New Jersey Real Estate Salesperson · Property Ownership and Interests
Encumbrances and Property Restrictions
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In 30 seconds
An encumbrance is any claim, right, or burden held by someone other than the owner that rides along with the land. The most tested distinction is lien versus easement versus encroachment: all three burden title, but only a lien secures money, only an easement grants use, and only an encroachment is a physical intrusion.
Why this matters
The exam gives you a fence over the line, a shared driveway, and an unpaid contractor, and expects you to label each as an encroachment, an easement, or a lien.
The college version
In normal terms
- A lien secures a debt against the property; voluntary (mortgage) or involuntary (tax, mechanic's, judgment), general (all property) or specific (one parcel).
- An easement is a nonpossessory right to use another's land for a purpose, such as a driveway; a license is revocable permission, not a right.
- An encroachment is a physical intrusion across a boundary, such as a garage over the line, found by survey, not title search.
Concepts in this outline
- Liens — claims against property that secure a debt; the property may be sold if the debt is unpaid.
- Voluntary liens — liens the owner chooses to create, such as a mortgage.
- Involuntary liens — liens imposed by law without consent, such as tax, mechanic's, and judgment liens.
- General liens — attach to all of a debtor's property, such as judgment liens.
- Specific liens — attach only to one property, such as a mortgage.
- Mortgage liens — voluntary, specific liens securing a loan; the note is the promise, the mortgage is the lien (see Topic 04).
- Property-tax liens — involuntary, specific liens for unpaid taxes; generally outrank all other liens regardless of recording date.
- Mechanic’s liens — involuntary, specific liens filed by unpaid contractors or suppliers who improved the property.
- Judgment liens — involuntary, general liens from a court money judgment, once recorded.
- Federal and state tax liens — involuntary liens for unpaid income or other taxes; federal income-tax liens are general.
- Easements — nonpossessory rights to use another's land for a purpose, such as access or utilities.
- Easement appurtenant — benefits a neighboring parcel and transfers automatically with that land.
- Easement in gross — benefits a person or company rather than a parcel, such as a utility.
- Dominant and servient tenements — the dominant tenement benefits; the servient tenement is burdened.
- Easement by necessity — created by law when a landlocked parcel has no other road access.
- Easement by prescription — acquired by open, continuous, hostile use for the statutory period without permission.
- Easement by implication — arises from prior use when land is divided, though the deed says nothing.
- Termination or abandonment — easements end by merger, written release, expiration, clear abandonment, or loss of purpose.
- Encroachments — physical intrusions of a building or fence across a boundary; revealed by survey, not title search.
- Licenses — personal, revocable permission to use another's land, such as an event ticket; not a real-property interest.
- Deed restrictions — private land-use limits written into a deed (see Topic 02).
- Restrictive covenants — promises limiting how subdivision land may be used (see Topic 02).
- Conditions, covenants, and restrictions (CC&Rs) — recorded private rules governing a planned community (see Topic 02).
Eli explains
The same idea, in plain words
Explain it like I’m 10
An encumbrance is anything that limits what an owner can do with land or clouds title. Three kinds get tested constantly.
A lien is about money: a debt is owed, and the property stands as security. A mortgage is a voluntary lien the owner chooses; a property-tax lien, mechanic's lien, or judgment lien is involuntary, attaching without the owner's consent. A specific lien touches one parcel; a general lien touches everything the debtor owns. When liens compete, property-tax and special-assessment liens generally come first regardless of recording date; the rest line up in recording order.
An easement is about use. It is a nonpossessory right to use another's land for a purpose. An easement appurtenant benefits a neighboring parcel, the dominant tenement, and burdens the servient tenement. An easement in gross benefits a person or company, like a utility. A license is only permission that can be revoked.
An encroachment is about space: a structure physically crosses the boundary line.
Worked example
Priya is buying a Hoboken brownstone with her licensee, Owen. Three items surface. First, a mechanic's lien filed by a roofer the seller never paid: a money claim that must be satisfied at closing. Second, a recorded easement letting the neighbor cross the rear yard to reach the alley: a use right that binds Priya after closing, because it is appurtenant to the neighbor's lot. Third, the survey shows the neighbor's stoop extends a few inches over the line: an encroachment no title search would reveal. Owen explains that the lien gets paid, the easement stays, and the attorneys address the encroachment before closing.
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