Servitude Deletion and Obsolete Usefulness of Boat House Right

The appellate court reviewed the lower court's decision to reinstate a boat house usage right (a servitude) that had been deleted by the land registry office under the provision allowing deletion of obsolete servitudes (Art. 976 ZGB). The deletion was challenged by the owner of the dominant tenement, arguing that the servitude had not become obviously and incontrovertibly useless, despite claims by the burdened property owners that neglect of maintenance and a change in the dominant property's size indicated a loss of interest. The court reasoned that under Art. 736 Abs. 1 ZGB, deletion requires the dominant owner to have definitively lost all interest, and a lack of maintenance is only an indication, not proof of total loss of interest; furthermore, the original purpose, evidenced in the deed, was not strictly tied to residential use of the dominant property, meaning the servitude remained valid and could not be deleted administratively.