What is servitude?

Servitude is anything that burdens the real property. Typically servitudes are created by an agreement between the parties defining the private restrictions on use. The three main servitudes are easements, covenants, and liceneses.

What are the three main types of servitudes?

The three main types of servitudes are easements, covenants, and profits.

What is the difference between the dominant and servient estates?

 A dominant estate is the party with the right to use the property of another. A servient estate is the property that the party with the dominant estate may use . So, for example, the dominant party may have the right to an easement on the servient estate.

What does it mean for servitude to “run with the land”?

When servitude runs with the land that means it will remain in place even if the land is transferred to another owner. Therefore, if my land has an easement on it and I sell the property  to another party, the easement remains after I transfer ownership to the new owner. In other words, the rights do not extinguish due to a change in ownership

How are an easement in gross and an appurtenant easement similar? How are they different?

An easement in gross is characterized by the existence of one parcel of real estate that is the servient estate, but there is not specified parcel of real estate receiving the benefit from the easement. Rather, an entity such as the electric company possesses the dominant estate, owning the right to use the property for the purpose granted in the easement, such as maintaining power lines and reading the electric meter.

Appurtenant easements are characterized by two parcels of land, usually adjoining with each parcel having a separate owners. The easement benefits one parcel, the dominant estate, and the easement runs with the land. The property over which the easement runs is the servient estate, and that burden runs with the land to all successor estates. Usually such an easement exists for the placement of a driveway, without which the owner of the dominant estate would have no access to a public roadway.

Therefore, both easements allow another party access to the land. However, the easement in gross is between the owner of the servient estate and another entity for a specific purpose, such as the installation of electric wires; whereas the appurtenant easement is between the adjoining owners of two estates, usually so that the owner of the dominant state may access a public roadway.

An easement may be created by an agreement negotiated between the parties. It may be created by necessity, typically when one parcel of land has no access to a public roadway. Therefore an easement will be created to allow the owner of that land access to such a roadway. An easement by prescription is an easement created by common law and/or statute, where an unauthorized person notoriously, visibly, and openly, uses or occupies a piece of real estate for a prescribed period of time, typically 21 years. Typically a lawsuit will be required to confirm the existence of an easement by prescription.

What is a conversation easement?

Conservation easements are restrictions that are created for the specific purpose of land preservation programs. Owners are often induced to create conservation easements in exchange for favorable tax treatment, sometimes including exemption from real estate taxes.

A covenant is an agreement between the buyers and sellers of land. It is usually related to the use of the land. For example, they may be used to restrict the use of the land. This is different than an easement in that while the easement allows the dominant estate access to the land, the covenant of land effects how the owner of the land may use the property. Similar to easements, covenants are said to run with the land.

What is a profit or license? How does a profit of license differ from a covenant? From an easement?

A license is a common law right to remove natural resources such a minerals and timber from the property of another. A license is the privilege to use the land for a specific-profit making purpose. Examples include the removal of oil or gas. They are usually granted for an extremely limited purpose. While a covenant controls how the owner of land may use the land, a license allows an outside person to use the land for a specific profit-generating activity. Unlike an easement, a license does not run with the land and is considered incidental to the land

Police power is the right of state governments to define and control activities to promote the health, safety, and general welfare of its citizens. Anything that is not within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government is subject to the police power of the state.

Describe how zoning codes restrict the use of real property.

Zoning codes are enacted by municipalities to control the use and development of the land in the community. They are highly localized in nature. Most municipalities enact zoning codes that determine the definition of residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial uses. The code will also usually define the permitted uses of a particular zone such as apartment house or convenience store. They will describe where the permitted uses may be located and the minimum lot size of a single-family dwelling.

Describe how building codes restrict the use of real property.

Building codes are enacted by local municipalities to ensure that all buildings and improvements attached to land are built safely. Different parts of the country have different building codes according to the various environmental stresses buildings will have to withstand. The building codes set standards for quality of materials used as well as the standard measurement for support beams and the intervals at which they can be set.

How can taxation based on real estate values impact real estate rights?

Each parcel of real estate is appraised with an assessed value based on the market value of the property. The government then levies taxes on the property based on this value in order to fund police departments, fire departments, pool, recreational centers, trash collection, and public schools. Typically the tax rates are based on a reduction of the assessment value. However, if the property of a person living on fixed income is reassessed at a high rate, then the taxes will eat into a larger share of their budget.  Therefore, taxes can make an area undesirable if they are too high.

How do environmental regulations restrict real property ownership rights?

Federal and local governments promulgate environmental regulations. They set in place standards limiting the amount of pollutants that the owner of a property may emit into the environment. Sometimes, items which were used on the land, such as underground oil tanks, will cause an environmental hazard. This means that the owner will have to remove the defective tank, relocate it, test the soil, and clean any contamination to the soil before they may sale their land.