A summary of the statutory conditions for extinguishing an easement. Read how to proceed by agreement, when a court decides, and how to correctly file for deletion from the cadastre.
The extinction of an easement means the end of the easement beneficiary's ability to use another person's property to the extent of the easement. It occurs as a result of legal facts laid down by law, a decision of a court or another authority, an agreement of the contracting parties, or on other legal grounds.
An easement may be cancelled by a written contract between the entitled and the obligated party. Its extinction requires registration (vklad) in the Land Registry (kataster). Any easement may be cancelled by agreement, regardless of its origin (contract, decision or adverse possession). Contractual cancellation of an easement requires the certified signature of the easement beneficiary, because it constitutes their consent to the cancellation and consequent extinction of a right belonging to them. Without official certification of the signature, the kataster will not accept the application for registration.
The court may cancel or restrict an easement if circumstances change to such an extent that a gross disproportion arises between the easement and the benefit to the entitled person. In deciding, the court examines both the objective and the subjective circumstances of the case that gave rise to the gross disproportion, and it always also determines reasonable compensation, in monetary or non-monetary form (R 110/1967, R 65/1972), the purpose of which is to ensure that the needs of the easement beneficiary are satisfied in another way.
By operation of law, an easement is extinguished above all in the event of permanent changes as a result of which the property can no longer serve the needs of the entitled person or the more beneficial use of their property (§ 151p(2) of the Slovak Civil Code). The situation must be permanent (e.g. loss of a water source). Temporary obstacles, e.g. fencing, temporary inaccessibility or ploughing of the soil, do not cause the extinction of an easement.
An easement is also extinguished by operation of law upon expropriation of the property (§ 128(2) of the Slovak Civil Code), unless special legislation provides otherwise.
An easement is extinguished by the death of a natural person or the dissolution of a legal entity where the easement is attached to a specific person (in personam). In such a case, the right under the easement is extinguished ex lege, since it is tied exclusively to the existence of the entitled party. In practice, for example, a right of lifetime use of a property is, upon the death of the entitled party, deleted from the kataster on the basis of an application for a record entry (záznam), accompanied by a document proving the death of the entitled person, typically a death certificate. If the person does not have the death certificate, information identifying the deceased is sufficient so that they can be identified through official information portals.
An easement is also extinguished upon the destruction (physical loss) of the property to which the easement relates. In practice, this manner of extinction concerns mainly buildings, for example the demolition of a family house in which a right of lifetime use of the house had been established. The legal consequences affect both the burdened property and the entitlement under the easement, since a non-existent thing can no longer be its object.
Under § 109 of the Slovak Civil Code, a right corresponding to an easement becomes time-barred if it is not exercised for a period of 10 years. The easement itself is not thereby extinguished, but it is weakened, since the obligated party may raise the defence of limitation. The limitation period starts to run from the day the right was last exercised after it arose, i.e. from the last actual exercise of the easement. Limitation does not apply to statutory easements.
The deletion of an easement is carried out on the basis of a document proving its extinction or cancellation (e.g. a contract, judgment or decision of an authority). Depending on the nature of the legal title, an application for registration (vklad) or an application for a record entry (záznam) is then filed. The application is submitted to the competent district office, cadastral department, in paper or electronic form. The cadastral authority then carries out the deletion once the legal ground for the extinction of the easement has been proven.
Where an easement is cancelled or restricted by the court, the entitled person is as a rule entitled to reasonable compensation. Its amount depends on the intensity of the interference and the circumstances of the case, and it may take monetary or non-monetary form, so as to reasonably compensate for the narrowing or extinction of the right.
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