Appurtenant. A profit can be appurtenant (owned by an adjacent landowner, and tied to the use of the adjacent land) or in gross. An appurtenant profit may only be used by the owner of the adjacent property. A properly recorded profit will remain even if the ownership of the land upon which the profit exists changes hands.

In Gross. By contrast, a profit in gross can be assigned or otherwise transferred by its owner. Courts will construe a profit as being in gross unless the profit is expressly designated as being appurtenant. Therefore, profits by prescription will virtually always be profits in gross. Like a commercial easement in gross, a profit in gross is completely alienable. Profits can also be exclusive (guaranteeing the owner of the profit that no other person will be given the right to collect the specified resources on the land).