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Property Law > Property Ownership > Flashcards

Property Ownership Flashcards

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0
Q

Trade Fixtures are . . .

A
  • articles of personal property that are necessary for a tenant’s trade or business
  • trade fixtures are firmly affixed to real estate but remain the personal property of the tenant
  • examples include pizza opens, stoves, and car lifts
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1
Q

Personal Property is . . .

A
  • movable and unattached to land
  • tangible -> i.e. jewelry, cars, boats, etc,
  • intangible -> i.e. stocks, boats, mortgages
  • also known as personality and chattel
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2
Q

Fructus Industriales is . . .

A
  • latin for “fruits of industry”
  • like crops
  • if sell land the crops may not convey
  • example would be a vineyard - seller may come back to harvest even though under new ownership
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3
Q

Real Property is . . .

A
  • “real estate”
  • real estate includes:
    • land (surface of the earth, the space above, and the space below
    • improvements and/or fixtures
  • not movable
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4
Q

Real Estate is land + improvements. Improvements include:

A
  • houses (most common improvement)
  • Fructus Naturales = landscaping
  • Fixtures
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5
Q

Fixtures

A
  • once movable (personal property) but now affixed to real estate (now real property)
  • severance is the act of removing a fixture
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6
Q

4 part test courts use to determine if a fixture may be severed (removed):

A
  1. Method of Attachment -> The permanence with which an object is attached. The more permanence the less likely an item can be severed.
  2. Adaptation -> Was an object specially adapted or made to suit a particular feature of a building. Custom bookshelves for the space or a bed.
  3. Agreement -> Written agreements are the best way to avoid fixture disputes. So an agreement is an agreement between the parties.
  4. Relationship of the Parties -> Residential renters are less likely than commercial renters with their trade fixtures.
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7
Q

Rights of Real Property includes:

A
  • includes ownership rights in the surface of land, airspace above, and space below (mining rights), any easements (use of land), and use of appurtenant (adjoining) land.
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8
Q

Water Rights:

A

Property owner’s entitlement (right) to use and maintain water for agricultural, recreational, or personal use.

Most states follow 3 legal doctrines to determine who has the intangible right to use or divert water and how much:

riparian
-> riparian = moves - river
(reasonable use for those with property bordering moving water)

littoral
-> littoral = doesn’t move - lake
(reasonable use for those with property bordering non-moving water)

prior appropriation
-> prior appropriation = first in time first in line
(owner who first diverts water has superior rights to all others)

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9
Q

Prior Appropriation

A

First in Time. First in Line.

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10
Q

Deed

A

An instrument (piece of paper) that conveys property.

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11
Q

5 factors affecting Real Estate Supply and Demand

A
  1. Demographics
  2. Unemployment / Income
  3. Cost / Availability of Credit
  4. Cost / Availability of Labor and Materials
  5. Governmental Policies
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12
Q

What controls how property may be used thus influencing it’s value:

A

Public controls - zoning

Private controls - deed restrictions

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13
Q

What are commonly available property uses:

A
  • residential
  • commercial
  • industrial
  • agricultural
  • recreational
  • specific purpose (churches, hospitals, colleges, cemeteries)
  • public (state, federal, municipal land)
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14
Q

Impact of Supply and Demand on Real Estate Prices
(real estate is different to judge than manufactured commodities because of real estates unique characteristics)

The unique characteristics of the real estate market include:

A
  • Heterogeneous (unique)
  • Cannot be moved
  • Over-supply / Lower Prices
  • Under-supply / Higher Prices
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15
Q

Physical Land Characteristics

Land includes surface, space above, space below (owners may sell or transfer those spaces).

All land has the three physical characteristics that influence value these are:

A

Immobility
- land cannot be moved

Indestructibility

  • cannot be destroyed
  • this is the legal basis for not insuring land or being able to depreciate it
  • value may change due to changing conditions (rif-raf in neighborhood) but land exists forever

Uniqueness

  • aka heterogeneity
  • states every parcel of real property is unique
  • land differ in size, shape, location, and appearance
  • legal basis for specific performance lawsuits (lawsuits that seek to force the sale of land as agreed upon in a valid contract where seller refuses to carry through w/ the sale as promised)
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16
Q

5 non-physical economic characteristics that influence lands value:

A
  1. Scarcity
    - limited supply of land on earth
  2. Area Preference (situs)
    - “location, location, location”
  3. Improvements
    - additions make to land intended to increase value
  4. Investment Permanence
    - describes the permanence of investment on infrastructure improvements (sewage, drainage, and electricity systems)
  5. Assemblage
    - combining two or more contiguous parcels of real estate into a single parcel under the same ownership can increase its overall value (i.e. townhouses versus single family homes)
    - any increase in value resulting from assemblage is known as “plottage value”
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17
Q

Methods of locating real estate that is sufficiently accurate for a deed, mortgage, or other formal instruments requires a LEGAL PROPERTY DESCRIPTION.

The 3 principle methods for legally describing real property are:

A
  1. Metes and Bounds
  2. Government Survey
  3. Lot, Block, and Subdivision
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18
Q

Describe Metes and Bounds:

A

Method of legally describing real property, which identifies the outer edges of a parcel by establishing a well-marked starting point, called a point of beginning (POB), an then describing in which direction and how far the property boundary runs from the POB.

Metes - measured in inches, feet, yards, miles

Bounds - established using artificial monuments (iron pipes, brass disks, road intersections) and natural monuments (lakes, boulders, trees)

Compass Angles - surveyor uses both precision instruments and known natural and artificial bounds to establish boundaries of a parcel

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19
Q

Describe Government Survey:

A

Used primarily in the mid-west. Method of surveying land adopted in 1785 in US to facilitate governments sale of land as population expanded west.

Principal Meridians - North to South

Base Lines - East to West

Further Divisions

  • Checks (24 square miles)
  • Townships (6 square miles in a check)
  • Sections (640 acres w/in a township)
20
Q

How many square feet in an acre?

A

43,560 square feet in an acre

21
Q

Describe Lot, Block, and Subdivision (Recorded Plat):

A

Method of legally describing property, which begins with a large tract of land known as a subdivision plat (map).

Subdivision plat is a large map which notes the layout of lots and their numbers. Subdivision plats are further divided into blocks and lots.

Subdivision plats are pre-approved by local government in charge of zoning.

Mu

22
Q

An example of a NON legal description of property:

A

An address

23
Q

ENCUMBRANCES

A
  • encumbrance = restriction
  • interest in land held by someone other than the landowner and may diminish value
  • can affect ‘right to use’ and ‘right to convey’
24
Q

3 As

A

ASSESSMENT - done by tax assessor by local government then they tax you

APPRAISAL - done by certified and/or licensed appraiser and will vary depending on purpose of appraisal

ANALYSIS - CMA (Certified/Competitive Market Analysis) or BPO (Broker Price Opinion)

25
Q

Liens

A
  • Encumbrance on property that functions to guaranty payment of debts by using property as collateral
  • Creates an impediment to clear title
26
Q

Effect of Liens on Transfers

A
  • lien does not transfer title to property
  • does not prohibit owner from conveying his interest in the property to another (although property may be less marketable)
  • if a lien not released prior to sell the buyer buys the property along with the existing lien
27
Q

Removing Liens–Basic Concepts

A
  1. Priority
    - describes the lien’s position in line with other liens
    - determined by tax law (tax lien), the date it was recorded, or by the date it attached to the property (collateral)
    - important to record lien as generally they receive first-in-line, first-in-time treatment
    - UNCLE SAM GETS PAID FIRST - real estate property tax liens and assessments take priority over other liens regardless of when recorded
  2. Satisfaction - you paid it off
  3. Enforcement - requires court order for the lien to be enforced
  4. Lis Pendens - latin for “action pending”
    - lis pendens provides constructive notice that an action affecting particular real estate has been filed
28
Q

Scope of Liens

A

Can be general or specific

general lien - i.e. applies to individual debtor and all of his personal and real property

specific lien - i.e. applies to specific property

29
Q

Common Liens Include:

A
  1. Property Tax Lien
  2. Special Assessment Lien
  3. Tax Lien
  4. Mortgage
  5. Vendor’s Lien
  6. Mechanic’s Lien
  7. Judgement Lien
  8. Attachment Lien
30
Q

Easements

A
  • Limited right to use the land of anther, which may be voluntarily or involuntarily conveyed
  • run with the land
31
Q

Easements Appurtenant

A

Limited right of one landowner to use the adjoining land of another for a specific purpose

Dominant Estate - land owned by person that benefits from the easement

Servient Estate - land that is subject to use or burdened by the
use of another - they are SERVING the other estate

32
Q

Easements in Gross

A
  • sometimes called personal easements in gross
  • no dominate estate
  • i.e. a winery
33
Q

License versus Easement

A

License is a personal privilege granted by one person to use the property of another

  • may be revoked at any time
  • does not transfer with the land
34
Q

Creation of Easemetns

A

Express Grant - conveyed in writing usually through a deed

Express Reservation - seller “reserves” the right to

Necessity - if landlocked it is “necessary” to have an easement

Implication - i.e. if the property is subdivided it is presumed the seller intended to grant the buyer all easement rights necessary to use the property

Prescription - acquired by the adverse, hostile, exclusive, open, uninterrupted, and continued use of another’s property by a prescribed length of time (7-20 years depending) - i.e. your neighbors swing set on your property, or skinny-dipping in Farmer Johnson’s pond

Agreement - created by written consent

Condemnation - from the government

35
Q

Easements can be terminated

A

mutual agreement

or

it’s not needed anymore

36
Q

Encroachments

A
  • unauthorized physical intrusion that encumbers the land of another
  • trespass - encroaches on land - i.e. neighbors fence on your land
  • nuisance - violates air space - i.e. overhanging deck, branches, noise
37
Q

An ESTATE describes the degree, quantity, nature, and extent of an ownership interest in real property.

The 4 broad categories of estates are:

A

Freehold Estates
Future Estates
Non-freehold (leasehold)
Statutory Estates

38
Q

Freehold Estates:

A

Estate (ownership interest) in land in which one has both the possession and (indefinite) ownership rights in real property.

2 types of freehold estates:
Fee Estates: Fee Simple - highest and most unrestricted ownership interest in land // Qualified Fee/Defeasible Estate: transfers w/ conditions

Life Estate: conveyed to a person for the duration of their life (i.e. your hot young hubby can live there but when he dies it conveys to your kids)

39
Q

Seisin

A

the possession and ownership of a freehold estate

40
Q

Fee Simple Estate

A
  • exists indefinitely & transfers without restrictions
41
Q

Life Tenant

A

holder of life estate - your eye candy gets to stay until he dies

42
Q

Pur Autre Vie

A
  • French for “for another’s life”

- Give your wife’s kid a house until your wife dies then it come back

43
Q

Future Estate

A

Estate (ownership interest) that is certain to arise in the future (present ownership without present possession)

44
Q

Remaindermen

A
  • Describes the person who holds the remainder of the [future] estate
  • the person designated to take title upon the termination of the prior estate
  • A remainderman is part ot he Remainder Estate
45
Q

Reversion Estate

A

The estate reverts back to the grantor

46
Q

Non-Freehold Estates

A
  • Leasehold

- Right to possess but not the right of ownership

47
Q

Statutory Estate

A

Any estate created by (state) law

  • Dower and Curtsy
  • Community Property
  • Homestead
48
Q

Sole Ownership

A

Individual ownership in real property (aka an estate in severalty or several ownership).

  • passes to heirs and is subject to probate upon death of the owner
  • may be owned by natural persons (individual), corporations (fictitious persons), and partnerships (association of natural persons)

Property Law (1 decks)

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