A severance can in law mean the act of severing a piece of land from a larger tract of land. The severed parcel of land becomes a separate lot (parcel). Second, it can refer to, in jurisdictions that have the form of co-ownership, the ending of a

joint tenancy In property law, a concurrent estate or co-tenancy is any of various ways in which property is owned by more than one person at a time. If more than one person owns the same property, they are commonly referred to as co-owners. Legal terminolo ...

by act or event other than death. Third, it can be defined in a

definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definiti ...

s clause or table in ways including the removal of a party from an agreement, or a permitted ending of the agreement (e.g.

break clause A break clause is a term in a contract that allows early termination of the contract before the default end date. In accordance with English property law, such clauses are typical in tenancy agreements, so as to allow a tenancy to come to an e ...

) — in an employment contract/negotiations especially common as to

severance pay Severance may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Severance'' (film), a 2006 British horror film * ''Severance'' (novel), a 2018 novel by Ling Ma *''Severance'', a 2006 short-story collection by Robert Olen Butler * ''Severance'' (TV series), ...

and other terms of severance — or part of the agreement in which case it may be either capable of forming the heart of a new agreement, that is being superseded or instead varied to be non-binding (avoided) as to future conduct (see

voidable contract A voidable contract, unlike a void contract, is a valid contract which may be either affirmed or rejected at the option of one of the parties. At most, one party to the contract is bound. The unbound party may repudiate (reject) the contract, at ...

) and the parties should ensure which meaning is meant in this third range of senses.

Transfer of part

In many

jurisdictions Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Ju ...

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...

laws require that severances of land occur in an orderly fashion by way of plans of subdivision, (estate plans) when multiple lots are being created. In a registered (or other standardised land system) colouring and other conventions may apply to such title plans. To avoid complications, some jurisdictions allow severances of a minor nature to proceed without a plan of subdivision, as long as other criteria are met. In many cases this will only be permitted when reverting a previous combination of the land, in England and Wales,

amalgamation (land) Amalgamation in English and Welsh land law is a simple process carried out in registered land. It combines neighbouring parcels (holdings) of land which are freehold. In leasehold land interests (which can be at any storey) respective surrenders ...

. In England and Wales in unregistered land (around 15% of the total) any such severance (transfer of part) triggers compulsory registration of that new parcel (see

registered land in English law Registered land in English law accounts for around 88 per cent of the total land mass. Since 1925, English land law has required that proprietary interests in land be registered, except in cases where it is necessary to protect social or family in ...

. In Canada, approval of qualifying minor severances are often referred to as "consents", and the authority to grant consents is usually given to local

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is c ...

bodies such as committees of adjustment or land division committees.

Colloquially Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conversa ...

in Canada and the US the term "severance"/"severed lot" is often used to solely refer to such minor land divisions rather than to divisions undertaken by way of the more complicated subdivision process. Officially and commonly the terms "severed land" and "new parcel/plot/tract/piece of land" are used, synonymously in England and Wales with "severed land" removing all ambiguity.

References

Real property law Urban studies and planning terminology {{Realestate-stub