Easements, Licenses, Encroachments, Party Walls and Adverse Possession

For the New York salesperson exam, first identify the remedy sought: use, permission, removal, support or title. That one question separates most answer choices.

What is the fastest way to classify the problem?

These categories can overlap in a real dispute. A survey may reveal an encroachment, while a deed or court judgment establishes an easement that authorizes the same physical use.

Official source map

The New York State Department of State Real Estate Salesperson 77-Hour Curriculum places easements, licenses, encroachments, party walls, prescriptive easements and adverse possession in Subject 3, Legal Issues.

General Obligations Law section 5-703 supplies New York's writing rule for creating, granting, assigning or surrendering an interest in real property, subject to interests arising by operation of law and equitable exceptions. New York courts define express, implied, necessary and prescriptive easements through the deed language and common-law elements.

Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 501 defines current adverse-possession elements and claim of right. Sections 511, 512, 521, 522 and 543 distinguish claims with and without a written instrument and address qualifying acts across boundaries. Civil Practice Law and Rules section 212(a) supplies the ten-year limitations period for recovering real property.

Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 871 authorizes an owner of a legal estate in land to seek removal of an encroaching structure, damages instead of an injunction or other fact-appropriate relief. The current 2026 text of section 881 governs court-ordered access to adjoining property when improvements or repairs cannot be made in a commercially reasonable way without entry and permission has been refused.

What the exam is testing

The exam concept is not a vocabulary contest. It asks you to connect a fact to the right and remedy that follow.

You should be able to:

• identify the dominant and servient parcels in an easement appurtenant;
• distinguish an easement in gross from a right benefiting another parcel;
• separate a land interest from revocable permission;
• recognize express grant, reservation, implication, necessity and prescription;
• separate a prescriptive use right from adverse-possession title;
• apply the current ten-year period without assuming that time alone creates rights;
• recognize that permission defeats the adverse or hostile element while it continues;
• classify a physical boundary intrusion as an encroachment;
• avoid treating party-wall users as tenants in common in the entire wall.

Read the documents and conduct, not just the label used by one party.

What is an easement?

An easement is an interest in land that gives its holder a limited right to use or control land possessed by another. It is nonpossessory because the easement holder does not receive general possession of the burdened land.

Common purposes include:

• ingress and egress over a driveway;
• utility lines and access for maintenance;
• drainage;
• parking within a described area;
• support from a party wall;
• access for repairs;
• light and air when created by a valid instrument or other legal source.

An easement does not give every ownership right in the bundle of rights. The deed or rule defines the permitted use, location, users and conditions.

What are the dominant and servient estates?

In an easement appurtenant:

• the dominant estate receives the benefit;
• the servient estate carries the burden.

Example:

Parcel A has a deeded right to cross Parcel B's driveway to reach the street.

Parcel A is dominant. Parcel B is servient. Ownership of Parcel B remains with its owner, subject to the access right.

The servient owner may use the easement area in ways that do not unreasonably interfere with the easement holder's permitted use. The dominant owner cannot materially expand the burden beyond the grant merely because a broader use would be convenient.

What is an easement appurtenant?

An easement appurtenant benefits a particular parcel and burdens another parcel. It is tied to the benefited land rather than merely to the current owner's identity.

In Daniello v Wagner, the Appellate Division explained that an easement appurtenant is created through a subscribed writing that burdens a servient estate for the benefit of a dominant estate. The court also repeated that the easement is an appurtenance to the benefited land and passes with that land.

Exam clue words include:

• “for the benefit of Parcel A”;
• “together with a right of way”;
• “to the owner and successors”;
• a legal description of both benefited and burdened land.

What is an easement in gross?

An easement in gross benefits a person, company or other holder rather than another dominant parcel. A utility easement can be the familiar example.

Avoid assuming every easement held by a company is in gross. A business can own a dominant parcel and hold an easement appurtenant to it. Ask whether the right benefits identified land or the named holder personally.

New York decisions commonly describe an easement in gross as personal, nonassignable and noninheritable. Webster v Ragona uses that distinction when separating an easement in gross from an easement appurtenant. On an exam question, identify whether a parcel receives the benefit and follow the document language given.

What is a right of way?

A right of way is an easement for passage. It may permit walking, vehicles, utilities or another described access use.

The phrase does not answer every scope question. A title review must still determine:

• exact route and width;
• people or parcels entitled to use it;
• permitted modes of travel;
• maintenance obligations;
• gate, parking and obstruction rights;
• whether relocation is permitted;
• duration and termination.

A driveway visible on the ground does not itself prove the legal right, width or beneficiaries.

How is an express easement created?

An express easement is intentionally created in a written instrument, commonly a deed, easement agreement or declaration. General Obligations Law section 5-703 requires a subscribed writing for an interest in real property unless the interest arises by operation of law or an equitable exception applies.

The instrument can create an easement in two basic directions:

• grant: the owner gives another person or parcel a right over the owner's retained land;
• reservation: the owner conveys land but keeps an easement over the land conveyed.

Real Property Law section 240 directs courts to construe an instrument according to the parties' intent gathered from the whole document, consistent with law. Read the operative words and property descriptions together.

Does recording create the easement?

The signed grant creates the express interest between the parties when legal requirements are met. Recording places the instrument in the public land records and affects notice and priority against later parties under New York recording law.

Avoid using “recorded” as the definition of easement. Implied, necessary and prescriptive easements can arise without an original express recorded grant. Conversely, a recorded document with vague or ineffective language may not create the right a party claims.

What is an easement by implication?

An implied easement can arise when one owner used one part of a unified property for the benefit of another part before dividing the property, and the circumstances show that use was meant to continue.

Lew Beach Co. v Carlson states three elements:

1. unity and later separation of title;
2. before separation, a use so long continued and obvious or manifest that it appeared intended to be permanent; and
3. necessity for beneficial enjoyment of the land.

The prior use matters. A buyer cannot create an implied-easement theory merely by identifying a more convenient route after the parcels have been in separate ownership.

What is an easement by necessity?

An easement by necessity can arise from a common owner's division of land when access over the other parcel was necessary at the time of severance.

The current Appellate Division decision 572 Walt Whitman Road Holdings, LLC v Whitman Capital, LLC applies the Court of Appeals rule from Simone v Heidelberg: the claimant must show unity and later separation of title, plus necessity over the servient parcel when title was severed. The necessity must exist in fact rather than as mere convenience.

Exam sequence:

1. Were both parcels once held by one owner?
2. Did that owner divide them?
3. Was access necessary when the division occurred?
4. Is the claimed route tied to that necessity?

A route that is shorter, cheaper or more attractive does not become necessary merely because the owner prefers it. If the parcel already had legal access to a public road at severance, the necessity claim can fail.

How do implication and necessity differ?

Both look backward to the conditions at severance. Later development cannot rewrite those historical facts.

What is a prescriptive easement?

A prescriptive easement is a limited use right acquired through qualifying adverse use over time. It concerns use, not possession of title.

In Meyers v Berl, the Appellate Division stated that a claimant must prove by clear and convincing evidence use that was hostile and under a claim of right, actual, open and notorious, and continuous for the required ten-year period.

Another owner's occasional or shared use does not automatically defeat a prescriptive easement. In Levy v Morgan, the Appellate Division explained that exclusive use is not required to establish a prescriptive easement. The claimant must still prove a defined, adverse use rather than permission or casual public use.

Does permission defeat a prescriptive easement?

Yes, while genuine permission continues, the use is not adverse to the owner's rights.

Example:

An owner tells a neighbor, “You may use my driveway until I sell.”

That use begins by permission and points to a license. Time does not convert it into an adverse prescriptive use merely because the neighbor drives there for years. A later clear repudiation or change in circumstances may raise a new question, but the clock does not simply absorb the permissive period.

What is a license to use land?

A license is permission to perform one or more acts on land without receiving an interest in that land. The ordinary license is personal, nonexclusive and revocable.

In Union Square Park Community Coalition, Inc. v New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, the Court of Appeals described a license as a revocable privilege, without an interest in another's land, to do one or more acts of a temporary nature. The court emphasized that the rights and obligations control, not the label placed on the agreement.

Examples include permission to:

• park in a space;
• cross a yard during a project;
• store equipment temporarily;
• enter land for an event;
• install short-term construction protection.

Some licenses can become irrevocable under a contract, when coupled with an interest or under equitable principles. Skaneateles Country Club v Cambs warns against treating revocability as an absolute without reading the agreement and facts.

How do a license and easement differ?

A document titled “License Agreement” can still create rights that a court characterizes differently. Substance controls.

What changed in New York's adjoining-property access law for 2026?

The current text of Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 881 is materially more detailed than older summaries. It addresses access when an owner or lessee cannot make improvements or repairs in a commercially reasonable manner without entering adjoining property and permission has been refused.

The statute now defines refusal to include a situation in which more than one written notice was served by certified mail and no response was received within 60 days. A court can grant a license in an appropriate case on terms justice requires.

The statute identifies purposes that can include:

• preconstruction surveys;
• monitoring devices;
• roof, facade and yard protection;
• scaffolding;
• sheeting, shoring, bracing and retaining structures;
• supports, tie-backs, anchors and underpinning;
• party-wall work;
• weatherproofing;
• temporary airspace projections;
• construction staging.

Current section 881 also requires reasonable prior notice, a good-faith duration projection, relevant documents, commercial general liability insurance information and reasonable compensation for loss of use and enjoyment, including diminution in value. The court can consider prior license compliance and authorize reimbursement of reasonable document-review fees.

The statute contains a separate limit for adjoining property owned, leased or otherwise occupied by a state entity: the court may not grant the section 881 license. This is a court-managed access remedy. It does not turn a temporary construction license into a permanent easement.

What is an encroachment?

An encroachment is a physical object or improvement that crosses a legal boundary or intrudes into another property's airspace or subsurface area without a sufficient right.

Examples can include:

• a fence over the lot line;
• part of a garage on neighboring land;
• a balcony or roof overhang in neighboring airspace;
• a retaining wall over the line;
• pipes or foundations beneath neighboring land;
• a structure built into an easement area in a way that obstructs the permitted use.

An encroachment is a fact about location and authority. A current survey identifies geometry, while deeds, easements, agreements, permits and court records address legal rights.

Does every encroachment have to be removed?

No single remedy follows from the label. Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 871 permits an owner of a legal estate to seek an injunction directing removal of an encroaching structure. The statute also permits damages instead of an injunction or another judgment justified by the facts.

In Marsh v Hogan, the Appellate Division explained that the claimant must show the encroachment and that the benefit of removal outweighs the harm removal would cause. Courts consider the impairment, hardship, alternatives, adequacy of damages, delay and other equities.

A salesperson should not tell a buyer that a two-inch, two-foot or any other intrusion will necessarily be removed. The survey, documents, materiality, intent, hardship and available relief require professional evaluation.

Can a small fence or lawn care create adverse possession?

Current Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 543 says de minimis nonstructural encroachments, including fences, hedges, shrubbery, plantings, sheds and nonstructural walls, are deemed permissive and nonadverse. Lawn mowing or similar boundary-line maintenance is also deemed permissive and nonadverse.

The word de minimis matters. The statute does not declare that every fence or shed is harmless regardless of scale and facts. It prevents a claimant from treating the listed minor acts as adverse conduct by themselves.

This current rule corrects a common outdated shortcut: maintaining a strip for ten years does not by itself establish adverse possession.

What is a party wall?

A party wall is a wall located on or near a boundary that serves structures on adjoining properties. Its legal treatment depends on the wall's position, deeds, agreements, easements and applicable construction law.

New York's common-law starting point is not that both neighbors own the whole wall as tenants in common. Sakele Brothers v Safdie explains that each adjoining owner owns in severalty the part standing on that owner's lot, while each has an easement in the other's strip for support of that owner's building.

That structure separates:

• title to the physical portion on each lot;
• the cross-boundary support right;
• duties created by agreement, building code and construction conduct.

Can one owner change a party wall?

The answer depends on the deed, agreement, support rights, proposed work, structural effect and local code. An owner cannot treat the other owner's portion as unrestricted personal property.

New York City adds local construction requirements. Current New York City Department of Buildings guidance points to Building Code section 3309.8 for party-wall protection during construction or demolition. Those city rules do not automatically govern a project elsewhere in New York State.

For a transaction, obtain:

• current survey and wall location;
• deeds and recorded party-wall agreement;
• structural and engineering reports;
• permits and adjacent-property notices;
• any section 881 license or access agreement;
• insurance and indemnity provisions;
• open violations, claims or litigation.

The salesperson identifies the issue. Attorneys, engineers, architects and building officials determine the legal and technical requirements.

What is adverse possession in New York?

Adverse possession is a method by which an occupier can acquire title to another's real property after the statutory period, but only when every element is proved.

Current Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 501(2) requires possession that is:

• adverse;
• under claim of right;
• open and notorious;
• continuous;
• exclusive; and
• actual.

The claimant ordinarily must prove the elements by clear and convincing evidence. Civil Practice Law and Rules section 212(a) supplies the ten-year period for an action to recover real property.

Time is one element. Ten years of activity does not create title when permission, lack of exclusivity, hidden use, insufficient acts or another missing element defeats the claim.

What does each adverse-possession element mean?

Adverse

The possession infringes the record owner's rights rather than existing under the owner's permission. Anger, threats or personal hostility are not required.

Claim of right

Section 501(3) defines claim of right as a reasonable basis for the belief that the property belongs to the adverse possessor or property owner, subject to its exception when the owner cannot be ascertained in county records and located by reasonable means.

Open and notorious

The occupation is sufficiently visible to put a reasonably diligent owner on notice. The character of the land matters. Acts suitable for a rural woodlot can differ from acts suitable for a city yard.

Continuous

The claimant acts as an ordinary owner of similar property would during the statutory period. Constant physical presence is not the universal test, but sporadic or abandoned activity can fail.

Exclusive

The claimant exercises possession for the claimant rather than sharing possession with the record owner in a manner consistent with the owner's rights.

Actual

The claimant physically possesses the land using acts recognized by sections 512 or 522, rather than claiming it only in conversation.

Does knowing about the true owner's deed defeat adverse possession?

Do not answer from a slogan. Current section 501(1) defines an adverse possessor as an occupier acting with or without knowledge of the other party's superior ownership rights. Section 501(3) separately requires the stated reasonable basis for claim of right, subject to its record-owner exception.

Apply the current statutory language and facts together. A deliberate trespass, a boundary mistake, a defective deed and a cotenancy can present different claim-of-right questions.

What acts count when there is no written instrument?

Under sections 521 and 522, a claimant without a written instrument is limited to the premises actually occupied. The land is deemed possessed when acts are sufficiently open to put a reasonably diligent owner on notice or when it is protected by a substantial enclosure, subject to section 543.

This differs from a claim founded on a written instrument or judgment. Sections 511 and 512 contain separate rules about land described in the instrument and the acts that show possession.

Exam trap:

A claimant cannot point to a deed describing Parcel A and assume possession of every neighboring lot merely because all lots once appeared on one map.

Can adverse-possession periods be added together?

Sometimes. Tacking combines qualifying periods of successive adverse possessors when an unbroken chain of privity and transfer of the disputed possession are proved.

In Kopp v Rhino Room, Inc., the Appellate Division explained that the predecessor must have intended to and actually turned over possession of the undescribed part with the deeded property. A list of former owners is not enough. Each relevant period and use needs proof.

Can one tenant in common adversely possess against another?

Yes, but the cotenancy has a special rule. The New York co-ownership guide explains why each tenant in common normally has a right to possess the whole property. Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 541 therefore presumes one cotenant's occupancy is also possession for the other cotenant. The presumption ends after ten years of continuous exclusive occupancy or immediately upon an ouster.

In Golobe v Mielnicki, the New York Court of Appeals held that, absent ouster, a cotenant needs 20 years of continuous exclusive possession: the first ten years under section 541 before possession can become adverse, followed by the ordinary ten-year adverse period with all other elements.

The court also held that a cotenant can acquire full ownership even when neither cotenant knew the other interest existed, if the statutory requirements are met. That 2025 decision is the current authority to use instead of an oversimplified ten-year answer for cotenants.

How is adverse possession different from a prescriptive easement?

Ask what the claimant wants. “I own the strip” points to adverse possession. “I may keep crossing the driveway” points to a prescriptive easement.

Can adverse possession extinguish an existing easement?

It can in qualifying circumstances. The servient owner must do more than use land subject to the easement. The conduct must exclude the easement holder and meet the adverse-possession requirements for the statutory period.

Kopp v Rhino Room, Inc. explains that an easement by grant can be extinguished when the servient possessor claims the area free of the easement, excludes the easement owner, and satisfies the required elements and period.

An occasional parked car or gate does not supply a complete answer without facts about exclusion, notice, continuity, claim of right and timing.

How can an easement end?

Common termination routes include:

• a written release or surrender;
• expiration under the grant's stated term;
• merger when one owner acquires fee title to both dominant and servient parcels in the same right;
• abandonment shown by nonuse plus unequivocal intent and conduct;
• condemnation or another governing legal process;
• completion or end of the necessity or purpose when the creating doctrine or instrument makes that event controlling;
• adverse possession that extinguishes the easement after every requirement is met.

Nonuse by itself does not prove abandonment. Fenton v Floce Holdings, LLC requires intent to abandon plus an overt act or failure to act implying that the holder no longer claims the interest.

What is merger of an easement?

Merger occurs when fee title to the dominant and servient estates becomes vested in the same owner in the same legal capacity. A person does not need an easement across that person's own unified land, so the separate easement is extinguished.

Later dividing the land does not automatically revive the former express easement. The new deed, reservation, implication or necessity rules must be analyzed at the later severance.

How can these concepts appear in exam scenarios?

Scenario 1: Deeded driveway

A deed gives Parcel A a right of way over Parcel B for access to the street.

Parcel A is dominant. Parcel B is servient. The right is an express easement appurtenant if it benefits Parcel A as stated.

Scenario 2: Temporary parking

An owner tells a neighbor that one parking space may be used until construction starts.

That is a license. It creates permission without transferring an interest in the land.

Scenario 3: Landlocked split

One owner divides a parcel and leaves the conveyed rear parcel without legal access to a road.

Check unity, severance and necessity at the moment of division. Those facts may support an easement by necessity.

Scenario 4: Old visible driveway

Before a common owner divided two parcels, one parcel visibly and continuously used a driveway across the other.

Check the prior-use, permanence and beneficial-necessity elements of an implied easement.

Scenario 5: Long driveway use without permission

A neighbor openly uses the same route under a claim of right for ten years, and the owner does not interrupt the adverse use.

The facts may support a prescriptive easement. The remedy is continued use, not title to the driveway.

Scenario 6: Lawn mowing over the line

An owner mows two feet into the neighbor's lawn for ten years.

Section 543 treats lawn mowing or similar boundary maintenance as permissive and nonadverse. Time alone does not create title.

Scenario 7: Garage over boundary

A survey shows that six inches of a garage crosses the legal lot line.

That is an encroachment issue. Do not promise removal. Section 871 permits fact-specific injunctive, damages or other relief.

Scenario 8: Shared wall

A wall straddles the boundary and supports buildings on both sides.

Review title to each portion, the cross-support easements, party-wall agreement and applicable construction rules.

Scenario 9: Cotenants for 12 years

One tenant in common exclusively occupies and maintains a building for 12 years without an ouster.

Do not apply an ordinary ten-year adverse-possession shortcut. Under section 541 and Golobe, the first ten years end the cotenancy presumption; the ordinary adverse period then must run with the other elements.

Scenario 10: Construction access refused

Repair work cannot be completed in a commercially reasonable manner without temporary access to the neighbor's roof, and repeated certified-mail notices receive no response for 60 days.

Current section 881 may support a special proceeding for a court license with notice, insurance, compensation and other conditions.

What are the most common mistakes?

Mistake 1: Treating an easement as possession

An easement grants limited use. The servient owner keeps possession and ownership subject to that use.

Mistake 2: Treating visible use as a deeded right

A worn driveway proves physical use, not the legal source, width, beneficiaries or duration. Check the deeds, survey and title records.

Mistake 3: Calling permission “adverse”

Permission is consistent with the owner's rights. It defeats adversity while it remains in effect.

Mistake 4: Assuming ten years settles every claim

The claimant must prove every element for the full period. Cotenants have the special section 541 framework, and historical claims may involve the law in force when rights allegedly vested.

Mistake 5: Confusing prescription with title

A prescriptive easement creates a use right. Adverse possession creates title to the occupied area.

Mistake 6: Treating every fence as adverse possession

Section 543 makes de minimis nonstructural boundary encroachments and lawn maintenance permissive and nonadverse.

Mistake 7: Treating the entire party wall as jointly owned

The New York common-law starting point separates ownership of each portion from the easement for support in the other portion.

Mistake 8: Treating a New York City construction rule as statewide

State property law and New York City Building Code duties can operate together, but the city code is local.

What should a salesperson verify?

Useful records and questions include:

• current deed and all easement exhibits;
• survey and legal descriptions;
• dominant and servient parcel identities;
• recording information for grants, reservations, releases and agreements;
• actual route, width and current use;
• maintenance, repair and insurance duties;
• written permissions or licenses;
• party-wall agreements and structural reports;
• permits, violations and adjoining-property notices;
• pending litigation or notices of pendency;
• dates, users and interruptions relevant to prescription or adverse possession;
• section 881 petitions, orders, licenses, insurance and compensation terms.

A salesperson should not decide a boundary, draft an easement, waive a title objection or predict whether possession vested. Attorneys, surveyors, title professionals, engineers and local officials handle those determinations.

Use the Legal Issues study guide for the complete ownership and title map. Review general liens, specific liens and notices of pendency when the record shows a financial claim or property lawsuit rather than a land-use right.

What should I memorize?

Use these pairs:

• dominant: benefited parcel
• servient: burdened parcel
• appurtenant: benefits land
• in gross: benefits a person or company rather than a dominant parcel
• easement: land interest giving a limited use right
• license: permission without a land interest
• encroachment: physical intrusion across a boundary
• party wall: boundary wall with ownership and support rights on both sides
• prescription: adverse use can create an easement
• adverse possession: adverse possession can create title

Then add the New York rules:

• ordinary prescriptive and adverse periods are ten years;
• permission defeats adversity while it continues;
• adverse possession requires adverse, claim-of-right, open, notorious, continuous, exclusive and actual possession;
• minor nonstructural boundary acts and lawn care are nonadverse under section 543;
• cotenants face the section 541 presumption and the 20-year path described in Golobe absent ouster;
• nonuse alone does not abandon a deeded easement.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an easement and a license?

An easement is an interest in land that gives a limited use right. A license is permission without a land interest and is generally revocable.

What are the dominant and servient estates?

The dominant estate receives the easement's benefit. The servient estate carries its burden.

Does an easement appurtenant run with the land?

It generally passes with the benefited parcel when validly created, subject to the grant's terms and later termination.

What creates an easement by necessity?

It requires prior unity and later separation of title, plus legally sufficient necessity at the time of severance rather than mere convenience.

How long does a prescriptive easement take in New York?

The required period is ten years, but the claimant must prove adverse, actual, open, notorious and continuous use under a claim of right for that period.

Does a prescriptive easement transfer title?

No. It creates a limited right to use land. Adverse possession is the doctrine that can transfer title.

What is an encroachment?

It is a physical intrusion across a property boundary or into another property's protected airspace or subsurface area without sufficient authority.

Must a New York encroachment be removed?

Not in every case. Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 871 allows removal, damages or other relief based on the facts and equities.

Who owns a New York party wall?

Under the common-law starting point, each owner holds the portion on that owner's land, subject to the adjoining owner's support easement. Documents and local law can add duties.

What are the adverse-possession elements in New York?

Possession must be adverse, under claim of right, open and notorious, continuous, exclusive and actual for the statutory period.

Is the New York adverse-possession period ten years?

The ordinary period is ten years. Tenants in common have the special section 541 framework and, absent ouster, the 20-year path confirmed by the Court of Appeals in Golobe.

Does mowing a neighbor's lawn create adverse possession?

No. Section 543 treats lawn mowing or similar boundary maintenance as permissive and nonadverse.

Does paying property taxes prove adverse possession?

No. Payment can be relevant evidence in some disputes, but section 501 does not list tax payment as a separate element. The claimant must prove the required possession, claim of right, visibility, continuity, exclusivity and actual occupation.

Can a court grant temporary access to adjoining property for repairs?

Yes. Current section 881 permits a special proceeding for a court license in an appropriate case and specifies notice, insurance, compensation and other conditions.

Does long nonuse terminate an easement?

Nonuse alone does not establish abandonment. The party asserting abandonment must prove intent and unequivocal conduct showing permanent relinquishment.

Sources and verification notes

This article was checked against official sources available on August 27, 2026. Boundary and access rights depend on deeds, surveys, historical use, local codes and facts. The article supports exam study and issue recognition rather than a determination of title or permission to enter land.

Revision record: Initial source-reviewed draft completed August 27, 2026. It includes the current 2026 text of Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 881 and the 2025 New York Court of Appeals cotenant decision in Golobe v Mielnicki. Publication remains disabled until a real author and qualified reviewer are assigned.

1. New York State Department of State, Real Estate Salesperson 77-Hour Curriculum. Subject 3 easement, boundary and adverse-use scope.
2. New York General Obligations Law section 5-703. Writing requirement for interests in real property and stated exceptions.
3. New York Real Property Law section 240. Construction of instruments by intent gathered from the whole writing.
4. Daniello v Wagner, 2023 NY Slip Op 06116. Easement appurtenant and passage with the benefited land.
5. Webster v Ragona, 7 AD3d 850 (2004). Easements appurtenant and in gross.
6. Lew Beach Co. v Carlson, 2010 NY Slip Op 07452. Easements by implication and necessity.
7. 572 Walt Whitman Road Holdings, LLC v Whitman Capital, LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op 02179. Current application of necessity at severance and convenience distinction.
8. Meyers v Berl, 2023 NY Slip Op 00562. Prescriptive-easement use and ten-year period.
9. Union Square Park Community Coalition, Inc. v New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, 22 NY3d 648 (2014). License definition and substance-over-label analysis.
10. Skaneateles Country Club v Cambs, 40 NY3d 1024 (2023). License characterization and exceptions to ordinary revocability.
11. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 871. Encroachment-removal action and alternative relief.
12. Marsh v Hogan, 2011 NY Slip Op 01401. Encroachment injunction and balancing of equities.
13. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 881. Current adjoining-property access license, notice, insurance and compensation terms.
14. Sakele Brothers v Safdie, 302 AD2d 20 (2002). Party-wall ownership and reciprocal support easements.
15. New York City Department of Buildings, Construction Codes. Current local code source and party-wall construction context.
16. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law article 5. Current adverse-possession statutory framework.
17. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 501. Adverse possessor, acquisition of title and claim of right.
18. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 511 and section 512. Claims founded on a written instrument or judgment and qualifying acts of possession.
19. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 521 and section 522. Claims without a written instrument and land actually occupied.
20. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 543. De minimis nonstructural encroachments and lawn maintenance across a boundary.
21. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules section 212(a). Ten-year limitation for recovery of real property.
22. Kopp v Rhino Room, Inc., 2021 NY Slip Op 01923. Tacking and extinguishment of an easement by adverse possession.
23. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 541. Adverse possession between tenants in common.
24. Golobe v Mielnicki, 44 NY3d 86 (2025). Twenty-year cotenant path absent ouster and mutual mistake.
25. Fenton v Floce Holdings, LLC, 2024 NY Slip Op 04063. Easement abandonment requires intent and conduct beyond nonuse.
26. Levy v Morgan, 31 AD3d 857 (2006). Exclusive use is not required for a prescriptive easement.

Continue with the next article on valid New York deeds to move from land-use interests into title transfer requirements.