An easement is defined as a right for the owners of one lot to carry out some form of activity over another lot (e.g. an electricity easement allows electricity to be conveyed to a property over another property). A right-of-way is a particular type of easement, which allows the owners of a lot vehicle and/or pedestrian access over a portion of another lot.
It is important to:
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check on the title whether people have the right of access over other properties
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check the conditions of the easement
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note that not all rights-of-way are shown graphically on the title, and that the survey plan will need to be consulted in those cases.
A right-of-way or easement will be described as having 'servient' and 'dominant' tenements. A servient tenement is the lot that owns the land over which the right-of-way or easement passes. A dominant tenement is the lot that has the right to pass over or access the land over which the right-of-way or easement passes.
