Real Estate Tip – August 9, 2013
Rick Smith, Bernstein Shur, Real Estate Practice Group
& Member of the Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA)
Declarations of easements covenants and restrictions and reciprocal easement agreements are common tools used by neighboring businesses to define the use and maintenance of shared spaces – from parking lots and roofline heights to snow plowing and lighting. In many cases one party is allowed to incur an expense or make an improvement or repair with the permission of the other parties which permission “is not to be unreasonably withheld.” Since one party’s trademark chartreuse sign color may be another party’s worst nightmare, what’s “unreasonable” may not always be clear.