An easement is an agreement between two parties that allows one party to have legal access to an area without possessing ownership of the property. A farmer may have an easement agreement with a neighbor in order to better access their fields, or businesses may have an easement agreement that lays out how a shared driveway or parking lot can be used. Easements can be beneficial for both the property owner and the benefited party, but they need to be drafted in a specific way to ensure everyone’s interests are protected. In today’s blog, we’re going to showcase how to create an easement agreement for your commercial property.
How To Draft An Easement
Whether you’re allowing someone to access your property or you’re hoping to benefit from the situation, you’ll want to follow some specific tips when creating the easement agreement. This will ensure that future issues are less likely to occur, and it will provide a clear path forward in the event that a problem does develop between the two named parties. Here’s what you’ll want to do when drafting an easement agreement:
- Detailed Easement Description - You will want to be very specific in detailing the area of the property that is to be considered in the easement. Be specific about the location and boundaries of the property that are to be used under the agreement.
- Specific Purpose - Next, be sure to outline how and why access is being granted, otherwise access may be used in ways that you’re not comfortable with. For example, let’s say you own that parking area for commercial businesses. You may want to lay out that any deliveries to a business are made from the westernmost entrance or that delivery trucks enter and exit in a specific manner so as not to interfere with other businesses. Similarly, you can note how this area is to be accessed (by vehicle, by foot, etc.) and for what purpose. Specific instructions as to how the land should be accessed, for what purpose it can be accessed and how long the agreement will remain active can ensure you understand how, why and when others are accessing your property.
- Maintenance Responsibilities - Let’s say that you have a shared driveway with a neighbor or you have that commercial parking lot associated with businesses in a strip mall. You’ll want to detail how scheduled or unscheduled maintenance will be performed and how the costs associated with these repairs will be paid. If a roadway is shared, perhaps it’s best to share the costs associated with repairs, but you need to spell this out in an agreement, otherwise the benefitted party may argue that maintaining your property is not their responsibility, even though they have access to the land. If someone else’s use significantly increases the rate at which the property needs to be serviced or maintained, it’s wise to dictate how these expenses will be addressed in the future.
- Dispute/Amendment Resolution - Finally, nobody expects to get in a disagreement with the other party in their easement agreement, but it happens more than you may imagine. Because of this, it’s helpful to spell out how a dispute will be resolved. Perhaps you’ll bring aboard a neutral arbitrator to settle a disagreement, or you will detail how changes can be made to the agreement in the future. Again, without specific details, you may not get your way because what you’re proposing isn’t legally enforceable, even if you’re the property owner. Have a clause in the agreement that dictates how disputes, conflicts or amendments to the agreement will be handled.
As you can see, there’s more to an easement agreement than most people realize, which is why it can be so helpful to bring a professional aboard to assist with the process. At Commercial Partners, we’ll happily help create an airtight easement agreement that is acceptable to all parties. For more information on how we can do this, or for help with other aspects of a commercial purchase or agreement, reach out to the team at Commercial Partners today at (612) 337-2470.