On July 1, 2018, a new Florida Statute, Section 163.035, went into effect regarding the public’s ability to use public beaches and adjoined property. Almost immediately, charges were made that the Governor and the Legislature were turning Florida’s public beaches private and denying the public access to them.

A real estate story with a very happy ending occurs when a seller and buyer and their real estate agents close the sale and purchase of a multi-million dollar property on the water. Or does it? Maybe not, if no one obtained a survey or studied the survey. That multi-million dollar property may not truly be on the water.

Most Realtors®, owners, and land managers know about the conveyance of title to property by deeds. However, there is another very important interest in land, which, while it does not include ownership or title to the land, gives important rights. This interest in land is called an “easement.”