Legal Definitions - servient tenant

A servient tenant is a person who holds a servient estate and is burdened by an easement. This means that they have to allow someone else (the dominant tenant) to use their property for a specific purpose, such as a right of way or access to utilities.

For example, if a property owner grants an easement to a neighboring property owner for a driveway, the neighboring property owner becomes the dominant tenant and the property owner becomes the servient tenant. The servient tenant must allow the dominant tenant to use their property for the driveway.

Another example is if a utility company has an easement to access their equipment on a property, the property owner becomes the servient tenant and must allow the utility company to access their property for maintenance and repairs.