3.B - Legal Issues: Liens & Easements

Encroachment

A building, part of a building, or obstruction which intrudes upon or invades a highway or sidewalk or trespasses upon the property of another

Lis Pendens

A legal document, filed in the office of the county clerk giving notice than an auction or proceeding is pending in the courts affecting the title to the property (not applicable in commission disputes)

Dominant Tenement

A parcel of real property that has an easement over another piece of property (the servient estate)

Servient Tenement

A parcel of real property that is encumbered by an easement of a dominant estate.

Easement

A right to cross or otherwise use someone else's property for a specified purpose

Mechanic's Lien

A security interest in the title to property for the benefit of those who have supplied labor or materials that improve the property

Easement for Light and Air

A type of negative easement. This easement prevents an adjoining land owner from building any structure that would obstruct the passage of light or air from reaching the dominant land

Party Wall

A wall built along the line separating two properties, partly on each, which wall either owner, the owner's heirs and assigns has the right to use; such right constituting an easement over so much of the adjoining owner's land as is covered by the wall.

Easement by Conemnation

An easement created by the government or government agency that has exercised its right under eminent domain

Easement in Gross

An easement that benefits an individual or legal entity, rather than a dominant estate

Easement Appurtenant

An easement that benefits the dominant estate and "runs with the land" In other words, an easement appurtenant generally transfers automatically when the dominant estate is transferred

Easement by Implication

An easement that is not created by express statements between the parties; but as a result of surrounding circumstances that dictate that an easement must have been intended by the parties

Easement by Prescription

Implied easements granted after the dominant estate has used the property in a hostile, continuous, and open manner for a statutorily prescribed number of years

Easement by Necessity

Parcels without access to a public way may have an easement of access over adjacent land if crossing that land is absolutely necessary to reach the landlocked parcel and there has been some original intent to provide the lot with access

License

Permission granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement between both parties

Appurtenances

Something which is outside property itself but belongs to the land and adds to its greater enjoyment such as a right of way or a barn or a dwelling

Appurtenances

Something which is outside property itself but belongs to the land and adds to its greater enjoyment such as a right-of-way or a barn or a dwellng

Easement by Grant

The creation of an easement by one party expressly transferring the easement to another party

voluntary lien

a contractual or consensual. lien that is created by an action taken by the debtor, such as a mortgage loan to buy real estate.

subordination agreement

a legal document used to make the claim of one party junior to (or inferior to) a claim in favor of another

involuntary lien

a lien imposed against property without consent of the owner eg. taxes, special assesments

tax lien

a lien imposed by law upon a property to secure the payment of taxes.

general lien

a lien that attaches toa ll personal and rela property of a person or firm

specific lien

a lien that only binds to a specific asset or property

servient tenement

a parcel of real property that is encumbered by an easement of a dominant estate

non-posessory

a term of the law of property to describe any of a category of rights held by one person to use land that is in the possession of another

party wall

a wall built along the line separating two properties, partly on each, which wall either owner, the owner's heirs and assigns has the right to use; such right constituting an easement over so much of the adjoining owner's land as is covered by the wall

mortgage

an instrument in writing, duly executed and delivered, that creates a lien upon real estate as security for the payment of a specified debt, which is usually in the form of a bond

posessory

the intent and right of a person to occupy and/or exercise control over a particular plot of land

right of way

the right to pass over another's land pursuant to an easement or license