An easement is a right attached to one piece of land (the dominant land) allowing its owner to use or benefit from another piece of land (the servient land) in a specific way, such as a right of way, drainage, or right to light. Easements can be created expressly, by long use, or implied, and generally bind future owners of the servient land.
An easement is a limited right attached to a particular piece of land, known as the dominant tenement, allowing its owner to use or benefit from a neighbouring piece of land, the servient tenement, in a defined way. Common examples include rights of way, rights to run drains or pipes across another's land, rights to light for windows, and rights of support between adjoining buildings. Unlike a personal permission, an easement generally continues even when either property changes hands.
Easements in Ireland can be created expressly in a deed or conveyance, reserved when land was originally subdivided, acquired through long, uninterrupted use (prescription), or, in some circumstances, implied by necessity or by the way the land was previously used before it was divided. The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 modernised much of the law in this area, including the rules for acquiring easements by prescription.
For property owners and developers, an easement can significantly affect what can be built, since a servient owner generally cannot interfere with the exercise of the easement, for example by blocking a right of way, cutting off drainage, or building in a way that removes access to light protected by an established right. Checking for both registered and unregistered easements is an important part of due diligence before purchasing or developing land.