Chapter 2 - Ownership, Interests, and Encumberances Flashcards
When the term ownership in severalty is used, how many owners are there?
One individual or corporation
What are the three governmental powers over ownership?
Police power, eminent domain, and condemnation.
Eminent domain
Acquire privately owned real estate for public use.
Condemnation
Process by which gov’t exercises right of eminent domain.
Freehold estate vs. Leasehold estate
Indeterminable length of time vs. fixed period of time
Which types fall under freehold estate?
Fee simple, defeasible fee, and life estates
Which types fall under leashold estates?
Estates for years + estates from period to period
Fee simple absolute
Highest interest in real estate recognized by law
Which two possible limit types exist on a fee simple defeasible?
- Condition subsequent (but if…no alcohol consumption)
* Determinable (as long as)
Life estate
Ownership duration limited to life of owner or some other designated person(s).
What’s unique about inheritability of life estate?
Cannot be inhereted
Life tenant
(Temporary) owner of a life estate
Pur autre vie
“for the life of another”
Remainder interest
Person to whom a life estate will pass when the life estate ends.
Reversionary interest
When ownership of a life estate reverts to the original owner.
Homestead right
I don’t know what this means (p41)
Encumbrances
A burden. Claim, charge or liability that attaches to real estate.
The two classes of encumbrances are?
Liens and physical restrictions, easements, licenses, and encroachments.
Easement
Law a right to cross or otherwise use someone else’s land for a specified purpose.
Lien
Security for a debt
When do deed restrictions expire?
They don’t. (“run with the land”)
CC&Rs
Covenant, Conditions, and Restrictions
Appurtenant easement
Allows a neighbor use of land to enter their property (ex. driveway)
Servient tenement
Parcel over which the easement runs
Dominant tenement
Neighboring parcel that benefits from easement
Easement in gross
Rights-of-way or utility easements
Easement by necessity
When parcel of land has no direct access to a street (no one can be land locked)
Easement by prescription
When someone makes a claim on someone else’s land.
Must be: Continuous Exclusive Advserse (without owners' approval) Visible Open Notorious
How many years are required to establish a prescription easement in Illinois?
20 years
License
Privilege to enter the land of another for a specific purpose (sports match, concert, parking garage)
Encroachment
When part of a structure extends beyond the land of its owner into a neighboring plot
Spot survey
Shows location of all improvements located on a property (shows encroachments)
If an encroachment reaches beyond a state’s prescriptive period, what can happen?
Easement by prescription.
Riparian rights
Apply to property along a river, stream, etc.
Littoral rights
Applies to land bordering lakes, seas, and oceans.
What defines ownership in littoral rights?
Mean high water mark
What defines ownership under riparian rights?
Land to exact center of the waterway
Doctorine of prior appropriation
Right to use water adjacent to land is controlled by the state.
Accretion
Increase in land from deposits fo soil by water
Erosion
Slow wearing of land
Avulsion
Sudden removal of land (by act of nature)
Three types of co-ownership?
- Tenants in common
- Joint tenancy
- Tenancy by the entirety (married couple)
Under tenants in common, what happens when an owner does?
Right of successorship. Can be willed to anyone.
Under joint tenancy, what happens when an owner does?
Survivorship. Ownership stake of any living owners increases.
What is required to create a joint tenancy? [PITT]
Posession
Interest
Time
Title
Which three parties comprise a trust?
Trustor (owner)
Trustee (hold title for benefit of a third party)
Beneficiary
Three types of ownership by organizations
- General partnership (everyone is a general)
- Limited partnership (1+ general and 1+ limited partner)
- Corporation
In a condominium, what is a limited common area?
Private areas that association pays to maintain (skylights, assigned parking, balconies, storage rooms, etc.)
Two types of time shares
- Time share estate (bundle of legal rights)
2. Time share use (like a lease)
Interstate land sales full disclosure act
If a person buys a vacant plot of land out of state, a property report must be provided at time of signing or buyer has up to 2 years to cancel the contract.
“I’ve got some great swamp land for you”
What does a property report specify?
- What you can build
- Zoning
- Liens
- Restrictions
- Perculation test (determines location for septic tank)
Ownership in severalty
When a property is owned by a single person (“sever yourself from everyone else”)
Community property
Whatever either partner owned before marriage is owned 100%
Does community property exist in Illinois?
No.
Which ownership arrangement is subject to double taxation?
Corporation –taxes paid on profits by the corp, and taxes paid by shareholders on dividends.
What is the defining characterstic of a “joint venture”?
Time limitation
