Chapter 1: The Natural of Real Property Flashcards
Define: Appurtenances
Appurtenance is something that goes with or pertains to ownership of a piece of real property but isn’t necessarily a physical part of the property.
Air rights, water rights, mineral rights, and support rights are all examples of appurtenances.
Define: Air Rights
A real property owner has the right to use the airspace above the property.
Air rights are limited by federal aviation law, and may also be affected by zoning and other restrictions.
Air rights may be sold separately from the surface property.
Define: Water Rights
Water rights concern the right to use water in connection with real property.
Water rights may be governed by the riparian rights system or the prior appropriation system.
Define: Riparian Rights
Under the riparian rights system, a property owner has the right to take water for domestic purposes from a source that touches his land.
The water may not be used on a location other than the riparian property.
Define: Littoral Rights
Littoral water is standing water, such as a lake or an ocean, as distinguished from riparian water, such as a river.
However, under the riparian rights system, an owner of littoral land has essentially the same water rights as an owner of riparian land.
Define: the Prior Appropriation system
The prior appropriation system has largely replaced the riparian rights system in Washington.
Under the prior appropriation system, someone who wants to take water from a water source must obtain a permit from the state, even if she owns land beside the water source.
Define: Mineral Rights
Solid minerals are part of the real property until they are extracted.
A landowner has the right to extract the solid minerals that lie within his property’s inverted pyramid.
Mineral rights may be sold separately from the land.
What is the Rule of Capture?
Oil and gas rights are governed by the rule of capture.
Under this rule, a landowner has the right to any oil or natural gas captured by wells on her property.
Like other mineral rights, oil and gas rights may be sold separately from the land.
Define: Support Rights
A landowner has the right to lateral and subjacent support, which is the natural support that his land receives from the land on each side and the land underneath.
Define: Attachments
Things attached or affixed to the land are called attachments, and they are part of the real property unless otherwise agreed.
Attachments are classified as natural or man-made.
Man-made attachments are called fixtures.
Define: Natural Attachments
Natural attachments are plants growing on the land naturally, or planted there by people.
They are ordinarily part of the real property.
However, the crops produced by cultivated natural attachments that are to be harvested are ordinarily personal property.
Define: Doctrine of emblements
Under certain circumstances, the doctrine of emblements gives a tenant farmer the right to harvest crops after the lease has expired.
Define: Fixtures
Man-made items of personal property become realty if they are attached to or otherwise closely connected to the land or improvements.
Man-made items that have become realty are called fixtures.
Identify and define the four fixture tests
In the absence of a written agreement between the buyer and seller, four tests are used in deciding whether a disputed item is a fixture.
These are the method of attachment test, the adaptation test, the intention test, and the relationship test.
Legal Description: Name the 3 main methods
A property’s legal description enables the location and boundaries of the property to be precisely identified.
The three main methods of legal description are metes and bounds, government survey, and lot and block.
Define: Metes and Bounds
In a metes and bounds description, monuments, courses, and distances are used to define the property’s boundaries.
The description must start at and return to a point of beginning.
Define: Government Survey Method
A government survey (or rectangular survey) description identifies the property by its position within a particular section, township, and range.
The description must also include the name of the principal meridian.
Define: Lot and Block Method
Property on subdivided land is identified by its lot and block numbers as shown on the plat map that the developer recorded.
Nearly all properties in developed areas can be described with the lot and block method.
