Property easements: what the notaire checks before your purchase

The word “easement” has something medieval about it. Yet property easements are very much alive in 2026, and they can transform an apparently ideal purchase into a source of lasting complications. A right of way crossing your future private garden, a view restriction prohibiting any modification to your terrace, a shared courtyard easement requiring you to maintain permanent access for neighbours: these situations exist in Paris and they do not always appear in bold type in the listings.

The notaire is supposed to check all of this. And they do, with a thoroughness that does credit to the profession. But the notaire intervenes after your purchase offer, after you have projected yourself into the apartment, after enthusiasm has overtaken caution. Discovering an inconvenient easement at the preliminary agreement stage means facing an unpleasant dilemma: give up a property you already love, or accept a constraint you had not anticipated.

In fifteen years of property hunting in Paris and over 1,200 transactions at Home Select, our property hunters have learned to identify signs of potential easements from the very first visit, well before the notaire opens the file. This instinct has spared many clients costly surprises.

Easements: a simple legal framework, concrete consequences

An easement is a charge imposed on one property for the benefit of another. The property bearing the charge is called the servient land. The property benefiting from it is called the dominant land. The easement is attached to the property, not to the person: when you buy an apartment burdened with an easement, you inherit that easement, whether you know about it or not.

Easements fall into three categories according to their origin.

Natural easements arise from the configuration of the land. The flow of rainwater from higher ground to lower ground is the classic example. Within Paris proper, these easements are rare, more relevant to detached houses and sloping terrain.

Legal easements are imposed by law in the public or private interest. Planting distances, view and light rules between neighbours (Articles 675 to 680 of the Civil Code), and planning easements (alignment, setback, maximum height) fall into this category. These are the most common in Paris.

Conventional easements result from an agreement between owners, formalized by a notarial deed and registered with the land registry. Right of way, shared courtyard, prohibition on building: they are freely created by the parties and their content is defined by the deed that establishes them.

The essential point: an easement is perpetual by nature. It does not disappear with time (except through 30-year prescriptive non-use for conventional easements). It does not disappear with the sale of the property. It is an integral part of the property, just like its walls and roof.

The most common easements in Paris

The dense urban fabric of Paris, built and rebuilt over centuries, generates an interweaving of easements that other French cities rarely experience to this degree.

The shared courtyard easement. This is probably the most common easement in Parisian buildings. Two adjoining buildings share an interior courtyard to provide light and ventilation to the apartments facing it. The shared courtyard easement prohibits building or adding upper storeys on the courtyard section concerned, thus guaranteeing the maintenance of light and air for both buildings.

In practice, this easement has a direct impact on extension or modification projects. If your ground-floor apartment overlooks a shared courtyard, you cannot build a conservatory or enclose a loggia facing this courtyard without the agreement of the dominant land owner, meaning the neighbouring building. Such projects are frequently refused.

The right of way. When a building has no direct access to the public road, it benefits from a right of way over the neighbouring land. In Paris, these easements exist in buildings at the back of plots, accessible through a porch or corridor running through the front building. The right of way is a perpetual right that the servient land owner can neither suppress nor restrict.

For a buyer of a ground-floor apartment overlooking this passage, this means a regular flow of people beneath their windows: residents of the back building, delivery drivers, refuse collection. The noise and loss of privacy can be significant, especially in the narrow courtyards of older buildings.

View and light easements. The Civil Code distinguishes between views (openings allowing one to see into the neighbour’s property) and lights (openings letting light through but not sight: opaque glass, fixed, placed high up). The rules are strict: a direct view (perpendicular to the party wall) must respect a setback of 1.90 metres; an oblique view (at an angle), 0.60 metres. A light opening can be installed at any distance from the neighbour but must be located at least 2.60 metres from the floor at ground level and 1.90 metres on upper floors.

These rules have practical consequences in Paris where buildings are very close together. If you plan to create a window or convert a light opening into a view (replacing opaque glass with clear glass, or making a fixed window openable), the neighbour’s view easement may prohibit it. And conversely: if your apartment has an established view for over thirty years, the neighbour cannot build a wall blocking it.

Planning easements. These are not easements in the civil law sense, but they function similarly. The Paris Local Urban Plan (PLU) imposes rules on height, alignment, setback (distance between buildings), ground coverage and designated use of premises. These rules limit what can be done with a property: adding storeys to a building, changing the use of commercial premises to residential, or building at the back of a plot.

The Paris bioclimatic PLU, which came into force in 2024, has strengthened certain constraints: construction or elevation projects must comply with strict environmental standards, and plot greening is encouraged (which can limit the waterproofing of courtyards and gardens).

What the notaire checks, and what they cannot always see

The notaire plays a central role in identifying easements. Their verification work begins upon receipt of the preliminary agreement and continues until the signing of the deed of sale.

The seller’s title deed is the first document analysed. It mentions conventional easements created by previous owners. The notaire traces the chain of titles back thirty years to identify all easements registered with the land registry.

The mortgage survey, ordered from the land registry, lists all charges and rights burdening the property: mortgages, privileges, and registered easements. It is a technical document that the notaire analyses line by line.

The co-ownership regulations, for apartments, often contain provisions equivalent to easements: exclusive use rights over common areas (terraces, gardens, cellars), passage obligations, usage restrictions. Regulations drafted in the 1950s or 1960s may contain surprising clauses: prohibition on practising certain professions, obligation to maintain the bourgeois character of the building, restrictions on facade modifications.

The planning certificate, requested from the town hall, provides information on planning easements affecting the property: alignment, historic monument perimeter, architectural heritage protection zone, urban pre-emption right.

What the notaire does not always check, or cannot check. Easements not registered but acquired through thirty-year prescriptive use (a passage used for over thirty years without formal title, for example). De facto easements, tolerated by successive owners without having been formalized. Ongoing planning projects that could affect the property (road extension, metro construction, development zone). These elements fall more within on-the-ground investigation than legal research, and this is precisely where a property hunter adds value that the notaire, however competent, is not mandated to provide.

Our property hunters identify constraints before your offer, not after. Analysis of the property goes well beyond what appears in the listing. Entrust us with your project

The impact of easements on property value

Not all easements have the same impact on the value of a Parisian apartment. Some are trivial, others significantly reduce the justifiable price.

Low-impact easements. A shared courtyard easement concerning only the interior courtyard of a classic Haussmannian building disturbs no one in practice: no co-owner plans to build in the courtyard. The easement exists legally but has no practical consequence on the use of the property. Similarly, alignment easements on streets where the building is already aligned with the road have no practical impact.

Moderate-impact easements. A right of way generating foot traffic in a courtyard, a view right preventing the enclosure of a loggia, a pipe easement requiring permanent access to a utility duct running through a cupboard: these constraints are manageable but reduce comfort or the property’s potential. The impact on value is in the range of 3 to 8% depending on the actual inconvenience.

High-impact easements. A building prohibition on an exploitable roof terrace, a right of way through a private ground-floor garden, an easement prohibiting the change of use from commercial to residential: these easements significantly reduce the use or potential of the property. The impact can reach 10 to 20% of the value, or even more if the easement neutralizes a major asset of the property (the terrace, the garden, the transformation potential).

The problem our property hunters regularly encounter: the easement that is not reflected in the sale price. The seller knows about the easement, the estate agent minimizes it (“it is just administrative”), and the unaccompanied buyer does not detect it. The price is set as if the easement did not exist. This is a negotiation lever that we systematically use when the situation warrants it, with precise legal arguments, not impressions.

The signs a property hunter spots during visits

An experienced property hunter does not only read diagnostics and legal documents. They observe the property physically and detect signs that an inexperienced buyer does not see.

A covered passage between the street and the interior courtyard with letterboxes from another building: probable right of way. Frosted glass windows or high-placed openings in a party wall: restrictive light openings, with limitations on possible modifications. A courtyard shared between two buildings with access doors on both sides: shared courtyard easement almost certainly. A ground-floor premises whose listing states “potential for conversion to residential”: must be verified in the PLU and co-ownership regulations, as the lot’s designated use in the regulations may prohibit this conversion, and a use easement may block it.

Visible pipes or utility ducts crossing an apartment: network passage easements, with obligation to maintain access for maintenance. A balcony or terrace whose plans do not correspond to the announced area: check whether the use is exclusive (right to use a common area) or full (private area): the distinction has consequences on permitted works and on value.

These on-the-ground observations, cross-referenced with analysis of the co-ownership regulations and title deed, allow a complete picture of the property’s constraints to be established before making an offer. This is investigative work that our 16 property hunters carry out on every property visited, because easements are never mentioned in property listings.

Protected sectors: an additional layer of constraints

In Paris, numerous buildings are located within the protection perimeter of a historic monument (500 metres around each listed or registered monument). Given the density of historic monuments in Paris, a large portion of the city’s territory is affected.

Within these perimeters, the Architecte des Batiments de France (ABF) gives an opinion on any project modifying the external appearance of a building: window replacement, installation of shutters, visible air conditioning units, shopfront modifications, facade renovation. The ABF’s opinion is binding: an unfavourable opinion blocks the project.

For the buyer, this means that window replacement (a frequent renovation item, particularly to improve the energy performance rating) may be subject to strict specifications: materials, colours, proportions, type of openings. White PVC windows in a Haussmannian building in a protected sector will be systematically refused by the ABF. Painted wood or lacquered aluminium will be required, at two to three times the cost.

Sites Patrimoniaux Remarquables (SPR), which replaced the former safeguarded sectors, add further constraints: interior works visible from public space may require authorization. The Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements), for example, is an SPR with a safeguarding and enhancement plan that strictly regulates modifications.

Easements in the preliminary agreement: what to read

When you receive the draft preliminary sales agreement, easements appear in several sections of the document.

The “origin of ownership” section traces the history of successive sales and mentions easements created by previous owners. The “easements” or “charges and conditions” section explicitly lists the easements affecting the property. The “planning” section mentions planning easements (alignment, PLU, protection perimeter). The co-ownership regulations, appended to the agreement, contain the easements internal to the co-ownership.

Reading these sections is tedious but indispensable. Our property hunters systematically review the draft preliminary agreement before signing and flag points of attention to their clients. The aim is not to turn the buyer into a lawyer: it is to ensure they understand the practical constraints on their future property and have factored them into their purchase decision and the price they are prepared to pay.

A practical point: if the notaire discovers a significant easement between the preliminary agreement and the deed of sale (which happens when supplementary research reveals an easement not mentioned in the title deed), the buyer can invoke this discovery to renegotiate the price or, in the most serious cases, to withdraw from the sale. This is a rare but real situation, and one that justifies once again the importance of being accompanied by a professional throughout the process.

From the first viewing to the last paragraph of the preliminary agreement, our property hunters protect your interests. Every detail matters when the investment runs into hundreds of thousands of euros. Get a free callback

In summary: the right reflexes

Easements should neither frighten you nor be ignored. They are part of the Parisian property reality, and the vast majority of them have no impact on daily life as an owner. The right reflex is not to avoid properties burdened with easements: it is to identify them, understand their practical consequences, and factor them into the price.

Request the co-ownership regulations before signing anything, and read them in full. Ask the estate agent about known easements: their answer (or their silence) is already informative. Check with the town hall whether the property is in a protected sector (ABF) or a Site Patrimonial Remarquable. Have the preliminary sales agreement analysed by an independent professional before signing it.

At Home Select, this analysis is part of the standard support. Across more than 1,200 transactions, our property hunters have identified dozens of easements that could have compromised our clients’ projects, and which, once identified, were either integrated into the price negotiation or factored into the decision to walk away. In both cases, the decision was made with full knowledge of the facts. And that is exactly what being professionally supported means.