Page 1 of 1

Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:42 am
by PLS7393
The easements are created with a subdivision with the intent to sell the lots which the easements are created to assist and benifit. Some items (easements) may be defined in the CC&R's, and the responsibilities defined, such as the ownership being transfered to a Home Owner's Association.

There are different types of easements on a subdivision, and they are legal, even if there is one owner at the time.

Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 11:55 am
by E_Page
I did this on a PM last year. After getting hung up on the same issue, the CS suggested that I show it as a Reservation for Easement for the purposes of... (fill in the blank). We also recorded an easement document for same and called it out on the face of the map.

A PM imparts constructive notice, so it might have been sufficient to have it only there. The same would hold true for a Final Map.

An RS does not impart constructive notice, so a separate document in the Official Records would be needed.

As far as the deed work is concerned, I think that whether one calls it an Easement or a Reservation for an Easement, the current effect would only to be to put in the record that it is the owner's intent to create that easement when the property to which it would be appurtenant is sold, and that it must be conveyed at the time the property is sold to actually create the easement.

As you stated, there is no effect for a person granting themselves rights. Either they already have the right, in which case the granting is meaningless, or the right is not theirs to grant, in which case the granting is void.

So, I think that if on the map (PM or FM), the effect is that any easements created by the subdivision, depending upon their nature, are either created when the local government accepts the map, or when the first parcel of the map is sold.

I'm not sure that would be the case with any other type of document purporting to create an easement when both the dominant and servient tenements are under common ownership.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 7:05 am
by steffan
There was an earlier thread on this subject entitled: "can private easements be created with a map?".
It was posted and replied to in Feb of '07. It may provide some insight into this subject.
Mr. Cuomo weighed in on that thread, among others.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 9:12 am
by Ian Wilson