Boundarys & Easements
...New Solutions to Old Real Estate Problems
Comprehensive Legal Practice
STEVEN IVY P.C. provides to its clients a comprehensive easement and boundary dispute practice. The firm represents commercial real estate developers, landlords and individual land owners in various legal matters addressing easement or boundary issues. From golf courses and hotels, to office buildings, industrial property and shopping centers, down to individual residences, our firm counsels a diverse group of clients. If you, or your organization, is interested in creating an easement, or is dealing with an existing boundary dispute, contact STEVEN IVY P.C., we may be able to find a legal solution to your dilemma.
Easement Issues
STEVEN IVY P.C. specialized in easement issues. An easement is a legal right to use someone else’s land for a particular purpose. For example, the gas company may have an easement to run their pipes under your property. Your name is on the deed, but the gas company has the right to use a part of your property for its pipes. Easements are permanent, they don’t change when the property changes hands.
Personal Service
The hallmark of our practice is personal service. We work closely with our clients to ensure that their interests are properly protected. STEVEN IVY P.C. is servicing clients in several Illinois counties, including: Cook County, Lake County, DuPage County, Kane County, DeKalb County, Will County, McHenry County and Kendall County. Our clients can meet with us in eight Illinois locations, including: Chicago, Lisle, Northbrook, Oak Brook, Rosemont, Saint Charles, Schaumburg, and Warrenville.
Types of Easements
The most common types of easements include: 1) Utility Easements - These easements are usually given to a utility company or local government; 2) Private Easements - Easements that are usually sold by a property owner to another for use of a driveway, water pipes; 3) Easements by Necessity - If it is absolutely necessary to cross someone's land, an easement by necessity usually exists. If your neighbor has been using a portion of land for a certain period of time, he may have a prescriptive easement; 4) Easement by Estoppel - If a neighbor spends a substantial amount of money, labor, etc. towards the land, a court may grant an easement to the neighbor by estoppel; 5) Easement in Gross - An easement that belongs to a person or entity and only involves one piece of land. Gross property easements do not pass on to subsequent owners; 6) Negative Easements - A negative easement prevents a neighbor from using land in a certain way.
Easement Creation
An easement can be created in one of three ways: by an express grant or reservation, by implication, and by prescription. The most straightforward method of creating an easement is by express grant (owner permits the neighbor to use his/her property). A grant is assumed to be forever unless noted otherwise in the terms of the grant. Even if an easement is not created expressly, it can be created by implication. That is, if the circumstances surrounding a grant of property indicate that the grantor must have intended that a party retain or obtain an easement, a court can infer an easement even though the easement was not expressed. Acquiring an easement by prescription is the equivalent to acquiring a parcel of property by adverse possession. In other words, an easement can be acquired if a person uses property that does not belong to him or her in a manner consistent with the existence of an easement for a period longer than the jurisdiction’s statute of limitations.
Real Estate
Easement Termination
Though most easements "run with the land", or pass to the new owners of the involved properties, there are ways to terminate easements. How an easement is terminated depends on the type and purpose of an easement in question. Sometimes properties have easements that were instituted many years in the past, and an action can be initiated to quiet the title and remove such easements. For example, a prescriptive easement (created over time by ongoing use) can be removed when the holder of such easement stops using it. Similarly, an appurtenant easement (two adjacent properties, where one is used to access the other) is terminated when one owner acquires both properties.