appurtenant

Appurtenant is a legal term used in property law to describe rights, privileges, or other attachments that belong to a parcel of real property and run with the land rather than with a person. An appurtenance is considered part of the property itself and typically passes to new owners along with the title, unless the instrument or law provides otherwise.

The most common example is an easement appurtenant, which benefits the owner of the dominant tenement to use a portion of the servient tenement for a specific purpose, such as a right of way, access, or utility lines. In such arrangements, the dominant estate gains the benefit, the servient estate bears the burden, and both rights pass to successive owners of the relevant land when the property is sold.

Appurtenances can include other rights or interests that are tied to the property and transfer with title. The defining feature is that they are tied to the land and not personal to a current owner. This contrasts with rights in gross, which are held by a person or entity independent of any particular piece of land and do not automatically transfer with property sales.

Termination or modification of an appurtenant right can occur through severance of the land from the benefited property, merger of estates, release by deed, or abandonment, depending on the governing instrument and applicable law.