Maybe not. In September 2026 the Massachusetts Appeals Court held that the six-year deadline to ask a court to correct, or reform, a recorded easement because of a shared mistake does not automatically start on the day the document is recorded. It starts when the mistake was discovered or should have been discovered. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
A two-unit condominium sits next to a lot that is now being developed as an apartment building. In 1997, just before the condominium was created, its owners and a neighbor signed and recorded an indenture of easements. It let the condominium side landscape a narrow strip of the neighboring lot, and let the neighbor use the condominium’s side line to maintain its building. The problem: the man who signed for the neighboring lot did not own it personally. A hardware company did. Years later, after the lot was sold to a developer and the parties disagreed about the easement, the developer discovered the error. The condominium trustees sued, asking the court to reform the indenture for mutual mistake. The Superior Court ruled the claim was too late because the six-year clock ran out in 2003, six years after recording, and declared the indenture void.
What the court decided
In Coleman v. Hoagland, No. 25-P-1012 (Mass. App. Ct. September 25, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision), the court vacated the judgment on the reformation claim and the related easement claims and sent the case back.
Reformation for mutual mistake. Reformation is the remedy when, because of a mistake both sides shared, a deed does not convey the land both sides intended. Crowley v. Holdsworth, 264 Mass. 303 (1928).
The discovery rule applies. The trial judge applied the six-year limitations period of G.L. c. 260, § 2, and the trustees did not argue for a longer one on appeal. The question was when that period began. The trial judge reasoned that recording gives everyone constructive notice, so the clock started in 1997. He relied on Bank of America, N.A. v. Casey, 474 Mass. 556 (2016), which holds that a properly recorded mortgage gives constructive notice under G.L. c. 183, § 4. The Appeals Court said Casey does not answer when a claim to reform a recorded deed for mistake accrues.
Instead, the court followed long-standing law that the limitations period for reforming an instrument because of mistake does not begin until the mistake was or ought to have been discovered. Stoneham Five Cents Sav. Bank v. Johnson, 295 Mass. 390 (1936). In American Oil Co. v. Cherubini, 351 Mass. 581 (1967), a claim to fix a recorded lease was timely because the first occasion to check the land description was a title search years later.
But the trustees did not win outright. The court rejected the trustees’ argument that they had never had any reason to look at the indenture. The condominium units had changed hands a number of times, and each new unit owner became a trustee. The record did not show whether a title search was or should have been done at those sales. That is a disputed fact for the trial court to decide. If the claim is timely, the court must then decide whether there really was a mutual mistake.
What this means for you
If you own property that depends on an easement, a driveway, a path, a landscaped strip, or access to maintain your building, a mistake in the recorded paperwork is not always fatal. You may be able to ask a court to correct the document so it says what the parties intended.
Recording alone does not start the clock on that kind of claim. The clock starts when you knew, or should have known, about the mistake. That can help owners who relied on documents for decades.
There is a catch. “Should have known” may reach back to a time you had a reason to check the title, such as when you bought the property. If a title search at your purchase would have revealed the problem, the deadline may have started then. Waiting can still cost you the claim.
What to do now
- Pull your deed and any recorded easements from the registry of deeds, and confirm who signed them and whether that person owned the land at the time.
- Keep the title reports and title insurance papers from your purchase or refinance.
- If a neighbor or developer questions your easement, write down the date you first learned of the problem.
- Do not wait. Talk to a lawyer promptly, because the six-year period may already be running.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
