Pennsylvania Easement and Right-of-Way Attorneys

What an Easement Is

An easement is a legal right to use part of someone else’s land for a specific, limited purpose. The owner of the burdened property keeps title, and the easement holder gets only a right of use. A right-of-way is a type of easement that allows passage across land, whether on foot, by vehicle, or through a pipe or wire.

Easements show up in almost every corner of South Central Pennsylvania real estate, including:

• Shared driveways and lanes leading to back lots
• Farm roads that cross a neighbor’s fields
• Electric, water, sewer, and telecommunications lines
• Stormwater and drainage easements in residential subdivisions
• Natural gas and petroleum pipeline rights-of-way
• Conservation and agricultural preservation easements on farmland

Some easements benefit a particular parcel and pass automatically to each new owner of that parcel. Others benefit a person or company, which is how most utility easements work. Our lawyers first identify the type of easement, which helps determine who can use it, how it can be used, and whether it can end.

How Easements Are Created in Pennsylvania

Some easements are written down and recorded. Others arise from how land has been divided or used over time, so a deed alone may not show every easement affecting a property.

Express Easements

An express easement is created in writing, usually in a deed, a standalone easement agreement, or a recorded subdivision plan. A well-drafted express easement states the location and width of the easement area, its purpose, who maintains it, and whether the right extends to future lots if either parcel is subdivided. Older agreements often omit these details, leading to disputes over permitted use. 

Easements by Implication

When a single owner divides land and one part had been obviously and continuously serving another, Pennsylvania courts may find that the parties intended that use to continue, even without a written grant. Under the traditional test, courts look at separation of title, long-continued and obvious use, and necessity to the beneficial enjoyment of the property. A second, multi-factor test drawn from the Restatement of Property weighs the parties’ intent, the prior use, and how necessary the access is.

Easements by Necessity

An easement by necessity can arise when a parcel is landlocked after being split off from a larger tract that once had a single owner. The necessity has to be real, not a matter of convenience, and it must have existed when the land was divided. An easement by necessity ends once the necessity ends, such as when the landlocked parcel gains road frontage.

Prescriptive Easements

A prescriptive easement is acquired through use rather than a grant. The use must be adverse, open, notorious, continuous, and uninterrupted for 21 years, and Pennsylvania courts require clear and positive proof of each element. Use that the owner permitted does not count. Pennsylvania’s Unenclosed Woodlands Act also bars anyone from acquiring a right-of-way by use through unenclosed woodland, which matters on the wooded tracts common in rural York and Adams Counties.

The Private Road Act

Pennsylvania’s Private Road Act has historically allowed a court to open a private road to a landlocked parcel, with compensation paid to the owner whose land the road crosses. Courts construe the Act strictly, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that a road opened under it must primarily benefit the public, which has narrowed its use.

“I have worked with CGA for over 10yrs and they have the depth of knowledge to assist in all of our business needs.”
– Harry, Google Review

Interpreting an Existing Easement

Most easement disagreements are not about whether an easement exists. They are about what it allows. When a written easement is at issue, Pennsylvania courts look to the intent of the parties as expressed in the language of the grant, read in light of the circumstances known to them when it was made.

That inquiry gets complicated with older instruments. A deed from the early 1900s might grant a “right of way for wagons” across what was then pasture, with no stated width. Today, the questions might be whether the lane can be paved or widened, whether the owner of the burdened land can install a gate, and whether ten new homes on a subdivided back parcel can share a right meant for one farmhouse. A Pennsylvania easement attorney approaches these questions by reviewing the chain of title, prior surveys, historical use, and the case law on scope and overburdening.

Utility easements raise similar questions, such as whether an old grant for a single pole line allows a utility to add fiber optic cable or clear trees well beyond the original corridor.

Easement Disputes Between Property Owners

The most common disputes we see involve:

• Gates, fences, or parked vehicles blocking a right-of-way
• Use that has expanded beyond the original purpose of the easement
• Disagreements over maintenance, snow removal, and repair costs
• Structures, landscaping, or pavement encroaching into the easement area
• A neighbor claiming a prescriptive right to a path or lane
• One owner asserting that an old easement was abandoned

Under Pennsylvania law, simply not using an easement for many years does not end it, and overgrown brush is generally treated the same as nonuse. Abandonment requires proof of intent to abandon along with affirmative conduct consistent with that intent.

Many of these matters resolve without a lawsuit. An easement dispute attorney can often negotiate a written maintenance and use agreement, a relocation of the easement by mutual consent, a recorded clarification of width and permitted uses, or a release in exchange for payment. When a negotiated outcome is not possible, our civil litigation attorneys represent clients in actions to quiet title, obtain a declaratory judgment on the scope of an easement, secure an injunction against interference, or recover damages.

Easement conflicts and property line conflicts frequently overlap, especially when a survey shows that a driveway or fence sits somewhere other than where the parties assumed. Our team also handles boundary disputes, and a single matter can involve both.

Utility and Pipeline Easements

Utility and pipeline companies negotiate with hundreds of landowners at a time, use standardized agreements, and, in some cases, hold the power of eminent domain.

In Pennsylvania, a public utility corporation regulated by the Public Utility Commission and holding a certificate of public convenience may condemn property under 15 Pa.C.S. § 1511 and the Eminent Domain Code. For overhead electric and certain other aerial lines outside public roads, the Commission must first find that the service is necessary or proper for the public. 

Interstate natural gas pipelines certificated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission carry federal condemnation authority under the Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. § 717f(h). Not every pipeline operator has condemnation power, though, and whether a particular company does affects how much negotiating room a landowner has.

What a Right-of-Way Agreement Should Address

The standard agreement a utility or pipeline company sends is written for the company. A right-of-way attorney reviewing one of these agreements typically looks at:

• The width of the permanent easement and any temporary construction workspace
• Whether the company may install additional lines in the future
• Burial depth, especially on cropland, where deep tillage is common
• Restoration standards for topsoil, drainage tile, fences, and fields
• How compensation is structured, including crop loss and timber damages
• Liability and indemnification for leaks, spills, and construction damage
• Whether the company can assign the easement to another operator
• What happens to the line and the easement if the line is taken out of service
• Restrictions on the owner’s future use of the land over and near the line

When a company with condemnation power takes an easement, the owner is entitled to just compensation under the Eminent Domain Code, measured by the effect on the whole property rather than only the strip the line occupies.

Easements in Real Estate Transactions and Development

Many easement problems can be caught before closing through a title search and a current survey. Our firm’s title insurance practice works alongside our real estate attorneys, so concerns that come up during a purchase can be addressed before settlement.

For developers and builders, access, stormwater, and utility easements are typically required before a land development plan moves forward, and an easement lawyer drafts them so they serve the project and the eventual lot owners without creating future conflicts. We also advise local governments on public rights-of-way through our municipal law practice.

Local Knowledge of South Central Pennsylvania Land

A South Central Pennsylvania easement attorney spends as much time with recorded plans, old surveys, and township ordinances as with case law, and land in this region carries a long paper trail. Many parcels in York and Adams Counties trace back to farm conveyances written generations ago, when a lane to the back field or a spring house right needed only a sentence in the deed. As farmland along the Route 30 and Interstate 83 corridors has turned into subdivisions and commercial sites, those older easements can create conflicts when agricultural land is developed. 

A York County easement attorney sees a steady mix of suburban driveway disputes, subdivision drainage easements, and utility corridor questions. In the orchard and farm country around Gettysburg and Biglerville, an Adams County easement attorney is more likely to handle access to landlocked fields, farm lanes, and agricultural preservation easements. With offices in York, Hanover, East Berlin, Red Lion, and Gettysburg, our attorneys can walk the property and appear in the local courts where these cases are heard.

Pipeline and utility projects often cross several counties, and we represent landowners along those routes. Working with a Central Pennsylvania easement attorney who knows how land here was historically divided and recorded can make an old deed far easier to interpret.

Frequently Asked Questions

Speak With an Easement Attorney About Your Property

An access agreement, a neighbor’s claim, or a pipeline company’s offer is easier to deal with once you understand your rights, and ideally before anything is signed or built. To discuss your situation with an easement attorney at CGA Law Firm, call (717) 848-4900 or contact us online.