Ch.22 Interests in Land Flashcards
Indigenous peoples have unique rights of use of ancestral lands in Canada
Form of communal right
Falls short of recognizing full sovereignty, equality, or fairness
Indigenous rights and title to lands limited to lands previously occupied prior to European sovereignty
Where that occupation continued thereafter to exclusion of others
Two large limitations:
- Indigenous rights are communal rights of a band, not of individuals
- Cannot be transferred to anyone but Crown
Fee Simple
In Canada, all land still owned by Crown:
Estates of land in fee simple are granted by Crown patent to individuals
Crown often reserves right to minerals or precious metals
Can dispose of land by way of sale, will, or inheritance
Escheat
Expropriation
Escheat
reversion of land to Crown when a person possessed of the fee dies intestate and without heirs
Expropriation
forceful taking of land by a government or government agency for public purposes
If a person grants land during their lifetime, usually by way of formal document
Deed or transfer
Grand embodied in deed:
- 1) Execution of deed by the grantor
- 2) Delivery of the document to the grantee, passes title to the land to the recipient
Owner of land may use the land as they see fit
Deed or transfer
written or printed instrument affecting legal disposition
Life estate
estate in land in which the right to possession is based upon a person’s lifetime
Highest estate in land that the person in possession of the fee simple might grant
Frequently made within a family, where person who possesses fee simple wants to use land during his or her lifetime, but pass property on upon death
Life tenant muse use land in reasonable manner and not commit waste
Cannot tear down buildings, destroy property, destroy trees, etc.
Leasehold estate
grant of the right to possession of a parcel of land for a period of time in return for the payment of rent to landowner
Contractual in nature and given for fixed term
Treated by law differently from freehold interests
- Parties may insert any rights or obligations they wish into agreement
Grants tenant exclusive possession of property for term of lease
Condominium
A form of ownership of real property, usually including a building, in which certain units are owned in fee simple and the common elements are owned by the various unit owners as tenants-in-common
Condominium Development
Defining the common elements from those owned exclusively by unit owners
Both pass on transfer of title
Condominium Management
Management through board or condominium corporation
Provide for insurance, common element expenses, enforce rules
Governed by by-laws – similar structure to corporations
Co-operative Housing Corporations
Means by which a group may acquire indirect interest in land through a corporation
Used to establish residential housing units where land and building acquired and owned by corporation
Members of co-operative acquire share in corporation and lease of a housing unit
- Responsible for their portion of expenses of corporation
Corporation responsible for maintenance and mortgage payments
Registration of Property Interests
Historically, individual guarded all documents related to land title
- Created difficulties if title was destroyed or lost – prospective purchaser had to rely on landowner’s word
- Led to system of land registration:
-All land in country or district was identified
-Public record office established to act as recorder and custodian of all land-related documents
Public registration system and certification of title is designed to:
Reduce chance of fraud in land transactions
Eliminate need for safeguarding title by individual
All interests in property require registration to protect them; all unregistered interests in land are void