Fundamentals of Real Estate Law

Question 1

Property refers to

Answer 1

the legal rights to use and enjoy things or, in layperson’s terms, the things themselves.

Question 2

Real estate (also called realty) refers to

Answer 2

land and everything permanently affixed to land

Question 3

Personal Property (also called personalty) refers to

Answer 3

things other than real estate

Question 4

Chattels refer to

Answer 4

items of personal property, including cars, clothing, and movable furniture.

Question 5

A fixture is

Answer 5

an object that was personal property before being affixed to real estate in a manner that caused it to be part of the real estate

Question 6

Annexation (2 defs)

Answer 6

The manner of attachment of personal property to real estate. It is an important determinant of whether the object attached becomes a fixture. Annexation is also the process applied by a city to extend its boundaries by including adjacent land.

Question 7

Corporeal:

Answer 7

Property that is tangible (i.e., can be seen or touched).

Question 8

Incorporeal:

Answer 8

Intangible property.

Question 9

An easement:

Answer 9

The right to use the property of another for a specific purpose.

Question 10

Estate:

Answer 10

The degree, quantity, nature, and extent of interest a person has in a property. There are many types of estates.

Question 11

Life estate:

Answer 11

Expires on the death of the life tenant. Then the remainderman acquires ownership of the property (called the reversion).

Question 12

The Reversion

Answer 12

When a life estate expires and the remainderman acquires ownership of the property.

Question 13

Pur autre vie

Answer 13

(“for another’s life”) is a type of life estate that ends on the death of someone other than the life tenant.

Question 14

Fee simple (“fee simple absolute”)

Answer 14

The most complete form of ownership one can have. It is subject to eminent domain and land use controls.

Question 15

Freehold estate

Answer 15

An interest in real estate without a known termination date.

Question 16

Nonfreehold estate (“less than freehold”)

Answer 16

When there is an interest in real estate with a present termination date.

Question 17

Interest in real estate

Answer 17

Allows a party certain use but is less than fee simple.

Question 18

Tenancy in severalty

Answer 18

Ownership by one person or one entity.

Question 19

Tenancy in common

Answer 19

A form of co-ownership by two or more people without survivorship. Each tenant in common owns an undivided interest in the whole and may dispose of his/her interest any way he/she pleases.

Question 20

Joint tenancy

Answer 20

A form of ownership characterized by survivorship. When one tenant dies, the remaining joint tenants inherit the portion owned by the decedent.

Question 21

Tenancy by entireties

Answer 21

A form of joint tenancy (having survivorship) that exists only in certain states and is available only to husband and wife. It protects one spouse’s rights to the home from certain actions of the other spouse.

Question 22

Community property

Answer 22

A form of ownership recognized in seven states, most of Spanish origin. When a husband and wife acquire property by joint effort during their marriage, each spouse owns one-half of that property. Property either owned separately before marriage or inherited during the marriage remains separate property.

Question 23

Condominium (condo)

Answer 23

a form of ownership whereby a person owns a specific unit, can mortgage it, and has rights to use the common property jointly.

Question 24

A cooperative (co-op)

Answer 24

a form of ownership whereby a person owns stock in a corporation, receiving exclusive use of a specific unit and rights to use the common property jointly. Co-op and condo owners must pay assessments.

Question 25

Homestead

Answer 25

the protection of a family’s home from creditors in certain instances, such as bankruptcy. The dollar amount or other limits vary by state.

Question 26

Foreclosure

Answer 26

the process to force the sale of a property for nonpayment of a claim on it.

Question 27

Riparian

Answer 27

refers to land bounding on a stream or river.

Question 28

Littoral

Answer 28

the shoreline of property on a slow-moving or static body of water, such as a pond, lake, bay, sea, or ocean. Generally, private ownership stops at the mean highwater mark.

Question 29

Intestate

Answer 29

a person who died without a will. State law determines heirs. Intestate succession is the state’s law for distributing the property of someone who died without a will. If the decedent left no heirs, the decedent’s property escheats to the state.

Question 30

Survivorship

Answer 30

when a co-owner automatically inherits ownership of the portion that belonged to another upon the death of that other owner.

Question 31

Adverse possession

Answer 31

allows a person who uses another’s property to gain ownership when the use is actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, continuous, and long enough (set by state law).

Question 32

Devise (1 def)

Bequest (1 def)

Answer 32

a transfer of real estate by will or last testament. A bequest is a transfer of personal property by will or last testament.

Question 33

Bequest

Answer 33

a transfer of personal property by will or last testament.

Question 34

Dower rights

Answer 34

in states which recognize them, give the wife (or child) an interest in part of the deceased husband’s (or father’s) estate. A few states also recognize a husband’s rights, called curtesy.

Question 35

Color of title

Answer 35

what appears to be a good title but is not

Question 36

Prescription

Answer 36

an easement acquired by adverse possession

Question 37

Erosion

Answer 37

the gradual removal of land by nature.

Question 38

Avulsion

Answer 38

the sudden removal of land, as by a hurricane.

Question 39

Accretion

Answer 39

the natural addition to land.

Question 40

A license (2 defs)

Answer 40

gives a person permission to go onto another’s land for a special purpose. Also, the privilege given by the state to a person to operate as a real estate salesperson dr broker.

Question 41

Eminent domain (1 def)
Condemnation (1 def)

Answer 41

the right of government, or an entity with governmental authority, to take private property for public use. The process is called condemnation, which
requires payment of just compensation for the property taken.