2 - Rights In Real Estate

Question 1

Define land and real estate:

Answer 1

• constitution guarantees private ownership

* ownership rights not absolute; others may exert claims against one’s property

Question 2

Land

Answer 2

• surface and natural things attached to it, subsurface, air above the surface
• immobile, indestructible, heterogeneous (non-homogeneity)

Question 3

Real estate

Answer 3

•land plus permanently attached man-made structures (improvements)

Question 4

Distinguish categories of property

Answer 4

• something owner by someone and the associated rights of ownership
• property is earl or personal, tangible or intangible

Question 5

Identify the bundle of rights

Answer 5

Property: Possession, use, transfer, exclusion, encumbrance

Real Property: any of the bundle of rights applied to airspace(air rights), surface(surface rights), and subsurface (subsurface rights)

Question 6

Water rights

Answer 6

• doctrine of prior appropriation: state controls water usage; grants usage permits
• littoral rights: abutting property owners own land to height water mark; state owns underlying land
• riparian rights: of navigable, abutting property owners own land to water’s edge; state owns underlying land; if not navigable, owner owns land to midpoint of waterway

Question 7

Real vs. Personal Property

Answer 7

Item is real or personal property depending on “attachement” criterion and other circumstances

Question 8

Fixtures

Answer 8

Real property converted from personal property by attachment

Question 9

Differentiation criteria

Answer 9

Intention; adaptation; functionality; relationship of parties; contract provisions

Question 10

Trade fixtures

Answer 10

Personal property temporarily attached to real estate to conduct business; to be removed at some point

Question 11

Emblements

Answer 11

Plants or crops considered personal property since human intervention is necessary for planting, harvesting

Question 12

Conversion

Answer 12

Transforming real to personal property through severance, or personal to real property through affixing

Question 13

Federal regulation

Answer 13

Grants rights of ownership; controls broad usage standards, discrimination

Question 14

State regulation

Answer 14

Governs real estate business; sets regional usage standards

Question 15

Local regulation

Answer 15

Levies real estate taxes; controls specific usage

Question 16

Judicial regulation

Answer 16

Applies case law and common law to disputes

Question 17

What is the important distinction between real estate and real property?

Answer 17

Real property is more inclusive and more relevant to what real estate agents do; real estate is essentially a physical item, while real property includes both the physical item and all the rights that go with owning the item

Question 18

Two properties are adjacent. The owner of one property discovers oil and sinks a vertical well to extract it. The owner of one property discovers oil and sinks a vertical well to extract it. The owner of the other property, hoping to share in the wealth, sinks a well at an angle to reach deposit under his neighbor’s lot. Who owns the oil, and is the second owner breaking the law with his diagonal well?

Answer 18

The ownership of the oil is unclear. A geological survey would have to determine whether all the oil is located under the one lot. The second owner does not have the right, however, to sink a well that crosses over the vertical plane that extends from the surface lot line to the center of the earth

Question 19

Changes in land caused by the action of water may affect ownership. Land added by accretion, the natural deposit of soil by water, becomes the property of the riparian or littoral owner. Land added by reliction, the recession of water from the usual landmark, likewise becomes the property or the riparian or littoral owner. Land washed away by erosion is lost by the riparian or littoral owner. What happens if a non-navigable stream that divides two parcels suddenly changes its path and moves over onto one owner’s side of the property line?

Answer 19

The loss of land by an abrupt change in the course of a river or stream, called avulsion, generally does not change the property line, although one party gains the use of additional land that was formerly underwater, and the other loses he use of land that was not formerly under water.