Property Ownership

Question 1

Bundle of rights

Answer 1

Ownership rights: often referred to as “DEEPC”: deposition, Enjoyment, exclusion, possession, control.

Question 2

MARIA

Answer 2

Five basic tests to determine if an item is real ar personal property: 
Method of annexation
Adaptability for use
Relationship of the parties:
Intention in placing 
Agreement of the parties

Question 3

emblements

Answer 3

Cultivated crops are called emblements and are considered personal property, even though they’re part of the soil.

Question 4

Physical characteristics of land.

Answer 4

Immobility: The geographic location of land is fixed and can’t be changed.
Indestructibility: Improvements may deteriorate over time, but not land itself.
Uniqueness/nonhomogeneity: One piece of land is never exactly like another.

Question 5

Economic characteristics of land.

Answer 5

Scarcity: You can’t make more land; what we have now is what we’ll always have.
Improvements: A land’s value can be positively or negatively affected by the improvements made on it.
Permanence of investment: Some improvements are long-term, stable investments with stable returns over time.
Situs/location/area preference: A property’s value depends in large part on its location.

Question 6

Three primary types of legal descriptions

Answer 6

metes and bounds, lot and block (also known as recorded plat), and rectangular government survey system (RGSS).

Question 7

Metes

Answer 7

Metes are the direction and distance of a line forming the property’s boundary; bounds are physical features that definethe boundaries of the property

Question 8

Metes and Bounds

Answer 8

Metes-and-bounds descriptions are characterized by a point of beginning, which is where
the description both begins and ends. It also uses monuments to mark boundaries. The monuments are thought to have more credibility than the measurements.

Question 9

rectangular government survey system

Answer 9

regulated by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, divides land into townships and further into sections and fractions called sections.

Question 10

principal meridian

Answer 10

The principal meridian is the north-south line that runs through an initial point in the RGSS. These descriptions also use compass point directions (northwest; southeast; etc.).

Question 11

Baseline

Answer 11

The base line is the east-west line from which measurements originate

Question 12

township lines and range lines

Answer 12

East-west lines of a survey are called township lines; north-south lines are called range lines.

Question 13

Number of principle meridians in the US

Answer 13

37

Question 14

Parcel in rec survey system

Answer 14

In Rec Survey system: Each parcel is described by referencing the principal meridian and base line that is appropriate to the township in which the parcel is located

Question 15

Size of township and section

Answer 15

Every township is six miles square or 36 square miles. Every section is one squaremile, which is also one mile squared.

Question 16

Lot and block system

Answer 16

Lot-and-block systems begin with a reference to either metes and bounds or RGSS, then divide the land into lots with numerical descriptions of each parcel. A plat with the lot descriptions is recorded in the land records. Lot-and-block divisions include streets, access roads, and other important features.

Question 17

How high must ceilings be for space to be counted in finished square footage

Answer 17

Ceiling height must be at least 7 feet (beamed ceilings must be at least 6 feet 4 inches under the beam, and slanted ceilings must have at least a 7 foot ceiling over 50% of the finished floor area) to be included as finished square footage.

Question 18

Can garages and stairs be included in finished square footage

Answer 18

No for Garage, yes for stairs

Question 19

How many square feet in an acre

Answer 19

43,560

Question 20

Linear square feet in a mile

Answer 20

5,280 linear feet

Question 21

One square mile = how many acres

Answer 21

640 acres

Question 22

Number of acres in a hectar

Answer 22

2.47 acres

Question 23

A datum is

Answer 23

a horizontal point of reference from which surveyors measure depth and height of various land
elevations.

Question 24

A benchmark is

Answer 24

a point where the exact elevation is known and marked with a brass or aluminum plate.
Surveyors can use this as a starting point to measure other elevations

Question 25

Mineral rights, aka subsurface rights, are

Answer 25

the rights to drill or dig for minerals on the property.

Question 26

Riparian rights

Answer 26

address water that moves through a property, such a river or stream. Riparian rights are
classified into one of two categories based on the type of water: navigable or non-navigable.

Question 27

Littoral rights

Answer 27

address static water, such as a pond, lake, or ocean. Owners with littoral rights have the
right to use and enjoy the static water but not divert or contain it.

Question 28

Prior appropriation

Answer 28

Water right that says that the first party to physically take water from a source and put it to beneficial household, agricultural, or industrial use will continue to have a claim to the water.

Question 29

Accretion:

Answer 29

Process by which water carries rock, sand, and soil and causes land build-up

Question 30

Alluvion:

Answer 30

New deposits of land that are the result of accretion

Question 31

Avulsion:

Answer 31

A sudden loss of land by a swift, large-scale change in water flow

Question 32

Reliction:

Answer 32

When water gradually recedes and uncovers new land

Question 33

General liens v specific liens

Answer 33

General liens affect real and personal property and include judgment liens, federal and state tax liens, and decedent’s debts.

Specific liens affect the specific real property/properties to which they’re attached by agreement or law and include
mortgage liens, real property tax liens, mechanic’s liens, special assessment liens, vendor and vendee liens, and HOA liens.

Question 34

Attachment lien

Answer 34

An attachment lien is when the courts place an encumbrance on the property of a defendant in a lawsuit for monetary damages.

Question 35

lis pendens

Answer 35

A lis pendens is an official notice to the public that a lawsuit involving a claim on a property has been filed.

Question 36

HOA lien … in priority?

Answer 36

Many states give HOA liens a statutory super lien status, meaning that HOA liens take priority over all other types.

Question 37

An easement

Answer 37

is a non-possessory right acquired by one party to use another party’s land for a special use. These are often
acquired through written agreement. Because an easement affects use of a property, they have the potential to diminish the
property’s value.

Question 38

servient estate

Answer 38

The property on which the easement lies is the servient estate; it’s said that the servient estate suffers the easement

Question 39

Dominent estate

Answer 39

The property or individual who uses the easement holds the dominant estate; it’s said that the dominant estate enjoys the
easement.

Question 40

Easement appurtenant:

Answer 40

Attached to a specific parcel of land, transfers (“runs”) with the land, and gives the
“dominant tenement” rights to use adjoining property/servient tenement

Question 41

Easement in gross:

Answer 41

Granted to a specific individual or business rather than attached to the property itself

Question 42

How can easements be removed

Answer 42

Easements may be removed through express agreement, the dominant estate owner’s abandonment, merger of estates, or when there’s no longer a need for the easement.

In order to remove an easement through abandonment, the dominant estate owner must take some action that shows a clear intent to stop using the easement.

Easement termination by merger occurs when the owner of either the servient or dominant estate purchases the other property. A property owner can’t have an easement over his or her own land.

Question 43

Easement by necessity:

Answer 43

This easement type can only be created for the purpose of ingress and egress.

Question 44

Easement by prescription:

Answer 44

This easement isn’t legal, and is created through the continued, uninterrupted,
obvious, exclusive, and adverse use of someone’s property without permission.

Question 45

Difference between an easement and a right of way

Answer 45

Easements are specific to the person or persons to whom the easement is granted. A right-of-way benefits anyone who needs to use it.

Question 46

How to find out if a land has any easements

Answer 46

The property’s deed and title history should list known easements. Plat maps may also show easements.

Question 47

License regarding land

Answer 47

A license is temporary permission for one person, at the discretion of the property owner, to do something on another’s land without actually possessing any interest or ownership in the land. A license is not assignable or inheritable.

Question 48

Encroachment

Answer 48

Encroachments are structures or objects built on another’s land without permission.

Encroachments are always by definition illegal.
A survey establishes the boundary lines of a property and may help identify both encroachments and easements.

Question 49

CC&Rs

Answer 49

Deed restrictions and covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) are encumbrances affecting land use.

Question 50

Non disturbance clause

Answer 50

The financing instrument in many mortgaged leased properties includes a non-disturbance clause. If this provision is included, the mortgagee agrees not to evict tenants who are current on their rent if the mortgagee has to foreclose on the property.

Question 51

A freehold estate

Answer 51

is an interest in real property where the owner’s possession of the property isn’t of fixed duration, as it
would be in a lease ( leasehold estate). Three types of freehold estates exist. 1) Fee simple estate; Fee simple defeasible; 2) fee simple determinable and 3) fee simple subject to condition subsequent.