Question

Could a property owner lease the surface and subsurface rights (and theoretically the air rights) and still retain control over the property?

A)It is not legal in Texas to sell both surface and subsurface rights and still retain control over the property.
B)Yes, an owner could lease mineral rights to an oil company and surface rights to a rancher, and simply collect fees.
C)The owner could maintain control only over surface rights insofar as enforcement of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations.
D)No, the property owner would sell all the rights and therefore allow vendors to take over the property.

Answer 1

A property owner can lease surface and subsurface rights and still maintain a level of control over the property by enforcing lease conditions and adhering to regulations like EPA standards.

Step-by-step explanation:

Yes, a property owner can lease both the surface and subsurface rights, and even the air rights, while still retaining control over the property.

This is not uncommon when a property owner wishes to generate income from their land without selling it outright.

For instance, a property owner could lease the mineral rights to an oil company, giving them the ability to extract resources below the surface, and simultaneously lease the surface rights to a rancher for agricultural purposes.

In this scenario, the property owner would typically still have the ability to enforce certain conditions of the lease, such as environmentally-safe practices as per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, retaining a level of control over how the land is used.