Villa easement – function, managementand strategies for repeal

Abstract: In the beginning of the 20th century, villa easements were formed to regulate land use in residential areas. Villa easements were created as a prohibition for the property owners to use their own property in a certain way. Because of the societal develop- ment, villa easements no longer have the same function as they used to. Villa easements cause problems for surveyors regarding increased investigative work, decreased reliability of the land register and a lot of questions from the property owners. All these factors result in increased costs for interested parties. To solve the problems with villa easements they should be eliminated. This report presents vari- ous approaches to get rid of villa easements. To collect information to the report, a questionnaire was sent to experienced survey- ors.  Furthermore, interviews were conducted to find out how villa easements are managed today by surveyors. The outcome of the investigation indicates that the best approach for managing the problem is property regulation. By using property regulation both rights and registra- tions are removed. The analysis contains a general discussion on the information obtained during the investigation. Pros and cons of options for repeal of villa easements and how to clean the Land Registry are discussed. The options are compared and our recom- mendation is that the most effective course of action for repeal of villa easements is property regulation.