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Dec. 16, 2009 – Easements and restrictive covenants, actual or potential, play a role in almost every real estate transaction – from sales to mortgages to land use. That’s why your library should include the recently released Wisconsin Law of Easements and Covenants. This expanded edition of the highly regarded treatise on easements, has been revised by the original author, veteran Wisconsin property law attorney Jesse Ishikawa. In addition, property law attorney Dean B. Richards has contributed two comprehensive new chapters on restrictive covenants. This book, a mainstay of the State Bar of Wisconsin CLE’s property law library, analyzes and explains the complex legal principles underlying these encumbrances, provides a comprehensive summary of the underlying common statutory, and case law, and addresses various prospective and evolving issues.
Anyone who has ever done a title search can attest that intentional easements come in a variety of forms and involve a wide range of issues, from utility lines to water mains, from parking lots to driveways to private roads. Even though easements are common, Ishikawa points out, many easement agreements are drafted in a manner that invites litigation. With that in mind, an entire chapter is devoted to drafting techniques, including checklists, and the book includes suggested model forms on disk, for easy use and adaptation. Accidental or incidental easements, too, may come into existence, without express intention by the parties, by the doctrines of prescriptive right, implication, or necessity. Other chapters deal with such issues as administration of easements, allocation of the costs of maintenance and repair, amendment and termination of easements, and special problems that can arise with easements serving condominiums and planned unit developments.
As Richards points out, restrictive covenants add their own complications to real estate transactions. For one thing, there is a developing issue as to whether such covenants should be subject to contractual analysis – an approach not yet adopted in Wisconsin. He also addresses such issues as standing to enforce a restrictive covenant, necessary parties, whether assertions of waiver or acquiescence may undercut an otherwise valid restrictive covenant, and how and when a restrictive covenant may be terminated or modified.
The 250-plus-page, softcover book sells to State Bar members for $90 and $120 for nonmembers, plus tax, shipping, and handling. Subscribers to the State Bar’s automatic supplementation service receive updates at 10 percent of the regular price of the update.
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