easements for utitlity and incidental purposes

What is the name of your state? CA
A title report shows two exclusions to title insurance coverage.

1. Easement for public utilities and incidental purposes, affecting southwesterly 5 feet of land.
2. Easement for public utilities and incidental purposes, affecting rear 5 feet of said land.

Is it pretty common for single family homes to have such easements? Are these permanent? Or can we have them removed, once we become the owners of the property.

The plot as shown on county maps is on a North-East to South-West (general direction)street.

Then, are the above two easements the same or different?

Where would you go about finding more information about these easements & terms/conditions, before the closing when it may be too late to do anything about it.

Are the title/escrow company obliged to help on this? Or do we go hire a lawyer. In CA its pretty uncommon to have a closing lawyer,, right?

-JavaPoet

[HomeGuru]

[quote]Originally posted by JavaPoet
[b]What is the name of your state? CA
A title report shows two exclusions to title insurance coverage.

1. Easement for public utilities and incidental purposes, affecting southwesterly 5 feet of land.
2. Easement for public utilities and incidental purposes, affecting rear 5 feet of said land.

Is it pretty common for single family homes to have such easements?

**A: yes.
*********
Are these permanent?

**A: yes, for the most part.
***********
Or can we have them removed, once we become the owners of the property.

**A: no.
************
The plot as shown on county maps is on a North-East to South-West (general direction)street.

Then, are the above two easements the same or different?

**A: it may be for the same
land area, but the way it is written could be referencing 2 distinct locations.
**********
Where would you go about finding more information about these easements & terms/conditions, before the closing when it may be too late to do anything about it.

Are the title/escrow company obliged to help on this?

**A: request that the title company provide you with a copy of the easement agreement and the survey (if any) demarking the easement areas.
***********

Or do we go hire a lawyer. In CA its pretty uncommon to have a closing lawyer,, right?

**A: no. There are many transactions that involve an attorney to at least to review the contract documents prior to closing.