Is an appurtenant easement exclusive to the parcel it is it appurtenant to or can it be used by others across whose land it passes?
It would depend upon how the easement grant is worded. Since the law generally favors the least degree of encumbrance on land use, then others should be able to use the land so long as the use does not interfere with the easement, unless the deed granting the easement specifically calls out that the easement excludes others' use of the land.
That was the underlying question - absent a specific statement of exclusion the "appurtenant" status should not make it exclusive IMHO. It would however allow the appurtenant parcel owner to abandon it. 3rd parties who might be using it would then have an interesting issue regarding their right to use it.
I would interpret any easement as exclusive in favor of the grantee unless it specifically said non-exclusive.?ÿ I've always thought that was a perfectly reasonable assumption to make in the face of ambiguity.?ÿ Besides, if a third party has an interest in the land then they're welcome to pursue it as a prescriptive easement.
Is an appurtenant easement exclusive to the parcel it is it appurtenant to or can it be used by others across whose land it passes?
I would say generally so.?ÿ It serves the dominant estate, not the general public. But the contrary may be shown.?ÿ
So with your interpretation, there is a drainage easement crossing my land, no language specifying whether exclusive or not. Would I then be barred from using that land for any purpose, or merely barred from using that land to run my own drain line?
That is not my understanding - I believe that absent the word "exclusive" it is NOT exclusive. This happens all the time - someone puts an easement along the edge of a parcel. the neighboring parcels have every right to use it.
Easements can be granted solely to the person mentioned on the easement and then in other forms, they can also be granted as being an entity of ownership that gives the holder the right to sell or grant the use to others.
I think there is some cross talking here. Unless an easement is granted to the pubic, only the people it is granted to have a right to use it. An easement granted to neighbor A, doesn't give any rights to neighbor B.
An exclusive easement allows the exclusion of the servient estate.?ÿ Easements are not usually?ÿ exclusive unless explicitly stated.?ÿ
Unless it is exclusive?ÿ You can use the land burdened by a drainage easement in any way that does not prohibit its use as a drainage easement.?ÿ
Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of the time easements worded this way are treated as non-exclusive. I'm just saying if I was a judge deciding these sorts of things I think I'd treat them as exclusive and let anyone who thinks they have an interest step forward and say so.
If you're asking if owners of other parcels that abut the subject parcel and the easement thereon also have the right to use the easement, then I'd say no, unless they've also been granted easements or permission to use.?ÿ?ÿ Which I don't think can be prevented by the dominant estate unless, as others have said, it's written that way in the conveyance.
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Drainage easements such as those required along property perimeters seem to carry the implication that any natural upstream drainage area has the right to pass through that easement. That follows from water rights laws that predate the USA. That being said does not allow others to dump surface waters onto the upstream end of said easement and they have no other obligation. Allowable surface waters from abutting land does not mean diverting additional drainage. Installation of subsurface sewers and structures, may need to be expanded in the future, but at no burden to the subservient parcel, which may include extensive restoration of installed structures such as driveways and parking areas. Developing an upstream parcel such that it greatly increases runoff can be considered overburdening and may be at risk of losing existing rights to use said easement.
I have been doing stormwater management for 35 years and find that most SWM laws do not properly address the issue.
Further complicating such development approval easements are often Drainage and Utility easements. Some utilities take an aggressive and dominating attitude over easements.
Paul in PA, PE, PLS