EASEMENTS

Also included in your preliminary title reports are deed restrictions. These are any legally binding documents that became attached to your property at some point. Many are easements for utilities or roads. In Alaska, blanket easements for utilities are common.

An easement grants use of your land to another party for a specific purpose. For instance, utility easements allow utility companies to access your property to put up lines and bury cable. The property is still yours; you're just granting a long term right to use.

Blanket easements are typically vacated in favor of specified easements when property is subdivided. With specified easements, the area which can be accessed is limited to, say, a certain distance from the property line. Generally, permanent improvements should not be build on top of specific easements. An exception would be driveways, which logically will cross road easements to provide access. Permanent improvements don't usually include sheds or even decks.

If there's a need to remove an easement from your property, you can use a process called "vacation" of the easement. An attorney draws up a document to be signed by all those who benefit from the easement - for instance, all utility companies if it's a utility easement - saying they are vacating their interest in the easement. The document is then recorded, where it runs with the land, meaning it's attached for perpetuity.