Easements in the Swiss land register: usufruct, residence, building right, pre-emption
In short: these rights are ordinary, they are recorded in the land register, and you may read them — without showing an interest, for one specific property, at the competent registry. This page explains the four rights that most often surface in a purchase, quotes the statute verbatim for every claim, and tells you where to order the extract. An easement is not a defect; it is a condition worth knowing before you sign.
This page explains what these rights are and where they are recorded. It is not legal or tax advice. Where a specific right is contested or ambiguously drafted, it belongs with a Swiss notary or lawyer.
What the ordinance says about the right to inspect
The provisions that decide who gets which land-register data, and how. They appear here in their published German wording — Fedlex publishes no English text of this ordinance — because the differences between them are the whole point.
Why a buyer asks about this first
The PLR cadastre covers public-law restrictions — zones, protection perimeters, noise sensitivity. The private-law rights over a property sit somewhere else: in the land register. A neighbour's right of way, the seller's lifelong right of residence, a building right over the ground beneath the house — each of them normally passes to you with the transfer and changes what the property is worth to you. These rights are everyday; they are simply invisible until someone orders the extract.
What an easement is
An easement encumbers one property in favour of another, or of a specific person: the servient owner «must permit the owner of the dominant property to exercise certain rights over it» or must refrain from exercising some of their own. «An easement is created by entry in the land register» — so it is readable, and it normally travels with the property on a sale. Rights of way and of utility lines are the most common; they are an ordinary feature of densely built areas, not a warning sign.
Source: Swiss Civil Code art. 730 (Fedlex) · Glossary: easement
Usufruct — someone else enjoys it, you own it
Of a usufruct the Civil Code says: «Unless otherwise provided, it confers complete enjoyment of the object on the usufructuary.» The holder may live in the property, may let it, and keeps the income. It «ceases with the death of the usufructuary and in the case of legal entities on their dissolution». Ordinary upkeep falls on the holder, larger works on the owner. In practice you meet it where a house is transferred to the children during the parents' lifetime while one parent keeps the use — including after that parent moves into a care home, because the usufruct does not end on moving out. Whoever buys such a property buys it with the right attached.
Right of residence — narrower than a usufruct
The right of residence «is the right to live in all or part of a building». It «is neither transferable nor heritable»: the holder may live there but may not let it, and the right does not pass to their heirs. Otherwise the rules on usufruct apply. That is the practical difference people most often ask about: a usufruct yields income, a right of residence only personal use.
Usufruct or right of residence? Four differences in the statute
Both rights are recorded in the land register, both are commonplace, and both continue after a sale. The question is therefore not whether one of them is bad, but which of the two you are looking at. Every cell names its article and reproduces it verbatim.
| Usufruct | Right of residence | |
|---|---|---|
| What the right covers | UsufructComplete enjoyment of the property. Of a usufruct the Civil Code says: «Unless otherwise provided, it confers complete enjoyment of the object on the usufructuary.» And expressly: «The usufructuary has the rights of possession, use and enjoyment of the object.»Civil Code art. 745 para. 2 · art. 755 para. 1 | Right of residenceThe right of residence «is the right to live in all or part of a building». And: «unless the right is expressly restricted to the person of the holder, he or she may share the residence with his or her family and household».Civil Code art. 776 para. 1 · art. 777 para. 2 |
| Letting and income | Usufruct«Unless it is a strictly personal right, the exercise of the usufruct may be assigned to another person» — so the holder may let the property and keep the income.Civil Code art. 758 para. 1 | Right of residenceThe right of residence «is neither transferable nor heritable» — no letting, no rental income.Civil Code art. 776 para. 2 |
| Transfer, inheritance, end | Usufruct«Usufruct ceases with the death of the usufructuary and in the case of legal entities on their dissolution» — it does not pass to the heirs. What may be assigned is the exercise of the right, not the right itself.Civil Code art. 749 para. 1 · art. 758 para. 1 | Right of residenceThe right of residence «is neither transferable nor heritable»: it ends with the holder.Civil Code art. 776 para. 2 |
| Maintenance and charges | UsufructThe holder must «of his or her own accord carry out such repairs and renovations as constitute normal maintenance», and «must bear the costs of the normal maintenance and administration of the object, the interest on the attendant debt and taxes and other duties for the duration of his or her rights over the object». By contrast: «All other charges are borne by the owner …»Civil Code art. 764 para. 1 · art. 765 paras. 1 and 3 | Right of residenceIt depends on the scope of the right: «If the right of residence is exclusive, the usufructuary bears the costs of ordinary maintenance.» But: «If the right of residence is exercised jointly with the owner, the latter bears the maintenance costs.»Civil Code art. 778 paras. 1 and 2 |
Both rights are entered in the land register and continue after a sale (Civil Code art. 746 para. 1; for the right of residence through the reference in art. 776 para. 3). What applies in a given case is in the contract and the register entry, not in the statute. Where a point is contested or ambiguously drafted, it belongs with a Swiss notary or lawyer.
Fedlex says of its English text: «English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.» The German and French texts govern.
Building right — the house is yours, the ground is not
A building right entitles a third party «to erect or maintain a construction above or below ground» on the encumbered land. Where it is a distinct and permanent right, «it may be recorded in the land register as immovable property» and so be sold and mortgaged in its own right. As a distinct right it «may be established … for a maximum of 100 years». You then buy the building and pay the landowner — often a municipality, a parish or a foundation — a ground rent. What drives the price is the remaining term, the rent, and the reversion compensation agreed in the contract; those sit in the building-right contract, not in the statute.
Right of pre-emption — someone may step in ahead of you
A right of pre-emption lets its holder step into the purchase in place of the buyer. The statute knows statutory rights of pre-emption — between co-owners, for instance — and contractual ones, which can be noted in the land register. «Where a purchase agreement is concluded, the vendor must notify persons with a right of pre-emption of the terms thereof», and the holder «must assert it within three months of learning of the conclusion and terms». For a buyer that means the contract can be concluded and the property still go to somebody else. Ask early.
You may read this — without giving a reason
Any person may require information or an extract from the land registry about a property's easements and real burdens «ohne ein Interesse glaubhaft zu machen» — without showing a legitimate interest. The one limit is scope: «Eine Auskunft oder ein Auszug darf nur für ein bestimmtes Grundstück abgegeben werden» — only for one specific property. So you need the parcel or the address, and no purchase contract, no proof, no explanation. The fee and the ordering route are set by the canton.
Source: Land Register Ordinance art. 26 (Fedlex, German — no official English version) · Land register · Zurich · Land register · Bern · Land register · Aargau · Land register · Solothurn · Land register · Valais · Land register · Vaud · Land register · Fribourg
Why we do not fetch these rights for you
The electronic publication a canton may permit covers expressly only the data under article 26 paragraph 1 letter a — designation, description, ownership, form of ownership, date of acquisition. Easements sit under letter b and are not included. The ordinance further requires information systems to be «vor Serienabfragen geschützt», protected against serial queries. Automatic retrieval is therefore not merely inconvenient — the ordinance forecloses it. An alpflo brief carries no easements, and none is planned.
Source: Land Register Ordinance art. 27 (Fedlex, German — no official English version) · Guide: the value quota in Swiss condominium ownership
The bank and the lawyer get an access you do not have
Cantons may open extended electronic access to particular recipients: notaries and authorities, «Banken, Vorsorgeeinrichtungen, Versicherungen» for the data they need «im Hypothekargeschäft» — in mortgage business — and lawyers entered in the bar register. So the bank assessing your mortgage can look online; you ask the land registry, one property at a time. That is federal law in force, not a malfunction. It cannot be changed — what can be changed is how easy your side of that access is to find and to order.
Source: Land Register Ordinance art. 28 (Fedlex, German — no official English version)
What the PLR cadastre does not say about this
The PLR cadastre is excellent for public-law restrictions and says nothing about private rights. A right of way or of residence does not appear there, and its absence from the cadastre is no evidence that none exists. Wanting both means needing both: the cadastre extract for public law, the land-register extract for private law.
Source: Swiss Civil Code art. 731 (Fedlex) · Guide: reading and ordering a land-register extract
The four honesty states
Every field in an alpflo brief carries exactly one of these states. Easements appear in none of them — they are not part of what we query.
Confirmed in an official Swiss register. Direct source.
Register queried; nothing on this parcel. The absence is documented.
Derived from a model or an API: real, but not directly from the register. Please verify.
Hit an edge case. Stated honestly at the boundary, never silently discarded.
Common questions about easements
Is an easement a defect?
No. Rights of way and utility-line rights are the norm in densely built areas. What matters is knowing before you sign which ones exist and what they permit.
What is the difference between a right of residence and a usufruct?
A usufruct gives complete enjoyment of the property, letting and income included. A right of residence gives only the right to live there; it is neither transferable nor heritable.
May I request the extract for a property that is not mine?
For easements and real burdens, yes, without showing an interest — but only for one specific property. The fee and the ordering route are set by the canton.
Does an alpflo brief show the easements?
No. The ordinance permits electronic publication only for the data under article 26 paragraph 1 letter a and requires protection against serial queries. You order the extract from the land registry.
Easements are ordered from the land registry. A cantonal form asks for the commune and the parcel number — or simply the address; the federal EGRID is at most an additional field. Both numbers are in the alpflo brief for your address, alongside the PLR cadastre and the building data. Your first own brief is free once you have confirmed your email address; the sample brief you can read with nothing at all. A brief is written in German or French, for a German- or French-speaking commune — there is no English edition.
No subscription · Your first brief is free, after that 49 CHF per report · the sample report stays free.