Everything You Must Know About Private Encumbrances
Private encumbrances refer to the hindrances held on a property by a private party that is involved with the property rather than a local government, department, etc... Some examples of private encumbrances can be a mechanic's lien, a judgment lien, a mortgage or an easement. Just like public encumbrances, private ones can impede the transfer of a property, by preventing certain, necessary actions.
A mechanic's lien refers to a cost that the owner of a property has failed to pay. This cost is directly associated with the work performed on a property, whether a general contractor, plumber, roofer, or property maintenance. The person that has performed the work on the property will file a mechanic's lien demanding that the debt owed will be satisfied. This lien, or claim, on the property serves as collateral until it is adjusted.
Specifically, this claim can be transferred over to a new owner if they purchase the property before it is dealt with, and that debt will now have to be taken care of by the new owner as they have accepted the responsibility in conjunction with the property. Judgement liens are debts that also come along with the property, in relation to an unpaid amount of money from the previous owner due to a lawsuit outcome.
This lawsuit is in relation to an accident or occurrence that has taken place on the property. That debt is now recorded into a Judgement Book and becomes a judgment lien on the property. The lien on the property will remain in place until it has been settled by payment, or its expiration. A person can file a motion in court for the sale of a property in order to recover the money they are entitled to by the property owner (whether previous or current).
Another example of an encumbrance (private) is an easement. There are different types of easements, but they all deal with the right of using a property of an owner for a specific purpose. The two main categories of easements are easements in gross, and appurtenant easements. Easements in gross grant the owner of the easement the right of use of the real property for a specific purpose, while not benefiting a parcel of the real property owned by the easement owner. An appurtenant easement's purpose is to benefit an appropriate parcel of real property, and is automatically transferred with a transfer of ownership over the real property (that is benefited by the easement).
A common easement on a property is a utility easement, which can give access to a utility company, be it electric, gas, cable, or telephone. The easement would allow such companies to place certain devices on the property to transfer their services to the owner's property or perhaps a neighboring or adjacent property. These easements are used widely in areas with limited access, where it becomes difficult for a utility company to give services to a given property, or simply wire their services through the town or city.
Access easements give an individual the right pass through the property of another owner to access a public street. This can happen in the case of a house that is behind another in location, and blocked off, or obstructed from the public street in relation to access. In this case a special driveway may be constructed as an access easement, on the property of the house in front of them, as an access route to that street. Regardless of their type, easements grant access over a property to another person.
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