What else is on your property — and what it means for you
Your deed may give someone else the right to use part of your land: a utility’s wires or pipes, a neighbor’s driveway, a drainage path, a pipeline corridor. These guides explain each one in plain language — what it is, how to check whether you have it, how to get it maintained, and what it does to your home’s value.
- Overhead utility line
Power or phone lines on poles over your land.
- Underground utility line
Buried electric or phone cables under your yard.
- Sewer line
A sewer pipe running under your property.
- Storm drain
Pipes or channels carrying rainwater across your land.
- Water line
A drinking-water main under your yard.
- Pipeline (gas, petroleum, transmission)
A gas or fuel pipeline crossing your property.
- Access / driveway easement
A shared driveway or access road across your land.
- Public right of way
The city-controlled strip along your street.
- Drainage easement
A path rainwater is allowed to take across your land.
- Slope easement
A graded hillside someone else may maintain.
- Conservation easement
A permanent limit on developing your land.
- Prescriptive (established by use, no recorded document)
Someone’s long-time use of your land, with no paperwork.
A note on what these guides are
These guides describe the arrangements that are usual for each kind of easement. They are not a reading of your easement document and not legal advice — your recorded document controls, and it can say the opposite of anything here. When it matters, confirm against the recorded instrument or with an attorney licensed in your state.