Understanding Ingress and Egress in Real Estate

In real estate, the right of ingress and egress refers to a property owner’s ability to access their property through ingress (meaning the right to enter) and egress (meaning the right to exit). The deed to a piece of property will often outline its points of ingress and egress because property ownership is not always synonymous with property access. For instance, your property might be surrounded by other properties, or you may have a shared driveway, which means you might need to obtain the right to use another person’s property to access your land.

An easement—which is the legal right to use another person’s property in a specific, limited way—is a typical way that a property owner can establish the rights of ingress and egress if there are issues accessing their property. If someone has not secured and registered an easement through the local authorities, and the ingress and egress issues are not addressed in a property deed, a property owner can also obtain a land-use agreement.

Ingress and egress rights can be obtained in a few different ways.

1. 1. Through a property deed. Rights of ingress and egress may already be included in the deed to your property, in which case you would automatically have them when purchasing the property.
2. 2. Through an easement. An easement is a legal agreement that allows one property owner to use another property owner’s land for a specific, limited purpose. If the deed itself does not include rights of ingress and egress, you can check the public records to see if the property has an easement appurtenant, which is an added permission tied to the land. If there is no easement agreement in place, you will need to discuss an arrangement with the property owner. To grant easement rights for ingress and egress, the dominant estate (or grantee) must sign a quitclaim deed and give it to the grantor (the person who would be using the land) to authorize the use of the easement area.
3. 3. Through a land-use agreement. A land-use agreement is a type of license that provides similar rights to an easement but with greater flexibility in outlining the terms of how the land will be used. Parties can agree on specific terms regarding the use of the land—including the weight of vehicles, noise, specific use, and potential upkeep fees for the space in use.

Ingress and egress easements give a property owner the right to access their land without trespassing on another person’s land. For instance, a homeowner who buys a landlocked property would require an ingress/egress easement so that they may legally access their own property without technically trespassing on their neighbor’s land.

Affirmative easements and negative easements are two broad categories of easements that function in different ways. Affirmative easements provide additional permissions for land use, like granting the easement holder permission to fish in their neighbor’s lake or cross over a piece of property.

Negative easements restrict the property owner’s use of their own land, typically in ways that would negatively impact other properties. The rights of ingress and egress are affirmative easements because they provide additional permissions for the easement holder’s land use.

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