Property Rights

Question 1

What are the two types of property?

Answer 1

Real Property & Personal Property

Question 2

Real Property

Answer 2

Land & everything w/ it.

-real estate, realty, immoveable property, fixtures

Question 3

Personal Property

Answer 3

Anything not associated w/ land.

-personalty, chattel, moveable property

Question 4

How is real property transferred?

Answer 4

With a deed.

Question 5

What is the difference between title and deed?

Answer 5

Title is the concept of ownership. The deed is a physical item (like a receipt).

Question 6

Deed

Answer 6

Receipt for Real estate. It conveys (transfers) title (ownership).

Question 7

OR v. EE

Answer 7

OR=Grantor

EE=Receiver

Question 8

What are the Bundle of Rights?

Answer 8

Right to possession (own it). 
Right to control (use it).
Right to enjoyment (use it any legal way).
Right to exclusion (limit access to).
Right to disposition (rent, sell, will).

Question 9

How can the bundle of rights be given?

Answer 9

In completion OR separately.

Question 10

Extended Land Rights

Answer 10

Rights that extend beyond the land.

Question 11

Land rights/Surface rights

Answer 11

These rights extend 30 ft. below the land.

-Can be used for septic, basement, gardening, etc.

Question 12

Appurtenances

Answer 12

An extension outside the bounds of the property itself.

-chimney, mailbox, driveway, easement to driveway, etc.

Question 13

Improvements

Answer 13

Permanently attached either directly or indirectly.

• direct examples: a shed, a house, a flagpole, etc. (attached to the ground)
• indirect examples: solar panels, shutters, curtain rods, etc. (might not be attached to the ground, but instead the house, garage, shed).

Question 14

Individual improvements

Answer 14

Fixtures.

-window blinds, wall TV mount, etc.

Question 15

Vertical Interests

Answer 15

Air rights & Mineral Rights

Question 16

Air Rights (air lots)

Answer 16

Above your tallest improvement by 80-500 ft. This amount of space is dictated by the FAA. space above your limit is known as navigable air space.
-Can be sold/leased.

Question 17

Mineral Rights

Answer 17

Extend to the Earth’s core.
There are 2 types: solid minerals (gold/silver/etc.) & liquid (gas/oil/etc.).
-Can be sold/leased.

Question 18

How can the mineral be captured for mineral rights?

Answer 18

Solid minerals can be dug up and kept by the owner of the property.
Liquid minerals are different because they are “free flowing”.
1. Doctrine of Capture: You don’t have the right to own the minerals, but you can go get them.
2. Utilization Pooling: Does allow owners to go get them and keep them, but the minerals must be shared.

Question 19

French term for Implied Easement

Answer 19

“profit a prendre”

Question 20

Riparian Rights

Answer 20

Running water rights.

• Rivers, streams
• This is only used in the original 13 colonies.

Question 21

Non-navigable

Answer 21

No boats. Properties that border this type of running water own up to the midpoint in the water.

Question 22

Navigable

Answer 22

Boats. Properties that border this type of running water own up to the accretion line (outer edge of the water).

Question 23

Doctrine of Prior Appropriation

Answer 23

How you handle running water rights outside of the 13 original colonies (western states).
First come, first serve. You get there first, you get rights to the whole river near your property.
You can sell these rights.

Question 24

Littoral Rights

Answer 24

Rights when it comes to large bodies of water (oceans, ponds, lakes).
Typically you can own up to the accretion line (unless it is MA).

Question 25

How does MA handle Littoral Rights?

Answer 25

The rights extend to the meal high water line (tide) to the mean low water line (tide) OR 100 rods (1600ft.). Which ever is less.
The public has an easement over the land between the high & low water lines (tidal flats) for passing through.

Question 26

Bill of Sale

Answer 26

Receipt for personal property.

Question 27

4 tests to determine real v. personal property

Answer 27

1. Attachment-is the property permanently attached to the land (by roots or by nails; directly or indirectly)?
   - TV wall mount
2. Adaptability: Was it custom built to fit the space?
   - parts for a media wall
3. Intention: What was the intent of the person who installed the property (real or personal)
   - trade fixtures
4. Agreement: Buyer & seller agree to treat a piece of property as real or personal, regardless of what it is.
   - this overrides all other tests.
   * *you do not need to say YES to all four for it to be one type of property or the other**

Question 28

Statute of Frauds

Answer 28

Real estate contracts must be in writing. Agreements should be in writing.

Question 29

Trade Fixtures

Answer 29

Business property=personal property.

• Installed for specific business use.
• Business’s property, not the land owner’s property.

Question 30

Emblements

Answer 30

Annual or semiannual crops=personal property
-Planted w/ the intention to harvest/pulled from the earth, like corn crops.
REMEMBER: Apple trees and things like it, are not covered here because it does not need to be replanted annually for it to produce fruit.

Question 31

Changing Property Types

Answer 31

Annexation: Personal property becomes real property.
-planting a tree
Severance: Real property becomes personal property.
-removing a tree

Question 32

Which states follow Riparian Rights?

Answer 32

The original 13 colonies.

Question 33

Real estate is conveyed via…

Answer 33

A deed.

Question 34

An example of an emblement is…

Answer 34

Corn.

Question 35

The grantee under the deed is the…

Answer 35

Buyer.

Question 36

Mark owns a home next to a small creek. His property line is most likely…

Answer 36

To the middle of the creek.