An easement appurtenant—also known as an appurtenant easement, an appendant easement, or a pure easement—is an easement created to benefit another tract of land, with the use of the easement being incident to the ownership of that other tract of land.

An easement appurtenant benefits one tract of land (the dominant estate or tenement) to the detriment or burden of the other tract of land (the servient estate or tenement).

Easements appurtenant are attached to the land (are said to “run with the land”) and are automatically transferred when either the dominant estate or the servient estate is sold or transferred to a new owner.

In Virginia, an easement appurtenant is recognized as a property right that allows the holder of the dominant estate to use a portion of the servient estate for a specific purpose. This type of easement is indeed attached to the land, meaning it 'runs with the land' and is not personal to the owner of the dominant estate. When either the dominant or servient property is sold or transferred, the easement appurtenant typically passes automatically to the new owner. Virginia law requires that for an easement appurtenant to be enforceable, it must be created with a written instrument, such as a deed or will, and it must be recorded in the local land records to provide notice of its existence to subsequent purchasers. The creation, transfer, and termination of easements appurtenant are governed by Virginia's property laws and case law, which may also dictate the specific rights and responsibilities of the parties involved.