There are many types of easements in North Carolina.
There are different ways that easements can be determined. Three ways are to speak with a knowledgeable real estate broker or agent, a surveyor and/or real estate attorney.
Here are some common types of easements found in North Carolina:
- Appurtenant Easements – these run with the land and last forever. It’s permanent, deeded easement, transferable from party to party and you never have to worry about being landlocked.
Appurtenant easements may include:- Right of Way Easements
- Shared Driveway Easements
- Utility Easements
- Septic Easements
- Public Easement
- Line of Sight Easements – preserve a view
- Buffer Easements – common near streams
- Vegetative Easements
- Conservation Easements – these are voluntary legal agreements designed to ensure the long-term viability and protection of the natural resources.
- Cart Path Easements – also known as a cartway easement, this is a deeded easement, but it’s not a prescribed width. It doesn’t say how many feet it is, but it does say this is your access. Banks don’t like that one.
- Water Easements
- Prescriptive easements – aren’t insurable for title purposes. The holder of a prescriptive easements is better off if that interest in land is converted over to an appurtenant easement. Sometimes this is done willingly or via a court after a lawsuit is filed. In rural areas of North Carolina, a common prescriptive easement is a dirt road through someone else’s property. Sometimes people use another person’s property intentionally or by mistake. If the land is being used “open and notorious” courts will often give people an easement.
