A profit (short for profit-à-prendre in Middle French for "advantage or benefit for the taking"), in the law of real property, is a nonpossessory interest in land similar to the better-known easement, which gives the holder the right to take natural resources such as petroleum, minerals, timber, and wild game from the land of another.
Termination of a profit can occur by a number of means, including: In English law, as a general rule, profits à prendre may be created in five different ways: express grant, reservation, implied grant, prescription, and by statute.
In order for a deed to be valid, the formalities set out in section 1 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 must be satisfied.
[6][7] Profits à prendre may be impliedly granted under section 62 of the Law of Property Act 1925.
[5] Unlike easements, it does not appear that profits à prendre can be impliedly granted under the rule in Wheeldon v Burrows.
In order for rights to be impliedly granted under this rule they must be, inter alia, "continuous and apparent",[8] which profits are not.
[10] Given the difficulties in proving continuous use since 1189, the common law evolved to presume existence before 1189 provided the profit à prendre has been used for a 20 years, although this presumption is rebuttable.
Where the freehold estates in both the dominant and servient land come into both the ownership and possession of the same person, there is unity of seisin.
[5] Profits à prendre cannot be extinguished through mere non-use for a long period of time; there must also be intention on the part of the beneficiary for their rights to be abandoned.
If the fructus naturales are not capable of replenishment, the profit à prendre will be extinguished through exhaustion.
The extent of the exclusivity is such that the owner of the servient tenement will be prohibited from collecting the specified fructus naturales from their own land, unless the right to do so has been reserved.
[21] Profits appurtenant created over a registered servient tenement on or after 13 October 2003 (the date on which the relevant provisions of the Land Registration Act 2002 came into force)[22] must be substantively registered with HM Land Registry in order to take effect at law.
Profits appurtenant created on or after 13 October 2003 over an unregistered servient tenement need not be substantively registered with HM Land Registry in order to take effect at law.
[26] A profit appendant enabled the enfeoffee (the person to whom the enfeoff was granted) to benefit from a right to graze horses and oxen (needed to plough the arable land), and sheep and cows (needed to manure the arable land),[17] on pastures belonging to the manor.
Quia Emptores, an act of the English Parliament dating back to 1290, continues to prevent the creation of new profits appendant.
[26] Profits à prendre deemed to be rights of common are incapable of substantive registration with HM Land Registry.
Provided that the servient tenement is a freehold or leasehold with more than seven years remaining, profits in gross created over that registered servient tenement on or after 13 October 2003[22] must be substantively registered with HM Land Registry in order to take effect at law.
[16] Profits in gross created on or after 13 October 2003 over an unregistered servient tenement need not be substantively registered with HM Land Registry in order to take effect at law.
[29] Nevertheless, some sources do consider profits pur cause de vicinage to be rights of common proper.
[17] Profits pur cause de vicinage cannot be substantively registered with HM Land Registry.