As we’ve discussed on the blog in the past, an easement is an agreement between two parties as to how a specific area of a property may be accessed or used. For example, you may allow delivery trucks to pass through your parking lot en route to another business, or you may grant certain parties the ability to pass through your land in order to get to farm or hunting land that they own. There are countless types of easements that may be written based on your specific situation and the layout of your property and the surrounding properties.
One issue that sometimes comes up in our line of work is in regards to who pays for repairs or improvements to easements. For example, if trucks pass through your parking lot, and eventually your parking lot develops potholes, could the trucking company be partially or fully on the hook for the necessary repairs? The answer is, it depends.
Who Pays For Easement Maintenance?
Before we dive into specifics, unless it is outlined in an easement agreement, it is generally assumed that the property owner, not the individual who has access to an area through an easement, will be the one who is responsible for paying for any necessary repairs. Unless you cover this topic in an easement agreement, the easement grantor is typically responsible for any required maintenance.
Of course, things change if you come to an agreement when drawing up the easement, which speaks to the importance of connecting with a title company prior to the acquisition of a commercial property. We always want to protect the interests of our clients, and some of these small details can fall through the cracks if you try to manage the purchase on your own.
It’s also worth noting that a party is generally responsible for paying for the cost of repairs for specific damage that was caused during access that extends beyond normal wear and tear. For example, if a gate was dented by a vehicle accessing an area on an easement agreement, the servient would be expected to handle repairs that were clearly and directly caused by their specific action. You may feel like potholes or cracks in the road were clearly caused by access vehicles, but other factors like weather and normal material degeneration could also contribute to the road issues, but there’s nobody to blame for that dent in the gate other than the servient party. When damage is directly caused by a servient, they would be liable for the cost or repairs, even if that wasn’t specifically laid out in an easement.
Let us help protect your interests and ensure that you aren’t expected to handle repair costs if an easement user is likely to speed up the degeneration of access roads or other parts of your property. For more information, or for help with any part of the commercial acquisition process, reach out to the team at Commercial Partners today at (612) 337-2470.