What is the exam-ready answer?
| Official syllabus topic | Easements, Rights of Way, Licenses, Encroachments, and Adverse Possession |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Property Ownership |
| Published area weight | 10% of the 100-question national portion |
| Exam portion | National salesperson portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes the weight for the complete content area, not a fixed question count for this lesson. Learn the rule well enough to apply it when PSI changes names, numbers, or parties in a new scenario.
The lesson
These ideas work together. On the exam, the wrong answers usually describe a nearby concept, so learn where each one stops.
Easements
An appurtenant easement benefits a dominant parcel and burdens a servient parcel. An easement in gross benefits a person or organization rather than another parcel.
Creation and termination
Easements can arise by express grant or reservation, implication, necessity, or prescription. They may end by release, merger, abandonment where legally sufficient, expiration, or loss of necessity.
License and encroachment
A license gives permission without creating the same land interest. An encroachment is a structure or improvement crossing a boundary.
Adverse possession
Possession must satisfy the jurisdiction's required qualities and statutory period. Mere occupancy or a boundary mistake does not automatically transfer title.
Other title issues
Leases, probate claims, mineral rights, air rights, and water rights can affect possession, use, or what the owner can convey.
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. A garage built by one owner extends two feet across the recorded boundary onto the neighbor's parcel.
Reason it through. The physical improvement intrudes across the line. No facts establish permission, a granted use right, or completed adverse possession.
Answer. The condition is an encroachment and warrants survey and title review.
Common exam traps
- Calling a license an ownership interest
- Confusing an easement with possession
- Assuming every path is public
- Treating occupancy as completed adverse possession
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These questions were written for instruction and mapped to the current outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A recorded deed gives the owner of Lot A the right to cross Lot B on a driveway to reach the road. How is this interest classified?
- A. An easement in gross held by Lot A's owner
- B. An easement appurtenant benefiting Lot A
- C. A license that Lot B's owner may revoke
- D. An encroachment onto Lot B
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. An easement appurtenant benefiting Lot A
An appurtenant easement benefits a dominant parcel, here Lot A, and burdens a servient parcel, Lot B. Easement in gross is wrong because that kind benefits a person or organization rather than another parcel.
Question 2A homeowner tells a neighbor, 'You can fish in my pond this summer.' What does the neighbor hold?
- A. A license, which is generally revocable
- B. An easement appurtenant
- C. An easement by prescription
- D. An easement in gross
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. A license, which is generally revocable
A license is permission that is generally revocable and does not create an interest in land. Prescription looks plausible, but a prescriptive easement comes from long use without permission, and here the owner gave permission.
Question 3In Georgia, a person has openly and exclusively occupied a strip of a neighbor's land for 12 years with no deed or other written claim. Can the occupant claim title by adverse possession?
- A. Yes, the Georgia period is 10 years
- B. Yes, 7 years of open use is enough
- C. No, Georgia does not allow adverse possession
- D. No, 20 years is needed without color of title
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. No, 20 years is needed without color of title
In Georgia, adverse possession requires 20 years, or 7 years under color of title, along with the other required elements. The 7-year option looks plausible, but that shorter period needs color of title, such as a defective deed, which this occupant does not have.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Explain Easements, Rights of Way, Licenses, Encroachments, and Adverse Possession in one clear answer without notes.
- Separate Easements from Creation and termination using a fresh example.
- Apply the decision rule to a new fact pattern and name the fact that controls the result.
- State the Georgia-specific point or explain why the national rule applies unchanged.
- Answer every practice question and explain the rule each rejected option misapplies.
- Revisit this topic later in mixed practice without category labels.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Sole, Co-Ownership, Common-Interest, Trust, Entity, and Life Estates. Sole, Co-Ownership, Common-Interest, Trust, Entity, and Life Estates moves from interests other people hold in your land to how owners themselves hold title, including why Georgia co-owners have no survivorship unless the deed says so.
Return to the Property Ownership hub to see every official branch and the complete lesson sequence for this content area.