Easements: Appurtenant, In Gross, Necessity, and Termination – TSRE Support Center

Appurtenant describes what an easement benefits. Necessity describes why an easement arises. They answer different questions, so one easement can be both appurtenant and created by necessity.

Jump to: Identify the land and the benefit · How can an easement arise? · Can an easement be appurtenant and necessary? · Does a sale end the easement? · Check your understanding

Identify the land and the benefit

Term	Meaning	Study example
Easement	A right to use another person’s land for a specified purpose, without owning or possessing the whole parcel.	A defined driveway crossing a neighboring parcel.
Dominant estate	The land benefited by an appurtenant easement.	The rear parcel receiving access.
Servient estate	The land burdened by the easement.	The front parcel crossed by the driveway.
Appurtenant	The benefit is attached to a parcel of land.	Access benefiting the rear lot ordinarily passes with that lot.
In gross	The benefit belongs to a person or entity rather than to a dominant parcel.	A utility’s right to maintain its lines.

How can an easement arise?

An express grant creates the right in a written instrument. An easement can also arise by implication, necessity, or prescription when the relevant legal requirements are met. Friendly permission to cross a yard is not automatically an easement; a revocable license and a permanent property right are different.

Florida’s section 704.01 distinguishes an implied way of necessity associated with divided property under common ownership from a statutory way of necessity. The statutory route has its own conditions. A landlocked owner cannot assume that any desired route is available merely because it is convenient.

Can an easement be appurtenant and necessary?

Yes. Suppose a single owner divides a tract into front and rear parcels and the rear parcel has no other reasonable, practicable access. Assume the legal requirements for an implied way of necessity are met. The access right benefits the rear parcel, making it appurtenant; necessity explains how it arose. “Appurtenant” does not mean only an agreement between neighbors, and “necessity” does not mean every such right begins with a court creating it.

Does a sale end the easement?

An ordinary sale of a parcel subject to a valid recorded easement does not automatically erase the right. Read the grant and the type of easement. Possible ending events include a valid release, expiration or a stated terminating condition, merger of the relevant ownership interests, or legally established abandonment. A necessity-based right can end when its necessity ends; an express grant does not automatically end merely because another route becomes available.

Merger requires the necessary unity of ownership, not simply neighboring owners who cooperate. Mere nonuse alone does not establish abandonment of an easement created by grant. A court resolves disputed rights under the applicable law; “court action” is not a universal answer that explains every termination.

Check your understanding

A driveway right benefits Lot B across Lot A. Which lot is servient?
A necessity-based access right benefits a particular parcel. Must it be either appurtenant or necessary, but never both?
A buyer purchases land subject to a valid recorded utility easement. Does the purchase alone remove it?

Answers and explanations

Lot A. It bears the burden.
No. The labels describe the benefit and the origin of the right.
No. A transfer is not, by itself, a termination event.

Sources and next steps

Sources checked October 20, 2026. Use current law and program guidance when applying these concepts to a transaction.

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