PART 3 – TYPES OF PERSONAL SERVITUDES
A personal servitude is a real right which grants the holder thereof, in their personal capacity, to do something or prevent something being done on someone else’s property.
Due to the fact that a personal servitude attaches to a specific person, it cannot be alienated or inherited and will lapse on the death of the holder. If it was registered in favour of a juristic person, it will lapse when the juristic person ceases to exist or after 100 years.
The three most common personal servitudes are:
- Usus – gives the holder the right to use a property or a thing belonging to someone else during their lifetime, without impairing the essential qualities of the property.
- Habitatio – gives the holder the right to live in someone else’s house or to let the property during his lifetime.
- Usufruct – gives the holder the right to use another person’s property as well as the right to collect and use the fruits (proceeds) of the property, without damaging, destroying or substantially altering the nature of the property.