Servient Estate
Definition of "Servient estate"
As the term “servient” comes from the root word “serve” and to serve means to perform a duty or a service for another entity, its meaning is easy to define. The term servient estate refers to an estate or property that is subject to being used for the benefit of another property. These benefits can come in the form of easements, rights of way, or rights of access. These rights are granted by law and are passed through purchasing contracts.
How does a Servient Estate work?
Upon purchasing a property, the contract can specify that there is an easement across the lot. This means that another property owner has the legal right to use part of the property to access their property. In this case, the property that grants access is the servient estate, while the property being granted access is the dominant estate.
When an easement is specified and granted in a contract, it gives the easement owner a nonpossessory interest in another property. The easement owner is the owner of the dominant estate, while the one required to allow the easement is the owner of the servient estate. There are different types of easements, from those that would enable the use of someone else’s land to those that limit the servient estate owners from blocking access to view or sunlight. Important to note that the servient estate owner can use the land or property in any way they want as long as they don’t limit the dominant estate owner’s easement on that land.
When purchasing a property, it is essential to know if it is a servient estate. For this, one should check for easements because if there is a dominant estate with only one access to the beach, which is by the servient house, it can impact the property’s price. Usually, suppose there is an easement on the property that makes it a servient estate. In that case, the price should be lowered because it may limit the owner’s privacy and give the dominant estate owner nonpossessory interest in the servient estate.
Popular Real Estate Terms
Housing whose rental payments are reduced because of aid granted by the federal, state, or local governments, private enterprises, or individuals. For example, monthly rental payments for ...
Branching is a widespread phenomenon in banking and other financial domains. A branch office defines an office or business bureau that a company opened in another location to provide ...
Supervisor of the operation of apartments while residing in one of the apartments. Some responsibilities include showing vacant apartment to prospective tenants and assuring that the ...
Formal, written, unconditional promise to pay on demand or at a future date a definite sum of money. The person signing the note and promising to pay is called the maker of the note. The ...
Database program that has real estate listings including property photographs. Real estate computer software allows real estate agents and brokers to search for a particular listing by ...
Economic principle determining the market prices of goods, services, and property. The principle states there is a pricing relationship between supply and demand for real property. Economic ...
Depository institution, such as mutual savings banks. If organized as mutual associations, depositors are shareholders, They offer mortgages. ...
The definition of real estate owned (REO) is known by heart by house flippers or by real estate agents specialized in bank owned properties. These are properties that once used to be in a ...
Amount the taxpayer gets back when he or she files the tax return at the end of the reporting year because taxes were overpaid for that year. The tax overpayment equals the tax payments ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.