Dominant tenement

Definition

Dominant tenement in plain English

Some rights don't belong to a person — they belong to a piece of land itself, passing to whoever owns it next. A 'dominant tenement' is the lot that GETS a benefit, like the right to drive across the neighbor's property to reach the road. The neighbor's lot that has to put up with that crossing is the 'servient tenement' (servient = it serves the other). Think of a landlocked backyard cabin that can only be reached by a path over the front lot: the cabin's land is dominant because it enjoys the path, and the front lot is servient because it carries the burden.

Learn these first

• Easement
• Servient tenement

Practice Dominant tenement

The neighbor's property is known as the:

Related National Real Estate Exam terms

• Bundle of rights
• Condominium
• Cooperative
• Emblements
• Encroachment
• Estate
• Fee simple absolute
• Fee simple defeasible
• Fixture
• Homestead