How to Terminate an Easement

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Assess the current easement.

   If your easement includes a provision stating that it will be terminated on a certain date or at the occurrence of a certain event, then your easement will terminate when that date comes or when that event occurs.
   
   Look through your easement documents for one of these provisions and understand how the provisions works.
   
   For example:
   Your easement might state: "This easement will terminate on June 5,
   2015." If this provision exists, your easement will cease to exist on June 5,
   2015.
   
   In order to be effective, this date must be certain and explicit and should not be open ended (e.g., "this easement will terminate sometime in the next five years").
   
   Your easement might also state: "This easement will terminate when Party Y no longer needs to use the access road to haul lumber from their property." In this situation, your easement will terminate when Party Y no longer uses the access road to haul lumber.
2. 2

   Step 2: Notify the other party.

   Once you have identified and understand your easement's termination provision, you should notify the other landowner of its termination.
   
   This is important as they may think your easement is still effective and may continue to use it.
   
   While you are not obligated to notify the other party to the easement in this situation, it will make your termination process smoother and more beneficial to both parties of the easement.
   
   Also, notifying the other landowner will give you an opportunity to discuss the termination provision and will allow you to agree on the easement's termination.
   
   In some instances, you or the other party may want to extend the life of an easement and notifying the other party will allow you to have this conversation.
   
   If this is the case, negotiate with the other party and come to an acceptable agreement. , Once you and the other party are in agreement that you are going to terminate the easement by expiration, get this agreement in writing and record an easement termination document with the applicable registry of deeds.Because a lot of easements are recorded interests in real property, if you do not record its termination, the easement may still appear on a title search and may affect the land's value and potential uses.You can usually find an easement termination document by going to your county's court website or by calling your county's clerk of courts and asking for help.When you look on the website or call the clerk of courts, you will be looking for, or asking for, an easement termination template you can use to record a terminated easement.
   
   To record something, you will have to take your real estate document terminating the easement to your recorder's office and pay a fee.The document will then be given a number and a time-stamp indicating when the document was recorded.It is then filed with any other documents that have been recorded on that specific piece of property.
   
   Recording documents provides a traceable chain of title to a specific piece of property, including any other interests that may exist on that piece of property (e.g., mortgages, liens, and easements), and it is therefore incredibly important that you record documents quickly and accurately.Because of the importance of recording, you should consult an experienced real estate attorney whenever you are going to record something.
   
   He or she will be able to help you through the process and will ensure you accomplish the goals you set out to accomplish.
3. 3

   Step 3: Record your easement's termination.

Detailed Guide

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