Property

Question 1

3 Forms of Concurrent Ownership

Answer 1

• Joint Tenancy
• Tenancy in the Entirety
• Tenancy in Common

Question 2

Joint Tenancy: Characteristics

Answer 2

• Right of survivorship
• Alienability (can transfer while alive)
• Not descendible or devisable

Question 3

How to Create a Joint Tenancy

Answer 3

Four Unities (T-TIP):
T: at the same time;
T: by the same title;
I: with identical, equal interests; and
P: with rights to possess the whole

Question 4

How to Sever of a Joint Tenancy

Answer 4

• Severance and Sale: joint tenant may sell or transfer her interest during her lifetime and the transferee takes as a tenant in common
• Severance and Partition: (1) by voluntary agreement, (2) by judicial action called partition in kind, or (3) by judicial action called a forced sale

Question 5

Tenancy by the Entirety

Answer 5

A tenancy by the entirety is a marital estate akin to a joint tenancy. It can be created only between married partners, who take as a fictitious “one person” with the right of survivorship, severable only by death, divorce, mutual agreement, or execution by a joint creditor of both spouses.

Question 6

Tenancy in Common

Answer 6

A concurrent estate with no right of survivorship where each co-tenant owns an individual part and has a right to possess the whole, and each interest is devisable, descendible, and alienable

Question 7

3 Types of Waste a Co-Tenant Cannot Commit:

Answer 7

• Voluntary: willful destruction
• Permissive: neglect
• Ameliorative: unilateral change that increases value

Question 8

4 Leaseholds or Nonfreehold Estates

Answer 8

• Tenancy for years
• Periodic tenancy
• Tenancy at will
• Tenancy at sufferance

Question 9

Tenancy for Years

Answer 9

Tenancy ends automatically at its termination date

Question 10

Periodic Tenancy

Answer 10

A lease which continues for successive intervals until either the landlord or the tenant gives proper notice of termination

Question 11

Tenancy at Will

Answer 11

Tenancy of no fixed period of duration - it’s terminable at the will of either the landlord or the tenant

Question 12

Tenancy at Sufferance

Answer 12

Tenancy created when a tenant wrongfully holds over, meaning they remain in possession past the expiration of lease (to permit the landlord to recover rent)

Question 13

Tenant’s 2 Duties

Answer 13

• Duty to repair (routine repairs)

- Duty to pay rent

Question 14

Landlord’s Options When Tenant Breaches and Is in Possession of Premises

Answer 14

• Evict through courts or continue relationship and sue for rent due
• Must not engage in self-help (change locks, forcibly remove tenant, etc.)

Question 15

Landlord’s Options When Tenant Breaches but Is Out of Possession (Vacates With Time Left on Lease)

Answer 15

SIR:

• Surrender: landlord accepts tenant’s abandonment as surrender of lease
• Ignore: hold tenant responsible for unpaid rent until end of lease
• Re-let the premises on tenant’s behalf and hold tenant liable for any deficiency

Question 16

Duty to Deliver Possession

Answer 16

Landlord is required to put the tenant in actual physical possession of the premises at the beginning of the leasehold term

Question 17

Implied Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment

Answer 17

Tenant has a right to quiet use and enjoyment of the premises, without interference from the landlord or a paramount title holder

Question 18

Actual Eviction

Answer 18

Landlord, a paramount title holder, or a hold-over tenant excludes the tenant from the entire leased premises, terminating the tenant’s obligation to pay rent

Question 19

Partial Eviction

Answer 19

Tenant is physically excluded from only part of the leased premises, relieving the tenant of the obligation to pay rent for the entire premises, even though tenant continues in possession of the remainder

Question 20

Constructive Eviction

Answer 20

Landlord’s breach of duty renders the premises unsuitable for occupancy
(SING: Substantial Interference, Notice, Goodbye)

Question 21

Implied Warranty of Habitability

Answer 21

The premises must be fit for basic human habitation

Question 22

Tenant’s Entitlements When Implied Warranty of Habitability is Breached

Answer 22

• Move out and terminate lease
• Repair and deduct
• Reduce rent or withhold all rent until the court determines fair rental value
• Remain in possession, pay full rent, and affirmatively seek money damages

Question 23

Retaliatory Eviction

Answer 23

Landlord may not terminate a lease or otherwise penalize a tenant in retaliation for the tenant’s exercise of their legal rights

Question 24

Civil Rights Act

Answer 24

Bars racial or ethnic discrimination in the sale or rental of all property

Question 25

Fair Housing Act

Answer 25

Protects tenants and potential tenants from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or disability, as well as familial status

Question 26

Assignment

Answer 26

An assignee stands in the shoes of the original tenant in a direct relationship with the landlord; the assignee and the landlord are in "privity of estate," and each is liable to the other on all covenants in the lease that "run with the land"

Question 27

Sublease

Answer 27

A sublease arises when T1, the original tenant, transfers less than her entire interest to T2, making T2 responsible to T1, not the landlord

Question 28

Landlord's Remedies with Breached Sublease

Answer 28

Landlord may terminate the main lease for nonpayment of rent or breach of other covenants if the lease so states or the power is given my statute, automatically terminating the sublease with the main lease

Question 29

The landlord is under no duty to make the premises safe, except:

Answer 29

CLAPS: - Common areas - Latent defects (duty to warn) - Assumption of repairs (once undertaken, must complete) - Public use rule - Short-term lease of furnished dwelling

Question 30

Easement

Answer 30

A grant of a nonpossessory property interest that entitles its holder to some form of use or enjoyment of another's land, usually for a perpetual duration unless grant contains specific limit

Question 31

Affirmative Easement

Answer 31

The right to go onto and dod something on servant land

Question 32

Negative Easement

Answer 32

Entitles holder to prevent the servant landowner from doing something that would otherwise be permissible

Question 33

4 Categories of Negative Easements

Answer 33

LASS: - Light - Air - Support - Stream water from an artificial flow - (sometimes scenic views included)

Question 34

Easement Appurtenant

Answer 34

When it involves two parcels (one dominant, one servient) and benefits its holder in his physical use or enjoyment of his own land

Question 35

Easement in Gross

Answer 35

When there is no dominant tenement and confers upon its holder only some personal or pecuniary advantage that is not related to their use or enjoyment of their land

Question 36

Transferability of Easement Appurtenant

Answer 36

Passes automatically with transfers of the dominant tenement, regardless of whether it is even mentioned in the conveyance, unless bona fide purchaser of servient estate is without notice

Question 37

Transferability of Easement in Gross

Answer 37

An easement in gross is not transferable unless it is for commercial purposes

Question 38

Easement Creation

Answer 38

Basic methods of creating an easement is (PING): - Prescription - Implication - Necessity - Grant

Question 39

Easement by Grant

Answer 39

Easement must be memorialized in writing and signed by the holder of the servient estate tenement unless its duration is brief enough to be outside the coverage of the Statute of Frauds

Question 40

Easement by Implication

Answer 40

Created by operation of law; an exception to the Statute of Frauds

Question 41

Easement by Necessity

Answer 41

Implied when a landowner conveys a portion of her land with no way out except over some part of the grantor's remaining land; owner of the servient parcel has the right to locate the easement

Question 42

Elements to Acquire Easement by Prescription

Answer 42

COAH: - Continuous and uninterrupted use for the given statute's period - Open and notorious use (discoverable upon inspection) - Actual use that need not be exclusive - Hostile use (without consent)

Question 43

8 Ways to Terminate Easement

Answer 43

END CRAMP: - Estoppel - Necessity - Destruction - Condemnation - Release - Abandonment - Merger - Prescription

Question 44

Terminating Easement by Estoppel

Answer 44

If the servient owner materially changes their position in reasonable reliance on the easement holder's assurances or representations (such that the easement will no longer be enforce), the easement terminates through estoppel

Question 45

Terminating Easement by Necessity

Answer 45

Easements created by necessity expire as soon as the necessity ends, unless the easement was reduced to an express grant

Question 46

Terminating Easement by Destruction

Answer 46

Destruction of the servient land, other than through the willful conduct of the servient owner, will terminate the easement

Question 47

Terminating Easement by Condemnation

Answer 47

Condemnation of the servient estate by governmental eminent domain will terminate the easement

Question 48

Terminating Easement by Release

Answer 48

A release given by the easement holder to the servient land owner will terminate the easement

Question 49

Terminating Easement by Abandonment

Answer 49

Easement holder must holder must show by physical action an intent to never use the easement again

Question 50

Terminating Easement by Merger

Answer 50

An easement is extinguished when title to the easement and title to the servient land become vested in the same person (person doesn't need easement over their own land)

Question 51

Terminating Easement by Prescription

Answer 51

Servient owner may extinguish the easement by interfering with it in accordance with the elements of adverse possession (COAH)