Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Quitclaim of road easement to third party
Is a dominant tenement (owner of an easement) able to effectively quitclaim his easement to a third party against the servient tenement? If so, are there ways for the servient tenement (land Owner) to preclude such a transfer? Does the current easement owner have an estate or possessory interest if he only owns an easement for ingress and egress? What are some of the defenses the land owner can use against such an attempted transfer? Can you refer any Calif cases in support of the servient estate to preclude a summary adjudication from granting this "quitclaimed" easement to a third party (who also has property appurtenant to the servient estate?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Quitclaim of road easement to third party
An easement for ingress and egress usually favors a dominent
tenement, not a person. Thus, it passes only (if then) by grant of
the benefitted property, not by an assignment or quitclaim of the easement
separately.
An easement is not a possessory interest, nor generally considered an estate in
land, but is an easement which is a recognized and statutorily
defined property right.
The first place to look for the scope of an easement is the grant of the easement,
if it is a written easement. If the easement is prescriptive -- or acquired by
use -- then the scope is simply a continuation of the use which created an easement. This
type of easement could not be transferred, as benefitting another parcel would be
an expansion of the easement.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
