Conveyancing - Change of Easements
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Easements are a common occurrence in many conveyancing processes and are one of the things that conveyancers will check about a property and report back to you. When you buy property therefore, you do so being well aware of the various rights attached to your property.
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In any form of easements, there is the property that has the said rights (dominant property) and the land whose owners enjoy the said rights (servient property). In most cases, its people who own the dominant properties that want to change the easements. Those with the servient properties rarely have complaints and enjoy the rights that are provided to them.
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At the time of creation, all easements are established to serve a just and important purpose. However, with time, as developments take place all around, certain easements may prove to be a nuisance or overtaken by time. When this happens, one may look for ways to get rid of them.
Generally, easements are not easy to get rid of. However, it is possible to do so if you have good reasons to back your request.
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First, let’s look at the different kind of easements around. An express grant is an easement that comes provided in the title and is transferable upon sale of property. These can date back to decades ago and are recorded in the titles. A necessity easement is one that comes about as a result of need. A perceived easement on the other hand is one that comes about through custom; where the servient land owner uses a certain ‘right’ and the dorminant land owner has no objections so over time it’s perceived as a formal right.
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One way that an easement can be removed is where there is consent from all involved parties. Here, you would have to approach your servient neighbours and request them to allow a certain right to be nullified. If they agree to it and there are no reasons to have the right reinstated later, the lands Registry can strike it from the deed.
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Another way to remove an easement is to show that the easement is no longer necessary. For example, a right of way for pedestrians or motor vehicles can become void when alternate roads are created.
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Lastly, another way to nullify easement is by showing that they have been abused by the servient neighbor. This can be where one blocks a right of way or uses it for other purposes other than the intended use.
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In some cases, certain easements have time limits so all one has to do is wait for that time to lapse and the easement expires automatically.
However, there are some easements that cannot be changed whatsoever. These are functions that never lose their purpose no matter what happens. Examples of such include utility easements where your neighbours have their water, gas or electricity lines running along your property. Another good example is the ‘right to support’ easements for adjoining blocks of houses/flats. Here, such an easement directly affects the servient land owner and thus cannot be revoked easily.