Can a Dominant Owner Be a Lessee? Property Law Explained

Here the plaintiff who is the lessee and not the owner of the land claims a servitude from the defendant who is also not the owner but the lessee of the land. The owners of both tenements are one and the same group of persons. ... Such a servitude cannot exist without a dominant tenement to which rights are owed and a servient tenement which owes them. A servitude cannot be granted by any other than the owner of a servient tenement, nor acquired by any other than by him who owns ....

1988 0 Supreme(SC) 617

Salim, the lessee was to pay the rent to the landlord. ... Ali, (1987) 4 SCC 270 that the transfer effected was only the right to manage the business run by the lessee and there was no transfer of any interest of the lessee in the business premises. It was the further contention of Dr. ... The agreement would say that the first party, as the owner of the vegetarian restaurant "Sharada Bhawan" has agreed to allow the second party to manage the said hotel with all the furniture etc. ... In the other case of Dwarka Prasad (....

1999 0 Supreme(All) 1339

--The land for the beneficial enjoyment of which the right exists is called the dominant heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the dominant owner, and land on which the liability is imposed is called the servient heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the servient owner. Explanation. ... A right of easement subsists in order that the dominant owner may better enjoy the dominant heritage. The right must be in some way conn....

1979 0 Supreme(Guj) 98

Therefore the dominant owner and the servient owner are one and the same person and not two different persons. ... ... ( 3 ) THE land for the beneficial enjoyment of which the right exists is called the dominant heritage and the owner or occupier thereof the dominant owner; the land of which liability is imposed is called the servient heritage and the owner ... Chhaya the learned Judge has erred in interpreting the provisions of sec. 13 and in holdi....

2015 0 Supreme(Del) 2603

... Dominant and servant heritages and owners: The land for the beneficial enjoyment of which the right exists is called the dominant heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the dominant owner; and land on which the liability is imposed is called the servant heritage, and the owner ... Therefore, if the lessee acquires a right to light, he acquires it on behalf of the owner, which I think means the absolute owner, and he cannot ....

1974 0 Supreme(All) 322

The lessor as owner of the servient tenement had full right to impose a burden on that tenement in favour of his lessee of the dominant tenement for the duration of that lease. This was clearly permissible under Sec. 8 and there was no other legal bar in making such a grant of easement. ... The duration of the easement which was co-terminus with the lease of the dominant tenement already granted to the plaintiff by the owner of the servient tenement clearly suggests that the right of passage was to be e....

1986 0 Supreme(P&H) 320

In the case of a sub-lessee of a shop owned by the government, both the owner of the dominant tenant, that is the shop and the owner of the servient tenement, that is, the land, being the same, namely; government, there could not be any right of easement over it. ... A reference to the provisions of the Indian Easement Act, 1882 would show that in the definition of easement and the dominant and servient heritages and owners, in S.4 thereof, the mention is not only of the owner, but als....

1998 0 Supreme(Kar) 216

The agreement provides that if the lessee is not able to run the show on account of any act of omission on the part of the owner or on account of any failure on the part of the lessor to secure the licence for exhibition of films or on account of any reason beyond the control of lessee, the lessee will ... shall be payable by the lessee. ... So, it held that the dominant intention of the parties was not to let out cinema business but to let out building fit for running cinema theatre w....

1986 0 Supreme(Raj) 62

The land for the beneficial enjoyment of which the right exists is called the dominant heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the dominant owner; the land on which the liability is imposed is called the servient heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the servient owner. ... Hira Lal Motilal Luhar, AIR 1980 Guj 146 wherein it has been held “when a sub-lessee of a shop owned by the Governmen claims a right of way as an easement of necessity on an adjacent land....

1986 0 Supreme(Raj) 60

The land for the beneficial enjoyment of which the right exists is called the dominant heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the dominant owner, the land on which the liability is imposed is called the servient heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the servient owner. ... owner, for the beneficial enjoyment of the dominant heritage, of any part of the soil of the servient heritage or anything growing or subsisting thereon." ... Hira Lal M....

2018 0 Supreme(Bom) 1634

We are not dealing with the issue whether by exercising power under any other statutes, encroachments on the public properties can be regularized. Moreover, a structure made on a public property by encroaching upon it cannot be regularized. If the DCR requires open spaces and set back to be provided in a particular manner, unless such provisions are complied with, the structure cannot be regularized. If DCR provides that only owner or lessee of property can apply for development permission, the structure can be regularized or compounded only if owner or lessee apply for regularizat....

2018 0 Supreme(Guj) 924

The servient owner has the right to set out the line of way to be followed by the dominant owner, and if he fails to set it out, the dominant owner must take the nearest way he, can. "Compare Jibanand Chakarbarty v. Kalidas Malik, (1915) 42 ILR(Cal) 164", and Doorga Churn Dhur v. Rally Kumar Sen, (1881) 7 ILR(Cal) 145, where it is pointed out that the right extends to that portion of the centre of the road, which is necessary for the due exercise of the right of passage and that unreasonable contraction of width is not permissible. In any case the selection of the road must....

2016 0 Supreme(AP) 297

The right to discharge water, collected rain water or excess water from the land of upper owner to the lower land can be prescribed subject to limitation under Section 27 of the Limitation Act. A right by prescription to pass the surplus rain water by the owner of a particular land on anothers land can be acquired, if it is proved that the water passed through a defined channel and not in different directions on the servient tenement. Right to discharge water can be prescribed by dominant owner over the land of servient tenant. 17. Section 15 deals with acquisition of easem....

2014 0 Supreme(AP) 596

Just as a lessee cannot be treated as owner, a person who acquires the rights of ownership would cease to be a lessee. The very statement that an individual remained as owner of the property for a period of 30 years during the lease was in force, does not accord with the basic tenets of those two concepts. A lessee, in a given case may be conferred with the right to sublease the property or to do certain activities, depending on the terms of agreement between the parties.

Current Civil Cases

The appellant had acknowledged the respondent as owner of suit property. Decree of eviction can be passed on the basis of valid quit notice under Section 106 of the transfer of Property Act, 1882 as held in Smt Amarjit Kaur v. S.L. Hussain, AIR 2009 AP 213. Reference is also made to Barjorji Shapurji v. Shripatprasadji Viharilalji Acharya, AIR 1927 A lessor can also evict a lessee, though he may not be owner.