An easement appurtenant is best described as:

• A. A personal, non-transferable right to use someone else's land
• B. A non-possessory right to use the servient tenement that benefits the dominant tenement and runs with the land
• C. A right to possess and occupy the servient land
• D. A right that automatically expires when the dominant owner's property is sold

Answer: (B)

An easement appurtenant is a non-possessory interest in land that benefits another parcel (the dominant tenement) and runs with the land. It creates a use right over the servient estate without giving possession of it, and this use-right attaches to the dominant property so that when the dominant estate is transferred, the easement passes to the new owner. This is what makes it tied to the land rather than to a person, and what allows it to bind future owners.

Examples include a right-of-way or a driveway easement—you’re using a portion of someone else’s land without owning or occupying it, and that use benefits your adjoining property. Because it runs with the land, selling the dominant property conveys the benefit to the new owner, subject to the same restrictions.

The other descriptions don’t fit: a personal, non-transferable right is not appurtenant because appurtenant rights attach to the land; a right to possess and occupy the servient land would make you a tenant, not merely have an easement; and an easement that automatically expires when the dominant property is sold is incorrect—the easement generally survives transfers of the dominant estate unless terminated by other means.