Unit 3 Flashcards
Encumbrances on Real Property
Ad Valorem Tax
A tax levied according to value, generally used to refer to real estate tax.
Assessment
(1) The imposition of a tax, charge, or levy, usually according to established rates. (2) Official valuation of property for the purpose of establishing assessed value for tax purposes.
Deed Restricitions
Clause placed in a deed by the owner to control the future uses of the property. see restrictive covenants.
Dominant Tenement
A property that includes in its ownership the appurtenant right to use an easement over another person’s adajcent property (called the servient tenement) for a specific purpose; ownership of the easement runs with the land.
Easement
A right to limited use and enjoyment of the land of another for a specific purpose without ownerhsip; a nonpossessory interest in real estate. Two types of easements are easement appurtenant and easement in gross.
Easement Appurtenant
An easement that runs with the land; the easement is part of both the dominant and the servient tracts and conveys with the title to either tenement.
Easement Necessity
An easement allowed by law as necessary for the full enjoyment of a parcel of real estate; i.e., to allow a landlocked owner a right of ingress and egress over a grantor’s land.
Easement Prescription
An easement acquired through adverse use of another’s property for a period of 20 or more years in North Carolina.
Easement in gross
An easement that is not created for the beneift of any land owned by the owner of the easement but that attaches personally to the easement owener. There is no dominant tract; the easeement attaches to the servient tract. Personal easement in gross is not assignable; a commerical easement in gross is assignable.
Encroachment
An unauthroized intrusion of an improvement, or any part of an improvement, on the real property of another party; can make title to both parcels unmarketable. Best discovered by survey.
encumbrance
Any change, claim, lien, or liability held by someone other than the owner of the property that may diminish the value or use and enjoyment of a property. May not prevent the transfer of title.
General Lien
The right of a creditor to have all of a debtor’s current and future property for the next 10 years - both real and personal- sold to satisfy a debt; i.e. judgment lien
Judgment
The formal decision of a court upon the respective rights and claims of the parties to an action or a suit. After a judgment has been entered and recorded with the county recorder, it becomes a general invluntary lien on the current and future real and personal property of the debtor in the county where recorded for the next 10 years.
License
(1) A privilege or right granted to a person by a state to operate as a real estate broker. (2) Ther personal revocable nontrasferable right to a temporary use of another’s land - a personal right that cannot be sold.
Lien
A right given by law to certaion creditors to have their debts paid out of the property of a defaulting debtor, usually by means of a court sale. An encumbrance on real property that can be general or specific.
Lien Agent
A title insurance entity that is designated under the North Carolina Mechanic’s Lien Law by a real property owner to receive notifications of possible mechanics’ liens from construciton project vendors.
Lis Pendens
A recorded legal document giving constructive notice that an action potentially affecting title to a particular property has been filied in either a state or federal court; title is effectively unmarketable during the litigation.
Machinery Act
The North Carolina General Statutes that govern the ad valorem taxation of property.
Mass Appraisal
A valuation technique sometimes used for tax assessment purposes that applies a starndard precentage increase or decrease to all property in a given location; sometimes referred to as horizontal adjustments
Mechanic’s lien
a specific, involuntary lien secured by interest in real property to give security to contractors, laborers, and materialman who have performed work or furnished materials in the erection or repair of a building.
Mill
One-tenth of one cent. Some states use a mill rate to compute real estate taxes; for example, a rate of 52 mills would be $0.052 tax for each dollard of assessed valuation of a property.
Octennial reappraisal
In North Carolina, the statutory reappraisal of all real property in every county is every 8 years for tax purposes.
Priority
The order of position or time. The priority of liens is generally determined by the chronological order in which the lien documents are recorded. Property tax and assessment liens have priority even over previously recorded liens.
Servient tenement
Land on which an easement exists in favor of an adjacent property (called the dominant tenement); also called a servient estate or tract. Easement runs with the land.
Special assessment
A tax or levy customarily imposed against only those specific parcels of real estate that will benefit from a proposed public improvement like a street or sewer.
Specific Lien
A lien affecting or attaching only to a specific parcel of land or piece of real property; i.e. a mortgage lien
Tax Lien
A statutory lien against real property for nonpayment of taxes. Real and personal property tax liens and assessements take priority over all other liens. REal property tax and assessment liens are specific liens; personal property tax liens are general liens.
Writ of attachement
At the request of a creditor, the court retains custody of the unsecured property during the lawsuit to ensure that the property remains available to satisfy a judgment ordered as resolution of the suit by the court. A recorded writ is an encumbrane on the property.
Writ of Execution
A court order directing the County sheriff to sell a defendant’s property as required by judgment or court decree.
