Easements—obligations to repair and maintain


Published by a ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô Property expert
Practice notes

Easements—obligations to repair and maintain


Published by a ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô Property expert

Practice notes
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This Practice Note looks at where the responsibility lies for repairing and maintaining land which is subject to easements and who is responsible for the cost of its upkeep particularly where there is no express agreement allocating responsibility for carrying out repairs and/or paying for the Costs of repair and Maintenance.

Is there an obligation to repair?

An easement is a right to do something on another’s land or to prevent something being done; it is not an obligation to do something.

In the Scottish case of Moncrieff v Jamieson, Lord Scott summed it up: ‘the grant of a right that required some positive action to be undertaken by the owner of the servient land in order to enable the right to be enjoyed by the grantee, could not be an easement’.

In practice, however, easements frequently require some action to be taken; for example, a road may need to be repaired or a drain may need to be cleared.

Where the easement has been created by express grant, the original grantor and grantee may have entered

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What does Costs mean?

Money ordered to be paid by one party to another in respect of the costs incurred in the course of litigation, in bringing or defending a claim.

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