Appurtenances

Key Takeaways

• An appurtenance is a right or benefit that belongs to a parcel of land and transfers with that parcel automatically, without being listed item by item in the deed.
• Under RCW 90.03.380, a Washington water right that has been applied to a beneficial use remains appurtenant to the land where the water is used, and moving it to other land takes an approved change application.
• RCW 84.04.090 defines real property for tax purposes to include the land, the buildings and other fixtures on it, and all rights and privileges belonging or in any wise appertaining to it.
• A fixture is a physical object attached to the land. An appurtenance is usually an intangible right, such as an easement to cross a neighboring lot.

What It Means

Appurtenances are the rights and benefits that ride along with a parcel of land. Buy the parcel and you buy them, whether or not the deed names them one by one. The everyday examples are an Easement that lets the owner cross a neighbor's lot to reach a county road, the Air Rights above the roofline, and a share in the private water system that serves the well. Washington's tax code states the idea plainly. RCW 84.04.090 defines real property to include the land itself, all buildings, structures, improvements or other fixtures on it, and all rights and privileges belonging or in any wise appertaining to it.

The word gets confused with Fixture, and the difference shows up at closing. A fixture is a physical thing that has been attached to the land, such as a furnace or a built-in bookcase, and a buyer can walk through the house and point at it. An appurtenance usually has no physical form at all. It is a legal right that the parcel carries. Both pass to the buyer with the land unless the parties put an exclusion in writing, which is why the words in the title commitment matter more than anything visible on the site.

How It Works in Washington

Washington's most valuable appurtenance is usually water. RCW 90.03.380 provides that the right to the use of water which has been applied to a beneficial use in the state shall be and remain appurtenant to the land or place upon which the same is used. The same section allows the right to be transferred and to become appurtenant to other land without losing its priority date, but only after any person with an interest files a written change application with the department and the change is found to cause no detriment or injury to existing rights. On a rural listing, that one sentence decides whether the buyer is getting irrigation or a dry field with a hopeful story attached, so treat Water Rights as a title issue, not a lifestyle feature.

Two other rules shape daily practice. RCW 84.04.090 puts all rights and privileges belonging or in any wise appertaining to the land inside the taxable definition of real property, so the county assesses the appurtenances along with the dirt. And RCW 64.04.010 requires every conveyance of real estate, or any interest in it, to be by deed. That cuts both ways. Appurtenances pass with the land by default, and carving one out of a sale takes a written instrument rather than an understanding at the kitchen table. A broker who tells a buyer that the neighbor has always allowed the shortcut across the back pasture is describing a permission, not an appurtenant right, unless something recorded says otherwise. Boundary features raise the same question, and our guide to Washington boundary fencing laws shows how quickly a fence line turns into a legal question rather than a fencing question.

Example

Marta Olsen lists 12 acres outside Ellensburg for $585,000. The parcel carries a certificated water right for irrigating four acres and a recorded 20 foot access easement across the neighboring property, because the county road does not touch Marta's frontage. Neither one appears in a photograph. Both are appurtenant to the land, and both convey with the deed at closing without a separate bill of sale.

The buyer, Ben Achterberg, is paying for the irrigated pasture, so his broker orders the title commitment, confirms the easement is recorded in Kittitas County, and pulls the water right certificate. Ben then asks whether he can move the irrigation to a better corner of the property. Under RCW 90.03.380 that is a change in the place of use, which means a written change application and a finding of no injury to existing rights, not a decision Ben makes with a shovel in April. Marta's $585,000 asking price assumed the water stays where it is, and so did the appraiser's comparable set. Our guide to estates in land puts these rights in the context of the larger ownership bundle Ben is buying.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• An easement appurtenant benefits a parcel of land and passes with it. An easement in gross benefits a person or a company, such as a utility, and does not pass with the land.
• A fixture is tangible and attached. An appurtenance is usually an intangible right. Both convey with the land unless the contract excludes them in writing.
• A Washington water right does not follow the user to a new parcel on its own. RCW 90.03.380 keeps it appurtenant to the land where the water was used until a change application is approved.
• A right that has been severed and sold off separately stops being appurtenant. RCW 84.04.090 includes standing timber in real property but expressly carves out timber owned separately from the land it grows on.