Bought a house and discovered recorded easements months later — title company never showed me Schedule B or Title Commitment?
Curious if anyone here has dealt with something similar.
I bought an older home in Illinois from a corporate flipper late last year. They bought it cash, did no improvements and sold it for market value (love the house btw). A few months after closing, I discovered there are actually two recorded easements on the property, including an “exclusive easement” over part of a strip of land connected directly to my house/property access (1,750 sq ft).
The weird part is:
- The title company clearly knew about them because they appear in Schedule B of the final owner’s title policy
- But I was never verbally told about the easements
- Never shown Schedule B
- Never given a Title Commitment before closing
- And I cannot find a Title Commitment anywhere in my closing packet, emails, or even the title portal
The final owner’s policy itself wasn’t even emailed to me until weeks after closing.
What’s also strange is the seller signed a Warranty Deed, and there’s another later utility easement that appears to have been granted on the same strip years after the “exclusive easement,” which makes the whole thing even more confusing.
I only found all of this by digging through county records myself after noticing on Google Maps that the neighbors second driveway and garage extension were over my property line.
I’m mainly wondering:
- Is it normal for buyers to never actually receive or review Schedule B before closing?
- Has anyone dealt with title companies missing/disclosing easements poorly?
- How big of a deal are exclusive easements typically for resale/value?
- Is this the kind of thing people usually just live with, or fight?
Not looking for official legal advice here — just honestly curious if others have experienced something similar because this has been a pretty wild rabbit hole.