Easement
What is an easement?
Easements are limited rights in rem to use another person’s property. The owner of the property must tolerate such use or refrain from causing any interference. The fact that the right is in rem means that it has absolute effect; in other words, the holder of the right can enforce their right of use against anyone.
What types of easements are there?
A distinction is made between easements in rem and easements in personam. In the case of easements in rem (also known as real easements), the right is vested in the respective owner of a specific property (the ‘dominant tenement’). The property which is to be used more advantageously or conveniently as a result of the grant of the easement is known as the ‘servient estate’. Examples of real easements include rights of way, such as the right to enter or drive across another’s land, as well as water conveyance rights, which authorise the laying of trenches and pipes on another’s land, grazing easements, which grant the right to graze livestock on another’s land, or forestry rights, etc. Where personal easements are granted, the aim is to confer a benefit on a specific person (e.g. right to enjoy the fruits of the property, right of use, right of residence). In case of doubt, the relevant right ceases at the latest upon the death of the beneficiary (personal right). Easements relating to immovable property can, in principle, only be validly acquired by entry in the land register in the encumbrances section of the servient property.
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