negative Easement: Restricts the landowner from doing something (e.g., preventing construction that blocks sunlight).

The landowner expressly allows another person to use the land for a specific purpose. If someone has been using another’s land for 20 years (private property) or 30 years (government land), they gain legal easement rights. I hope you understand what is an easement on a property.

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I find this concept really interesting and as soon as I saw this question I had to answer it. I have spent years around real estate experts and there are a lot of people who ask what is an easement and what are the rights under easement on a property. So here are my two cents on easement rights.

Basically, an easement is a beneficial right enjoyed by a property owner over a property or land that does not belong to him/her. An easement allows such owners to do, continue to do or prevent or continue to prevent activities done on such land, i.e. to perform or prevent certain activities for stated purposes.

I can give you an example to explain what is easement right.

To upkeep his crops, Raju has the right to use Sai’s well to fetch water as it is the only source of water in the locality. This makes Raju a beneficiary and eligible for right of easement. 

Please note that the owner, in this scenario, Sai is not bound to provide this easement.

As per Indian Easement Act, 1882 there are six types of easements categorized as follows:

Continuous easement states that the easement rights can continue without any human involvement. Whereas, non-continuous easement requires human intervention such as building toilets.

As the name suggests, in an apparent easement, there is a clear sign board or declaration for the easement right. In a non-apparent easement, there is no such sign board and the easement right is invisible.

The six easements types are as follows:

1. Right of way

2. Right to light or air acquired by grant

3. Prescriptive right to light or air

4. Prescriptive right to air or water

5. Other prescriptive rights

6. Easement of necessity