Servitudes are very common in the agriculture industry and are mostly required to provide for a right of way, access to water use for different farming purposes and / or extraction of certain materials from agricultural land.
A servitude is an agreement between two (or more) parties whereby the use and enjoyment of one person’s property or rights are restricted in favour of another person for a specified period and usually for some form of compensation.
Servitudes can either be personal in nature where the rights vest in a specific individual, or be registered over immovable property where one property is used in favour of another.
The granting of a servitude to another can negatively impact on a farmer’s farming activities and his / her business.
It is therefore important to be assisted by a professional to ensure that a servitude agreement protects the parties thereto, is commercially sound, legally binding and that its intention is correctly applied.