Sale to Bona Fide Purchaser: If a written easement is not recorded against the servient estate, it is not enforceable against a bona fide purchaser.

• A. It depends on time of recording
• B. Only if purchaser had actual notice
• C. True
• D. False

Answer: (C)

A written easement that isn’t recorded against the servient estate generally cannot bind a subsequent purchaser who takes without notice. Under recording statutes, a bona fide purchaser for value—one who buys without knowledge of the easement and pays value—takes title free of unrecorded interests. Because the easement isn’t recorded, the buyer has no notice of it, so it isn’t enforceable against them. If the purchaser did have actual knowledge, they would not be a bona fide purchaser, and the protection wouldn’t apply. Therefore, the statement is true.