Tennessee Easements & Rights of Way: Avoid Disputes

What Is an Easement in Tennessee?

An easement is a legal right to use land owned by another for a specific purpose—commonly for access (driveways), utilities, drainage, or private roads. The property that benefits is the dominant estate, and the property burdened is the servient estate. Tennessee courts treat easements as property interests that can be created by written grant, implication from prior use, necessity, or prescription. In limited circumstances, courts may recognize easements based on estoppel, depending on the facts.

Common Types of Easements

• Express easements: created by deed or a recorded easement agreement.
• Implied easements (prior use): arise from longstanding, apparent, and reasonably necessary prior use when property is divided.
• Easements by necessity: arise when land would otherwise be landlocked with no legal access.
• Prescriptive easements: may arise from long, open, continuous, and adverse use under claim of right (fact-intensive under Tennessee law).
• Utility and drainage easements: allow installation, maintenance, and access for lines or facilities.
• Private road/ingress–egress easements: provide access across a neighbor’s land to a public road.

How Easements Are Created and Proved

The cleanest path is a written, recorded grant describing the location, width, and purpose. Without a clear writing, courts look to evidence of historic use, necessity at the time of severance, or continuous adverse use. Title searches and surveys are critical. If the easement is not of record, aerials, historic plats, usage testimony, and utility records often become key evidence.

Scope and Use: Stay Within the Grant

Easement holders may use the servient land only for the purposes and within the dimensions reasonably necessary to enjoy the granted right. Expanding beyond the original purpose (for example, heavy commercial traffic on a residential access easement) can trigger disputes. The servient owner may use the land in any way that does not unreasonably interfere with the easement. Relocation or modification is limited; it typically requires mutual agreement or judicial relief, and any change must preserve the easement’s utility.

Maintenance, Repairs, and Costs

Unless a statute or the easement document says otherwise, the party who benefits from the easement often bears the cost to keep it usable and safe for its intended purpose. For shared private drives, it’s best practice to put cost allocation, snow and debris removal, drainage upkeep, and repair for heavy-vehicle damage in a written agreement.

Recording, Notice, and Priority

Recording an easement in the county register of deeds gives public notice and helps protect priority against later purchasers. While unrecorded easements may be enforceable against parties with actual or inquiry notice (for example, a clearly visible driveway), recording reduces risk in sales and refinancing. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-26-101, 66-26-102.

Tips to Reduce Risk

Checklist: Before You Build or Block

Preventing Disputes: Practical Steps

• Get a current survey showing the easement’s location, width, and any encroachments.
• Record a clear easement agreement with metes-and-bounds or centerline and width, defined purposes, maintenance duties, and access hours if needed.
• Use a written road maintenance agreement for shared drives.
• Keep the route open and safe; address drainage to prevent washouts and rutting.
• Avoid unilateral changes to the route, width, gates, or locks without written consent.
• For gates, use mutually accessible locks and emergency access provisions.
• Document use with photos, correspondence, and maintenance invoices.
• Before building fences, walls, or landscaping, confirm easement boundaries and utility clearances.

When Use Changes or Development Occurs

Subdividing the dominant estate, intensifying traffic, or converting to commercial use may exceed the original scope. Seek a written amendment if capacity or hours need to change. For utilities, coordinate with the provider and the servient owner to avoid damage claims and ensure safe clearances.

Blocking or Interfering With an Easement

Obstructions such as fences, boulders, locked gates without shared access, or deliberate grading to create ruts may be deemed unreasonable interference. Courts may order removal of unreasonable obstructions (injunctive relief) and, in appropriate cases, award damages. Whether a particular gate or barrier is reasonable depends on the facts and the easement’s terms.

Prescriptive Easements in Tennessee

A prescriptive easement generally requires proof of long, open, continuous, and adverse use under a claim of right. If the use began as permissive (for example, a neighborly accommodation), it typically will not ripen into a prescriptive right unless the character of the use clearly changes and the owner is on notice.

Abandonment and Termination

An easement can terminate by express release, merger (same person owns both parcels), expiration if time-limited, or abandonment. Abandonment usually requires clear intent plus conduct inconsistent with future use; mere nonuse alone is often not enough. Easements can also be extinguished or relocated if authorized by agreement or court order.

County-Level Variations

Recording practices, private road standards, and utility coordination can vary by county. Check with the local Register of Deeds, planning office, and utility districts for forms, fees, and mapping requirements before you record or build.

FAQ: Tennessee Easements

Do easements have to be recorded in Tennessee?

No, but recording provides public notice and helps preserve priority against later purchasers. Unrecorded easements may still bind parties with notice, but recording reduces risk.

Can a servient owner lock a gate across an access easement?

Only if it does not unreasonably interfere with the easement and complies with the easement’s terms. Provide shared access and emergency provisions.

Who pays for private drive maintenance?

Often the benefiting owners, unless the easement document or a statute allocates costs differently. A written maintenance agreement is best.

Can the route be moved?

Relocation typically requires written agreement or court approval, and any change must preserve the easement’s utility.

How a Tennessee Real Estate Attorney Can Help

We review title, draft and record easement agreements, negotiate maintenance and cost-sharing, coordinate surveys, and resolve interference—often without litigation. If a dispute arises, we can seek court orders to clarify, enforce, relocate, or terminate easements, and pursue damages where appropriate. Contact us to discuss your situation.

What To Bring to Your Consultation

• Deeds, plats, prior easement documents, maintenance agreements
• Surveys and aerials (historic if available)
• Photos of the route, obstructions, and drainage issues
• Communications with neighbors, HOAs, utilities, or contractors
• Bids, invoices, or repair reports

Next Steps

If you’re planning a new easement or facing a blockage, get legal advice early. Clear documentation, surveys, and well-drafted agreements prevent most disputes and make enforcement faster if issues arise. Request a consultation.

Disclaimer (Tennessee): This blog is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and outcomes vary based on specific facts and may change. Consult a Tennessee-licensed attorney about your situation.