On April 27 Gary Anderson, PLS, of Westlake Consultants presented at The Seminar Group’s “Easements and CCRs in Oregon” conference in downtown Portland. The presentation covered the complexities of easements as well as the different types of easements being used today. There were 75 people in attendance including those who tuned in online for the live webcast. Everyone who attended or watched the presentation received continuing education credits.

CCRs stands for Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions. They are a set of rules that regulate certain neighborhoods or communities where residents must be part of and follow a homeowners’ association (HOA). The Seminar Group’s conference in April discussed this in detail and how it relates to easements.

An easement is the right to use and/or enter another property for a specific purpose without having ownership of the property. During the presentation, Anderson discussed drafting of easements for inclusion on a plat, recorded and new easements, Public Land Survey System (PLSS) naming conventions, and he provided sample easement descriptions as well as partition plat examples. Other topics included title issues, water easements, and potential easement complications and how to avoid them.