Profit a prendre
A 'profit a prendre' (or profit à prendre) is a right to take something from another person’s land. This could be part of the land itself, such as peat; something growing on it, such as timber or grass (which can be taken by the grazing of animals); or wildlife killed on it, for example by shooting or fishing.
The thing taken must be capable of ownership, so a right to use land in some way, or to take water from a natural feature, cannot be a profit. This distinguishes a profit a prendre from an easement, which is a non-possessory interest in land.
A profit a prendre may be appurtenant or in gross:
- A profit a prendre appurtenant is a right, the benefit of which is attached to a particular piece of land, in the same way as an easement. It cannot be registered with its own title.
- A profit a prendre in gross is a right not attached to the ownership of any particular piece of land. The owner of the profit may not own any land at all and may dispose of the profit independently from any land they do own. A profit a prendre in gross may be substantively registered with its own title. Alternatively, a profit a prendre in gross may be the subject of notice in the register of the affected land, without being registered with its own title or, if the affected land is not registered, the subject of a caution against first registration. A profit a prendre in gross may be created by express grant (or reservation), by statute, or by prescription at common law or under the doctrine of lost modern grant. Because different profits a prendre in gross may be granted over the same land to take different things, or to take the same thing at different times, there may be more than one profit a prendre in gross affecting the same land.
NB This article contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0 ref Land Registry, Profits a prendre (taking natural resources from another's land) (PG16) 13 October 2003.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki.
- Easement.
- Glossary of property law terms.
- Land register.
- Overage.
- Restrictive covenant.
- Site selection and acquisition for construction.
[edit] External references
Featured articles and news
OpenUSD possibilities: Look before you leap
Being ready for the OpenUSD solutions set to transform architecture and design.
Global Asbestos Awareness Week 2025
Highlighting the continuing threat to trades persons.
Retrofit of Buildings, a CIOB Technical Publication
Now available in Arabic and Chinese aswell as English.
The context, schemes, standards, roles and relevance of the Building Safety Act.
Retrofit 25 – What's Stopping Us?
Exhibition Opens at The Building Centre.
Types of work to existing buildings
A simple circular economy wiki breakdown with further links.
A threat to the creativity that makes London special.
How can digital twins boost profitability within construction?
The smart construction dashboard, as-built data and site changes forming an accurate digital twin.
Unlocking surplus public defence land and more to speed up the delivery of housing.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill
An outline of the bill with a mix of reactions on potential impacts from IHBC, CIEEM, CIC, ACE and EIC.
Farnborough College Unveils its Half-house for Sustainable Construction Training.
Spring Statement 2025 with reactions from industry
Confirming previously announced funding, and welfare changes amid adjusted growth forecast.
Scottish Government responds to Grenfell report
As fund for unsafe cladding assessments is launched.
CLC and BSR process map for HRB approvals
One of the initial outputs of their weekly BSR meetings.
Building Safety Levy technical consultation response
Details of the planned levy now due in 2026.
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.