Also known as: burdened estate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Land subject to a servitude burden that runs with the land. The burden may consist of an affirmative duty to act or a negative restriction on use, and it passes automatically to successive owners of the estate.
Bharat Bhatia owns a commercial parcel subject to a recorded covenant requiring written approval from Blue Horizon Industries before any sale or lease. Blue Horizon withholds approval without standards or time limits solely to block a buyer offering a premium price. The restraint directly limits Bhatia's ability to transfer the parcel, and a court weighs its utility against the harm to marketability before refusing enforcement.
Bei Bai purchases a unit in a mixed-use building subject to a recorded covenant requiring monthly contributions to a shared library. The declaration names no total sum and sets no termination date. After a reasonable period the obligation ends because the instrument supplies no definite endpoint and the payments are not tied to concurrent services.
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A burdened estate carries the obligation created by the servitude while a benefited estate receives the corresponding right. The same parcel can be burdened by one servitude and benefited by another.
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When the government condemns the burdened estate the servitude terminates or is modified to the extent the new public use is inconsistent with the servitude. Compensation is owed for the loss rather than continued enforcement of the servitude.
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A covenant to pay money or provide services terminates after a reasonable time if the creating instrument specifies neither a total sum nor a definite termination point and the payments are not for concurrent services or facilities.
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A direct restraint on alienation of the burdened estate is invalid if unreasonable. Reasonableness turns on weighing the utility of the restraint against the injurious consequences of enforcing it.
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When the same owner acquires both the dominant and servient estates the servitude terminates because there is no longer a separation between benefited and burdened land. Later separation of the parcels does not revive the extinguished servitude.
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…granted and cannot be implied from an easement). Hence, under Colorado law, because profits à prendre are more onerous to the burdened estate than an easement,[^7] the importation of laws governing easements is inappropriate. B. Easements by Prescription Under Colorado law, an easement by prescription requires a showing of…