Easement

An easement is a legal agreement to give a certain part of a property to a third party for a specified purpose. Often, an easement can be given by a landowner to someone that needs to install a public service such as a sewer or power line. The third party does not own the property, they are simply given the legal right to use the property for the specified purpose. Another common example would be giving someone the right to fish in an otherwise privately owned pond. A private easement gives one specific party the right to use the land while a public easement will open up an area to be used by the general public. A homeowner can also pursue a negative easement if they want to prevent someone from performing an otherwise legal activity on a piece of property that they own.