Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Easements and Foreclosure
In California, does foreclosure automatically extinguish an easement that was granted after the loan being foreclosed upon?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Easements and Foreclosure
An easement is terminated by the foreclosure of the senior lien of a deed of trust on the servient tenement. The foreclosure sale terminates any easements recorded after the deed of trust was recorded, and the purchaser's title and possession are free and clear of the easement; see San Francisco Design Center Associates v. Portman Companies (1995) 41 Cal.App.4th 29 at page 45.
If the foreclosure were judicial rather than by trustee's sale, the easement holder would have to be made a party to the foreclosure action and would have a right of redemption.
In a trustee's sale, an easement holder, even one of record, is not entitled to a notice of default unless it has recorded a request for notice.