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
Agreement between a lending institution and borrower where the borrower agrees to extend or spread the collateral of a loan to additional properties beyond the original mortgaged property. ...
Latin term meaning legal capacity to act on behalf of oneself. ...
The net leasable area is all the leasable area of a given building exclusive of non-leasable space such as hallways, building foyers, rooms devoted to heating, air conditioning, elevators, ...
Same as term right of first refusal: Right of an individual to be offered something before it is offered to others. For example, a tenant whose apartment is going to be converted to a ...
The most common definition of economies of scale refers to the decrease in production costs of a single item due to a business enterprise’s expansion. In short, mass production can ...
An interior wall dividing an area into two or more rooms or separate areas. The division of real estate between owners giving each an undivided interest. ...
Precalculated tables providing the present values of $1 or an annuity of $1 for different time periods and at different discount rates. ...
Personal income minus personal income tax payments and other government deductions. It is the personal income available for people to spend or save; also called take-home pay. It may be a ...
Cash outlays required to maintain an investment position. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.