Easement Survey
Locating, describing, or creating the rights that allow access, utilities, and shared use across land.
01
What It Is
An easement survey locates existing easements on the ground and, when a new easement is being created, prepares the legal description and exhibit that will be recorded.
The work often includes reviewing the title commitment, plotting recorded easements, mapping the physical route actually in use, and identifying where the two do not match.
02
When It's Commonly Used
- Granting or receiving a new access or utility easement
- Confirming legal access to a landlocked or rural parcel
- Installing a well line, power line, or shared driveway across a neighbor's land
- Clarifying a historical route used without a recorded document
- Resolving a title exception before closing
03
Why It Matters
Access is a value question, not a technicality. A parcel with no recorded legal access may be difficult to finance, insure, permit, or resell.
Easements described vaguely, or used along a path that differs from the recording, create future conflicts. A surveyed description and exhibit make the right specific and durable.
04
Questions to Ask
- Does my parcel have recorded legal access, or only historical use?
- Does the easement in use match the recorded description?
- Will you prepare a recordable legal description and exhibit?
- Should an attorney draft the easement agreement alongside your survey?
- Are there width, maintenance, or utility limitations in the existing document?
05
Related Reading & Resources
The most successful real estate decisions often involve collaboration between several professionals working toward the same goal. Understanding each person's role helps you ask better questions and make more confident decisions.
06
Other Types of Surveys
- Subdivision PlatThe recorded map that divides land into new legal parcels, with the dedications and approvals that make them real.
- Lot Line AdjustmentMoving a boundary between existing parcels without creating new lots.
- Construction StakingTranslating approved plans into physical marks on the ground so construction is built where it was designed.
Questions About Property Boundaries or Land Development?
Surveying often plays an important role in understanding property boundaries, development potential, and legal descriptions. I'd be happy to help you identify the questions worth asking and connect you with local surveying professionals as you evaluate your options.
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