- Official section
- National I.A.2: Encumbrances and Effects on Property Ownership
- Broker weight
- Part of 10% of the national portion
- Expected scored items
- The current PSI broker outline assigns about 10 of 100 scored national items to Property Ownership
Property Ownership exam concept
Easement vs. license vs. encroachment
These three concepts answer different questions. An easement asks what legal use right exists. A license asks what personal permission was given. An encroachment asks what physical object crossed a line without established authority. Start with right, permission, or intrusion before looking for a remedy.
Last updated: August 1, 2026
What is the difference at a glance?
Short answer: An easement is a nonpossessory interest authorizing defined use of land and can run with parcels or benefit a person or entity. A license is generally revocable personal permission that creates no estate in land. An encroachment is an unauthorized physical intrusion across a boundary or into a protected area. A use can begin as permission, later become disputed, and never become an easement unless legal requirements are met. A physical intrusion can be resolved by removal, relocation, agreement, an easement, a license, conveyance of a strip, damages, injunction, or litigation, but it does not itself prove title transfer.
This guide follows the easements, rights of way, licenses, and encroachments line in the national PSI outline effective June 24, 2026. Creation, prescription periods, reliance exceptions, relocation, maintenance, remedies, and transferability vary by state and instrument. Illinois generally uses a 20-year limitations period for recovery of land, but prescriptive and adverse claims still require precise elements and legal proof. Sources were checked through August 1, 2026. This is exam preparation, not a boundary or access opinion.
What changes from one term to the next?
- Terms
- Easement vs. license
- Difference
- An easement is a property interest authorizing use. A license is generally personal, revocable permission that creates no estate.
- Question cue
- Land interest versus permission.
- Terms
- Easement vs. encroachment
- Difference
- An easement makes a defined use lawful. An encroachment is a physical crossing without established authority.
- Question cue
- Authorized use versus unauthorized object.
- Terms
- License vs. encroachment
- Difference
- A license can permit a use or temporary placement. An encroachment exists when a physical intrusion lacks the required permission or property right.
- Question cue
- Consent versus unauthorized crossing.
- Terms
- Right of way vs. easement
- Difference
- A right of way usually describes a passage easement or its corridor. Easement is the broader legal category that can cover utilities, drainage, conservation, and other purposes.
- Question cue
- Passage use versus general nonpossessory right.
- Terms
- Express easement vs. prescriptive easement
- Difference
- An express easement arises from an instrument or authorized record. A prescriptive easement arises from qualifying adverse use for the statutory period.
- Question cue
- Written creation versus long adverse use.
- Terms
- Easement by necessity vs. license
- Difference
- Necessity can create a land interest after qualifying severance and lack of access. A license is consent from the owner without an easement estate.
- Question cue
- Landlocked legal need versus granted courtesy.
- Terms
- Permission vs. prescription
- Difference
- Permission supports a license and negates adverse use. Prescription requires use under a claim inconsistent with the owner's permission for the full period.
- Question cue
- Allowed use versus hostile claim of use right.
- Terms
- Survey line vs. ownership judgment
- Difference
- A survey locates boundaries and improvements based on records and field evidence. It does not itself adjudicate adverse possession, prescription, or title.
- Question cue
- Physical and record evidence versus legal determination.
- Terms
- Encroachment vs. setback violation
- Difference
- An encroachment crosses a private boundary or protected property area. A setback violation places an improvement too close to a required zoning or code line even if it stays on the owner's parcel.
- Question cue
- Neighbor's rights versus public land-use rule.
- Terms
- Release vs. abandonment
- Difference
- A release is an intentional conveyance or written surrender of the easement. Abandonment requires the legally sufficient intent and conduct, not merely a period of nonuse.
- Question cue
- Formal surrender versus inferred ending.
How does the distinction change the answer?
Recorded driveway easement
Scenario: A deed grants Parcel A a 15-foot ingress and egress easement across a described strip of Parcel B. Parcel A is later sold.
- The document creates a land-use interest for a stated passage purpose.
- Parcel A receives the benefit and Parcel B bears the burden.
- An appurtenant easement ordinarily travels with the benefited parcel when the requirements are met.
Answer: This is an easement, not a revocable parking license. Parcel A is dominant and Parcel B is servient.
Weekend parking permission
Scenario: An owner tells a neighbor that guests may park in the side lot during one weekend festival and that permission may be withdrawn at any time.
- The permission is personal and limited in time and purpose.
- The owner expressly preserves revocation.
- No estate, parcel benefit, or permanent land interest is described.
Answer: The arrangement is a license.
A fence crosses the survey line
Scenario: A current survey shows a neighbor's fence two feet inside the seller's parcel. No deed, easement, boundary agreement, or permission is found.
- The fence is a physical object crossing the record boundary.
- No established right authorizes the location.
- The survey identifies the issue but does not adjudicate title or automatically move the line.
Answer: Treat the fence as a possible encroachment and obtain legal and title review before selecting removal, agreement, or another remedy.
Permission defeats a quick prescription claim
Scenario: For 22 years, a neighbor uses a path after the owner says, 'You may use it until I need that area.' The owner later revokes permission.
- The use began and continued under express consent.
- Permissive use is consistent with a license rather than hostile claim of right.
- Long duration alone does not supply the adverse element of prescription.
Answer: The facts point toward a revocable license, subject to any reliance or other state-law exception, not automatic prescription.
An easement does not authorize a building
Scenario: A recorded instrument allows a neighbor to use a ten-foot strip for pedestrian access. The neighbor begins building a permanent storage shed on the strip.
- The easement's purpose is pedestrian passage.
- A storage building is a different and more permanent use.
- Valid easement existence does not authorize conduct outside its scope.
Answer: The shed likely overburdens or exceeds the easement and may itself be an encroachment.
A roof eave complicates closing
Scenario: A survey before closing shows that a garage eave extends eight inches over the boundary. The buyer's lender and title company object.
- The eave is a physical airspace intrusion despite its small size.
- The issue can affect marketability, lender conditions, title exceptions, and future maintenance.
- Possible cures require owner, neighbor, lender, title, municipal, and legal coordination.
Answer: Do not dismiss the issue as minor. Resolve it through removal, modification, a recorded right, or another approved legal and title solution before closing.
The R-P-I method for easement questions
- Right: identify any deed, plat, implication, necessity, prescription, or other source of an easement interest.
- Permission: identify consent, its recipient, purpose, duration, revocation terms, reliance, and whether it creates only a license.
- Intrusion: locate the physical object, record boundary, easement corridor, setback, and extent of any encroachment.
- Scope: compare actual use with allowed route, width, purpose, intensity, users, maintenance, and transfer terms.
- Evidence: obtain the deed, title commitment, recorded plat, easement instrument, current survey, permissions, notices, and use history.
- Resolution: choose removal, release, relocation, recorded agreement, easement, license, conveyance, damages, court process, or professional review as the facts require.
- Feature
- Core nature
- Easement
- Nonpossessory land interest
- License
- Personal permission
- Encroachment
- Physical intrusion
- Feature
- Authority
- Easement
- Legally recognized right
- License
- Owner consent
- Encroachment
- No established right
- Feature
- Typical duration
- Easement
- Instrument or doctrine controls
- License
- Usually temporary or revocable
- Encroachment
- Continues until resolved
- Feature
- Transfer
- Easement
- Can bind successors
- License
- Usually personal
- Encroachment
- No transfer right created
- Feature
- Physical object required
- Easement
- No
- License
- No
- Encroachment
- Yes
- Feature
- Recording
- Easement
- Common for express right
- License
- Often not an interest to record
- Encroachment
- Survey or agreement may be recorded
- Feature
- Common example
- Easement
- Recorded driveway access
- License
- Weekend parking permission
- Encroachment
- Fence over boundary
- Feature
- Common response
- Easement
- Interpret and enforce scope
- License
- Revoke or honor terms
- Encroachment
- Survey and resolve intrusion
Where do similar terms create traps?
- Trap
- Every long use becomes an easement.
- Correction
- Prescription requires every element for the full period. Permission points toward a license and defeats adversity.
- Trap
- An easement gives possession of the land.
- Correction
- It grants a defined nonpossessory use right while the servient owner retains ownership and other compatible uses.
- Trap
- A license is always a permanent recorded interest.
- Correction
- A license is generally personal, temporary, and revocable, subject to reliance and other legal exceptions.
- Trap
- Owner permission creates prescriptive adversity.
- Correction
- Permission makes the use consensual rather than adverse unless the character later changes clearly and the full period runs.
- Trap
- Every boundary crossing is an easement.
- Correction
- Without authority, the physical crossing is an encroachment, not a use right.
- Trap
- Every easement permits every use.
- Correction
- Location, width, purpose, intensity, users, maintenance, and duration limit the interest.
- Trap
- An access easement allows permanent storage.
- Correction
- Passage authority does not automatically permit sheds, parking, obstruction, utilities, or unrelated occupation.
- Trap
- A survey transfers title to an occupied strip.
- Correction
- A survey supplies location evidence. Conveyance or judicial process determines title changes.
- Trap
- An encroachment automatically proves adverse possession.
- Correction
- A physical intrusion is one fact. Adverse possession requires every element for the statutory period and legal proof.
- Trap
- A small eave or fence crossing never affects closing.
- Correction
- Even a narrow intrusion can affect title, lender, insurance, code, maintenance, and marketability.
- Trap
- Nonuse automatically terminates an easement.
- Correction
- Abandonment commonly requires intent plus legally sufficient conduct, or another recognized termination ground.
- Trap
- A broker can settle a disputed boundary by visual inspection.
- Correction
- Obtain survey, title, instrument, and legal review and avoid making an unauthorized ownership determination.
Can you separate the terms in a new fact pattern?
These questions are original study items aligned to the published outline. They are not copied, recalled, or predicted PSI questions.
1. An owner permits a neighbor to park for one weekend and reserves the right to withdraw permission. What is created?
- A. License
- B. Easement appurtenant
- C. Adverse possession
- D. Fee simple estate
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
Temporary personal and expressly revocable permission is the classic license pattern.
2. A recorded deed gives Parcel A driveway access over Parcel B. What type of interest is most likely?
- A. Encroachment
- B. Easement
- C. Tenancy at sufferance
- D. Trade fixture
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
The deed creates a nonpossessory land-use right. If tied to Parcel A, it is likely appurtenant.
3. A survey shows a garage wall across the boundary with no recorded or permitted right. What is the issue?
- A. License
- B. Encroachment
- C. Riparian right
- D. Emblement
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
A physical improvement crossing a boundary without established authority is an encroachment.
4. Which fact most directly defeats a claimed prescriptive easement?
- A. The use was openly permitted by the owner
- B. The path was visible
- C. The route was definite
- D. The user walked continuously
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
Permission makes use consensual rather than adverse, so long use alone does not create prescription.
5. An easement allows pedestrian access. The holder constructs a storage building in the corridor. What is the best analysis?
- A. Every easement allows construction
- B. The building likely exceeds the easement's scope
- C. The holder now owns the whole parcel
- D. The easement becomes a mortgage
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
An easement is limited by its stated purpose, route, and intensity. Pedestrian access does not automatically include permanent storage construction.
Where do these ideas appear on the outline?
- Topic
- Easement as property interest
- What to know
- Nonpossessory interest, use right, burden, benefit, land, access, driveway, utility, drainage, parking, conservation, view, support, restriction, scope, duration, and enforceability
- Best exam move
- Look for an enforceable land-use right rather than full possession or ownership.
- Topic
- License as permission
- What to know
- Personal permission, entry, parking, event, hunting, access, storage, oral consent, written consent, revocable, nonassignable, temporary, no estate, no deed interest, and termination
- Best exam move
- Choose license when the owner grants limited personal permission without conveying a land interest.
- Topic
- Encroachment as physical intrusion
- What to know
- Fence, wall, building, garage, roof, eave, gutter, driveway, retaining wall, shed, sign, pool, septic field, landscaping feature, boundary, setback, easement area, airspace, and subsurface
- Best exam move
- Find the object and line it crosses; do not assume the crossing creates a legal right.
- Topic
- Easement appurtenant overview
- What to know
- Dominant estate, servient estate, benefited parcel, burdened parcel, runs with land, access, ingress, egress, driveway, transfer, successor, scope, and maintenance
- Best exam move
- Identify two parcels and assign the benefit to the dominant and burden to the servient estate.
- Topic
- Easement in gross overview
- What to know
- Person beneficiary, entity beneficiary, utility, pipeline, cable, conservation, no dominant parcel, commercial right, personal right, assignment, term, scope, and termination
- Best exam move
- Look for a named beneficiary rather than a separate benefited parcel.
- Topic
- Express easement
- What to know
- Grant, reservation, deed, easement agreement, legal description, location, width, purpose, term, maintenance, recording, signature, notice, dominant parcel, servient parcel, and successors
- Best exam move
- Read the exact instrument because the granted location and purpose limit the holder's use.
- Topic
- Implied easement
- What to know
- Common ownership, severance, prior use, apparent use, continuous use, reasonable necessity, intent, quasi-easement, parcel division, access, utility, circumstances, and state elements
- Best exam move
- Find the common-owner and severance history before inferring an easement from prior parcel use.
- Topic
- Easement by necessity
- What to know
- Common ownership, severance, landlocked parcel, necessity at severance, no legal access, ingress, egress, duration of necessity, alternate route, public road, strict or reasonable necessity, and termination
- Best exam move
- Use necessity for access created by parcel severance, not merely for a route that is cheaper or more convenient.
- Topic
- Prescriptive easement
- What to know
- Adverse use, open, notorious, continuous, uninterrupted, definite line, claim of right, owner knowledge, statutory period, permission, interruption, seasonal use, public use, proof, and no title to whole parcel
- Best exam move
- Permission defeats the adverse-use theory unless later facts clearly change the character and satisfy the full period.
- Topic
- Easement by plat or dedication
- What to know
- Recorded plat, subdivision, utility strip, drainage easement, street, alley, public dedication, private easement, lot buyer, municipal acceptance, dimensions, notation, and title notice
- Best exam move
- Inspect the recorded plat rather than relying only on the text of the latest deed.
- Topic
- Easement scope
- What to know
- Purpose, route, width, intensity, frequency, users, vehicles, utilities, maintenance, repair, relocation, gate, obstruction, expansion, subdivision, overburden, commercial use, and reasonable use
- Best exam move
- A valid easement authorizes only the use within its location and purpose, not every use the holder later prefers.
- Topic
- License creation and revocation
- What to know
- Oral permission, written permission, consent, ticket, invitation, parking, hunting, revocation, notice, expiration, death, transfer, reliance, expenditure, estoppel, coupled interest, and state exception
- Best exam move
- Begin with revocable permission but check whether reliance or another doctrine limits immediate revocation.
- Topic
- Permission versus adverse use
- What to know
- Neighborly accommodation, consent, courtesy, license, adverse claim, hostility, owner objection, notice of changed claim, interruption, gate, written acknowledgment, rent, revocation, and prescription clock
- Best exam move
- A friendly allowed use is not hostile merely because it lasts a long time.
- Topic
- Boundary and survey evidence
- What to know
- Deed description, monument, line, corner, plat, survey, improvement location, stake, fence, occupation line, record line, overlap, gap, easement location, setback, professional surveyor, and no title opinion
- Best exam move
- Use a current survey to locate facts, then use title and legal review to decide rights and remedies.
- Topic
- Encroachment effects
- What to know
- Marketability, title exception, lender objection, appraisal, insurance, use loss, setback violation, zoning, casualty, maintenance, access, liability, neighbor dispute, sale delay, and disclosure
- Best exam move
- Treat an encroachment as a title, use, value, and closing issue even when the physical area is small.
- Topic
- Encroachment resolution
- What to know
- Removal, relocation, boundary agreement, easement, license, lease, sale of strip, quitclaim deed, maintenance agreement, indemnity, damages, injunction, quiet title, adverse possession, prescription, municipal variance, lender approval, and title endorsement
- Best exam move
- Match the cure to ownership, use, financing, code, and future-transfer needs instead of selecting the cheapest informal fix.
- Topic
- Ending easements
- What to know
- Expiration, release, merger, abandonment, intent plus conduct, purpose completed, necessity ends, condemnation, adverse obstruction, prescription, agreement, court order, nonuse, and no automatic termination
- Best exam move
- Nonuse alone is not always abandonment; look for the legally required intent and conduct or another ending ground.
- Topic
- Transaction practice
- What to know
- Title commitment, survey, deed, plat, easement document, legal description, seller disclosure, buyer review, lender condition, title insurance, exception, endorsement, repair estimate, neighbor agreement, recording, closing, and attorney
- Best exam move
- Identify and resolve access or boundary issues before closing rather than promising a legal result from a visual inspection.
How do you make the distinction stick?
- Session
- Session 1
- Focus
- Separate right, permission, and intrusion
- Proof you are ready
- Classify 20 scenarios as easement, license, encroachment, or insufficient facts and state the decisive clue.
- Session
- Session 2
- Focus
- Learn easement creation
- Proof you are ready
- Explain express grant, reservation, implication, necessity, prescription, plat, and dedication with one original example each.
- Session
- Session 3
- Focus
- Master permission and prescription
- Proof you are ready
- Analyze 12 use histories for consent, adversity, interruption, notice, definite route, and statutory time.
- Session
- Session 4
- Focus
- Control easement scope
- Proof you are ready
- Decide whether parking, utilities, construction, subdivision traffic, gates, and maintenance fit six access grants.
- Session
- Session 5
- Focus
- Resolve encroachments
- Proof you are ready
- Match removal, relocation, easement, license, strip conveyance, boundary agreement, and court review to eight survey findings.
- Session
- Session 6
- Focus
- Run the R-P-I method
- Proof you are ready
- Score at least 90% and state right, permission, intrusion, scope, evidence, and resolution for every question.
Do not count recognition as mastery. Close the notes and explain the rule, apply it to a new fact pattern, and identify why each distractor fails.
Turn the comparison into a test-day decision
From concept to decision
Drill this topic, then review the explanation
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Questions students ask about Easement vs. License vs. Encroachment
What is an easement?
An easement is a nonpossessory interest that permits a defined use of another person's land or limits specified use by the burdened owner. It can concern access, utilities, drainage, conservation, parking, or another stated purpose and can be created in several legally recognized ways.
What is a license in real estate?
A license is personal permission to enter or use land for a stated purpose without creating an estate or easement. It is generally revocable, nontransferable, and temporary, subject to agreement and legal exceptions such as reliance-based rights in some circumstances.
What is an encroachment?
An encroachment is a physical improvement or object that crosses a boundary or intrudes into another protected property area without an established right. Common examples are fences, walls, driveways, roof eaves, garages, signs, and retaining walls extending past the lawful line.
What is the difference between an easement and a license?
An easement is an interest in land and can bind successors when legal requirements are met. A license is ordinarily personal permission that creates no property interest and can usually be revoked. The instrument, duration, transfer language, reliance, and conduct matter.
What is the difference between an easement and an encroachment?
An easement authorizes a defined use. An encroachment describes a physical intrusion without established authority. A boundary-crossing driveway can be an encroachment if unauthorized or a lawful use if an easement covers its location and purpose.
Is a right of way the same as an easement?
A right of way commonly describes an easement or public right allowing passage through a defined corridor. The phrase can also describe the physical strip itself. Read the deed, plat, statute, or dedication to identify the holder, purpose, width, location, and duration.
Can an owner revoke an easement?
Not unilaterally merely because the owner dislikes it. A valid easement lasts according to its terms and law and can end through expiration, release, merger, purpose ending, condemnation, abandonment supported by required conduct, or another recognized ground. A license is more commonly revocable.
Does long use automatically create an easement?
No. A prescriptive easement requires every element for the full period under state law, often including adverse, open, continuous, and definite use. Owner permission points toward a license and can defeat the adversity needed for prescription.
Does a fence encroachment transfer title automatically?
No. A fence over the line creates a boundary and encroachment issue. Title changes only through a valid conveyance, judgment, adverse possession, or another lawful process after every element is proven. A survey result alone does not transfer ownership.
Are these official PSI exam questions?
No. They are original questions aligned to the national Property Ownership outline effective June 24, 2026. Illinois property, plat, title, limitation, and survey sources were reviewed through August 1, 2026.
Primary sources
- PSI Illinois Candidate Information Booklet dated June 24, 2026
- 765 ILCS 5, current Illinois Conveyances Act and recording framework
- 765 ILCS 205, current Illinois Plat Act
- 765 ILCS 330, current Illinois Marketable Title Act
- 735 ILCS 5/13-101, Illinois 20-year recovery-of-land limitation
- 225 ILCS 330, current Illinois Professional Land Surveyor Act
The current official outline controls the tested scope. Statutes, regulations, and official agency materials control when a general study rule and a jurisdiction-specific rule differ.
Editorial status
Checked against primary sources
The Pass Illinois editorial team last checked this guide on August 1, 2026. Every practice question is an original study item, and the source links above let you verify the rules that support the lesson.