You may be under the impression that once you buy a home, you can do whatever you want with it and the land that comes with it. That may be true to some extent, but there could be restrictions on how you use your land, and you may not even know it.
If you want to put a swimming pool in at some point in the future, you may want to make sure that you can. Easements on the property could prevent you from putting a pool in a certain place. Don’t dismiss the importance of easements since they allow someone else the right to use a portion of your land, and it may prevent you from using it at all.
Understanding the easements on the property you want
It may be tedious, but reading and understanding each easement on the property you want to buy could save you a significant amount of time, money and frustration in the future. In general, the title company does not have to provide you with copies of each easement. It may simply list the ones found on the property and the title insurance exclusions associated with them. The only information you may have is the recording information, which doesn’t help you much.
The first thing you need to understand is that the easements often come with the property whether you want them or not. What you need is to know what part of your property the easement affects and what restrictions it may place on your use of the property. You only obtain this information by reviewing the actual easement documents. If your title company does not provide them to you, you will need to obtain them.
Once you understand the easements, you can make better choices about how you will use the land, or if you will even go through with the purchase. If you do decide to walk away, you need to understand the ramifications of that decision as well. If you want to continue with the purchase, you need to accept the limitations that certain easements place on your use of the property.
Understanding all the legal lingo
Like any other legal document, understanding the full impact of the easements on your property may not be an easy task, but it could be a crucial one. If you ignore an easement and put in that in-ground pool, the owner of the easement could force you to remove it. Considering the fact that gaining an understanding of easements affects your future enjoyment of your home, it may be a good idea to make use of the legal resources available to you in your area of Delaware.
