It's unlikely you've walked into a home purchase eager to learn more about easements. However, they are an important part of understanding any property purchase. With over 25,000 active listings, and homes sitting on the market an average of 35 to 55 days, buyers have more choices than they've had in years.¹ More choices also mean more exposure to properties with complex title histories.
What is an Easement in Texas?
An easement is a legal right that allows someone else to use a portion of your property for a specific purpose. Easements often run with the land — meaning they survive the sale and bind every future owner, including you.
An easement gives someone else a legal right to use part of your land for a defined purpose. This could be a neighbor, a utility company, or even the public. You still own the land, but you may not be able to use it the way you planned if that use obstructs the existing easement.
In North Texas, easements are a standard feature of most residential properties. Utility easements for electric, water, gas, and cable lines appear on nearly every urban plat. In rapidly growing suburbs like Frisco, McKinney, and Plano, buyers are often purchasing land with title histories that long predate the newly constructed neighborhoods in which the properties now sit. Older utility corridors, drainage easements, and pipeline routes from prior agricultural or other uses frequently carry forward when land is subdivided and developed.
An important point under Texas law: an easement does not have to be recorded to be valid. That means an easement can exist and be legally enforceable based on prior use, visibility, or necessity, even if it never appears in the real property records.²
How Can Easements Affect You?
As a hypothetical illustration, imagine a buyer in Plano purchases a home intending to add a pool in the backyard. After closing, the buyer discovers a utility easement running across the rear of the property that prohibits permanent structures in that area. The easement was listed in Schedule B of the title commitment, but the buyer did not review this before closing.
This is a fictional example created for educational purposes only and does not represent any actual case or client, but this type of scenario illustrates why identifying and evaluating any existing easements prior to closing is a critical part of the purchase decision.
What Buyers Can Do Before Closing
There are several steps buyers can take to better understand what they are purchasing before closing day.
Request the title commitment early. Pay particular attention to Schedule B exceptions, which list easements, restrictions, and other conditions that title insurance will not cover. ³
Order a current survey. A current survey can reveal easement corridors, encroachments, and boundary conditions that older surveys or public records may not reflect accurately.
Ask questions before closing day. If the title commitment lists an easement and you don't know what it means for your use of the property, that question is best answered before you buy and not after.
Before You Close
Easements are a normal part of Texas real estate. The issue is not the easement itself, but whether the buyer knows about it and understands what it means for their use of a property.
A licensed Texas real estate attorney can review the title commitment and survey, explain what the Schedule B exceptions mean in plain language, and identify whether any easements listed in the title commitment present a concern worth addressing before closing. This is one of the components included in The Keller Firm's Property Protection Package.
The Property Protection Package includes a title commitment and survey review with a plain-language explanation by a Texas real estate attorney of every easement listed in Schedule B — so you know what you are agreeing to purchase before you close the deal. If you are under contract on a Texas property and want to understand what your title commitment reveals, an attorney can evaluate your transaction. Contact The Keller Firm at 214-775-0817 or visit kellerfirm.com to learn more.
Disclaimer: This website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Do not act or refrain from acting based on anything you read on this site. Use of this site or communication with The Keller Firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Sources
Dallas Housing Market Update for Homebuyers (2026). M/I Homes. Retrieved March 2026. https://www.mihomes.com/blog/dallas/dallas-housing-market-update-for-homebuyers — reporting approximately 25,211 active residential listings in DFW as of January 2026 and average days on market of 61–71 days; cross-referenced with Dallas Real Estate Market Update 2026, tlfromtx.com, reporting 35–55 days on market in core Dallas neighborhoods.
What Happens if an Easement Isn't Recorded in Texas? Guerra | Days — Real Estate Attorneys. May 2025. https://www.guerradays.com/what-happens-if-an-easement-isnt-recorded-in-texas/ — "Texas law does not require an easement to be recorded in order to be valid between the original parties who created it."
Title Insurance FAQ. Texas Department of Insurance. https://www.tdi.texas.gov/title/titlefaqs.html — describing Schedule B as listing conditions title insurance will not cover, including undisclosed or unrecorded easements not otherwise apparent on the land.
What Happens if an Easement Isn't Recorded in Texas? Guerra | Days — Real Estate Attorneys. May 2025. https://www.guerradays.com/what-happens-if-an-easement-isnt-recorded-in-texas/ — "Unrecorded easements may not appear in a title search and therefore may not be covered by title insurance."
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