by Abogado & Notario Eduardo Abarca
Consultor Legal Empresarial Nacional e Internacional*
Easements are created as an encumbrance on a piece of land in order to give an entitlement to another area. They are extremely important because they affect or benefit the buyer depending on the agreed conditions, so their study is crucial before deciding to buy land.
Among the most common easements are:
- Transit easement: allows permanent or temporary transit through someone else’s property in order to get to the property that has the right of way.
- Aqueduct easement: authorizes the construction of an aqueduct and the passage of piping to carry water to the dominant estate.
- Rainwater easement: authorizes the outlet or rain drainage which have to be conducted from one property through another.
- Electrical power easement: aims to authorize the construction of an electrical power system and the passage of electrical lines to take electricity to the dominant estate.
- Joint ownership and wall easement: authorizes the construction of walls or partitions between two properties beyond the limit of one of them, limiting the use of the area where the wall is placed for the owner of the land in question.
- View easement: protects the panoramic view from one property through another, usually the view of the ocean or the mountains is the one protected.
- Conservation easement: sets rules that must be followed in order to protect a particular environment or ecosystems from disproportionate development of the properties.
* Training and Experience: University (1994-1998), two years pro bono as an assistant at the Public Defender office and Legal Assistant to several Judges in the courts of Pérez Zeledón. Experience in criminal law and the functioning of the judiciary. In 1998, Abarca joined the Bar Association and the same year was authorized as Notary Public by the Supreme Court. English spoken.
