Q: If the user of an easement installs a driveway, do they own the driveway or does the owner of the easement?
My cousin sold me their house, which included an easement through their mother's property. They installed a driveway to ease driving. The mother's property was then lost due to taxes and my neighbor acquired the property. I wanted to know if the driveway is owned by me, or does the owner of the easement, my neighbor, gain ownership due to owning the easement? Or did I never own the driveway at all?
A:
Concrete flat work like a driveway becomes a part of the land itself. Whoever owns the land, owns the driveway.
But the rights of a landowner are subject to the rights of the holder of the easement. The easement itself is the dominant estate and the landowner’s property interest is the servient estate.
The holder of the easement has the right and the duty to construct, maintain, and repair improvements for the exercise of his easement rights. For example, the holder of an access easement can build a driveway to make access easier, but then has the duty to maintain and repair it.
The landowner can use his land, including the driveway, as long as such use does not interfere with the rights of the easement holder. For example, the landowner could also drive on the driveway, but could not use the concrete driveway as a base for a storage shed because the shed would interfere with the easement holder driving on the driveway.
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