Minute Property Law Flashcards
Life Tenant Tax Duty
A life tenant has the obligation to pay ordinary taxes on the real property, but only to the extent that the life tenant receives a financial benefit from the property.
The financial benefit is determined differently depending on whether the life tenant:
occupies the property – in which case the financial benefit is measured by the fair market rental value of the property (e.g., reasonable rental value) or
does not occupy the property– in which case the financial benefit is measured by the income derived from the land (e.g., third-party rental income, crops grown on the land)
JT Right of Survivorship
Due to the right of survivorship, a joint tenant’s interest ceases to exist upon his/her death and is automatically absorbed into the surviving joint tenants’ interests.
Fee Simple Subject to an Executory Interest Example
“to my niece, but if she fails to pass the bar exam within a year of her law school graduation, to my nephew.”
Partial Restraint on alienation
If for a limited time and a reasonable purpose, then valid.
Right of first refusal
A right of first refusal is a partial, promissory restraint on alienation that gives its holder a preemptive right to acquire property prior to its transfer to another party.
This right is generally reasonable if the holder of the right can purchase the property under the same terms offered to another. If so, the right of first refusal is valid and enforceable by an injunction.
Tenancy at sufferance after the end of a tenancy for years
At the end of the fixed term, a tenancy for years automatically expires. A tenant who remains on the premises after the lease expires without the landlord’s permission is considered a tenant at sufferance.
Tenancy at sufference notice
A tenancy at sufferance (i.e., holdover tenancy) continues until the tenant vacates the premises, is evicted, or is bound to a new tenancy.
Absent an applicable statute,** the landlord is NOT required** to give the tenant at sufferance notice to vacate the premises before taking steps to recover possession of the property.
Shelter Rule
Under the shelter rule, a person who receives a property interest from a BFP is entitled to the same protection under the recording act as the BFP. This is true even if that person would NOT otherwise be protected by the recording act because the person acquired title to the property by gift, intestate succession, or devise.
Estoppel by deed
Under this doctrine, a grantor who conveys an interest in land by warranty deed before owning it is estopped from later denything the effectiveness of that deed. And the grantor’s after-acquired title automatically transfers to the prior grantee.
Enforcing an equitable servitude
equitable servitude can ONLY be enforced by the original parties or their successors in interest.
JT Dies
A JT CANNOT devise his/her interest at death.
A JTs interest can be transferred during life, but the conveyance will sever the joint tenancy and convert it into a tenancy in common
If TWO or more JTs remain after the transfer, then a tenancy in common will exist between the severing tenant and the remaining JTs, will retain a JT with respect to each other.
Foreclosure Subject to Mortgage
The property may be sold at a foreclosure sale to satisfy the outstanding mortgage loan obligation.
Grantee is not liable
