Property Ownership Flashcards
Bundle of Rights
The rights/interests that come with property ownership.
These include the right to:
Use
Give away
Sell
Mortgage
Lease
Rent
Enter
Refuse to exercise any of these rights
Fee simple absolute
The fullest possible title to real estate
Encumberance
Restrictions on a property
Real property
All things attached to the land and all rights inherent with that land. Usually anything immovable.
Personal property
Things that are generally movable.
Chattels
Severance
Changing an item from real (immovable) to personal property (movable) by detaching it from the land.
Annexation
Adding to property by attaching an item to the property (attaching personal/movable property to real/immovable property)
This creates a fixture.
The manner in which chattel/personal property is joined to a property.
E.g. a sink becomes a fixture when it is annexed to the plumbing outlet and is therefore real (now) real property)
Fixture
Personal property (movable) that becomes real property (immovable)
Remember MARIA
How to know something is a fixture:
MARIA
Method
Adaptability
Relationship
Intention
Agreement
Method - Is the item permanently affixed to the wall, ceiling or flooring using nails, glue, cement, pipes, wires, or screws?
Adaptability - If the item becomes an integral part of the home, it cannot be removed.
Relationship - If there is a dispute between buyer and seller, the buyer is likely to win; landlord vs tenant, the tenant is likely to win
Intention of party when the item was attached - When the installation took place, was the intention to make a permanent attachment? If so, then it’s a fixture.
Agreement between the parties - What two people agree upon would trump all the other rules about a fixture
Emblements
Annual crops which have been legally cultivated and belong to the tenant. The tenant has an implied right to its harvest, so emblements are treated as tenant’s property.
They are considered personal property.
A tenant farmer has the right to his crops even after his lease ends until the end of the growing season.
Crops grown on property just before it is sold are also generally considered personal property of the seller.
Remember that PERSONAL PROPERTY GOES WITH THE PERSON.
Trade fixture
A piece of equipment on or attached to the real estate which is used in a trade or business.
Trade fixtures may be removed at the end of the business tenancy.
The business tenant must compensate the owner for any damages due to removal of trade fixtures or else repair the damage.
TRADE FIXTURES REMAIN THE TENANTS PROPERTY.
Appurtenance
A term for what belongs to and goes with something else. The appurtenance is always less important than what it belongs to.
Pertenece (Spanish)
The appurtenance is part of the property and passes with it upon sale or other transfer.
It can be attached or not.
E.g. a barn to a house; an easement to land
Encroachment
When a structure or improvement on one person’s land physically INTRUDES on the land of another person.
E.g. a fence, driveway, or tree hanging over another property
An encroachment may be found by a survey.
It is a form of trespass, so when it occurs an owner can sue for trespassing.
Water Rights (1/2)
Riparian rights = River/Stream, moving; use of water
Littoral Rights = Lake/Ocean/Sea, fixed; enjoyment of the shore
Water Rights (2/2)
Correlative use - owner use of underground water or water form a river for irrigation
Doctrine of prior appropriation - states where water is scarce; use determined by state NOT the owner whose property is next to the water
Accretion (+)
Happens when soil is brought by water and increases the size of the property.
Reliction (+)
When water moves back and new land is acquired
Erosion (-)
When land or soul is worn away by wind, water, currents, or ice.