Legal Definitions - servient tenant

A servient tenant, more commonly referred to as a servient owner, is the individual or entity who owns a piece of land that is subject to an easement. An easement is a legal right that allows another party (known as the dominant tenant or dominant owner) to use a specific portion of the servient tenant's property for a defined purpose. Essentially, the servient tenant's land is "serving" or "burdened" by this right, meaning they must permit the dominant tenant to exercise that right, even though the servient tenant retains ownership of the land.

• Example 1: Shared Driveway Access

  Imagine Sarah owns a property (Lot A) that is situated behind John's property (Lot B), with Lot B being the only way to access the public road. John grants Sarah an easement that allows her to drive across a specific portion of his land to reach her property. In this scenario, John is the servient tenant because his property (Lot B) is burdened by the easement, requiring him to permit Sarah to use his land for access.

• Example 2: Utility Line Easement

  A local power company needs to run new electrical lines to serve a developing neighborhood. To do so, they must cross a corner of Maria's undeveloped land. Maria agrees to grant the power company an easement for the installation and maintenance of these utility lines. Maria is the servient tenant because her property is subject to the utility easement, meaning she must allow the power company to access and maintain the lines on her land, even though she owns the property.

• Example 3: Conservation Easement

  The Miller family owns a large tract of pristine forest land. To ensure the land remains undeveloped and protected for future generations, they enter into a conservation easement agreement with an environmental trust. This agreement restricts certain types of development on their property. The Miller family, as the landowners, are the servient tenants because their property is burdened by the conservation easement, which limits their ability to develop or alter the land in ways that would violate the agreement, even though they retain ownership.