Servitude Interpretation Regarding Building Height and Basement Levels

The case concerned the interpretation of a servitude agreement restricting construction on a property to a maximum of two stories plus an attic room, where the owner sought to build a multi-story building that included a partially exposed first basement level. The court reasoned that since the original 1913 city building law, which informed the servitude, did not define or include basements as counted stories, the term "story" in the restriction should be interpreted restrictively according to the trust principle and the original intent, focusing on the purpose of the servitude—primarily limiting building height to protect the view from the dominant property. Given that the proposed height limit was respected and the claimant failed to sufficiently substantiate how the building's character or the overall purpose of maintaining a low-density residential area was violated by the specific construction of the partially exposed basement, the court upheld the lower court's finding that the construction did not breach the two-story limit specified in the servitude.