Unit 5

Question 1

Governmental Powers (PETE)

Answer 1

Police power
Eminent Domain- right of government to acquire privately owned real estate for public use
Taxation
Escheat- state may acquire privately owned real or personal property. Property goes to the state when the owner dies and there is no heir. It is intended to prevent property from being ownerless.

Question 2

Freehold Estates

Answer 2

Last for an undeterminable length of time. Passed along to heirs.

Question 3

Life Estate

Answer 3

Bases on the lifetime of a person and terminates when the individual dies.
1. conventional life estate- created by the intentional act of the owner. There is life tenant that assumes ownership until the death of the person against whose life the estate is measure.
2. Pur Autre Vie- For the life of another. Provides for inheritance by the life tenant’s heirs only until the death of the third party.
Remainder Interest- the creator of the life estate may choose not to name a remainder man. ownership reverts to owner upon the end of the life estate
Remainder Interest- The creator of the life estate may name a remainder man as the person to whom the property will pass when the life estate ends.
Legal Life Estate- Not created by the owner established by state law. EX) Dower (deceased husband) and Curtesy (deceased wife)

Question 4

Leasehold Estates

Answer 4

Length of time can be determined

Question 5

Fee Simple (absolute)

Answer 5

Highest interest in real estate. Owner is entitled to all rights to the property by law. Passes to heirs. Only limited by public and private restrictions, zoning laws, and restrictive covenants

Question 6

Defeasible Fee Estate

Answer 6

Fee simple determinable- “So long as”, “while”, “during” If broken the owner gets property returned automatically, does not need to go to court
Fee simple subject to a condition subsequent- “On condition that” If broken must go through the court.

Question 7

PA Probate, Estates, and Fiduciaries Code

Answer 7

Creates a legal life estate for the surviving spouse of a deceased owner. 1/3 the value the estate.

Question 8

Encumbrance

Answer 8

Claim, charge, or liability that attaches to real estate. May decrease the value or obstruct the use of the property.

Question 9

Lien

Answer 9

A charge against property that provides security for a debt or obligation of the property owner. EX) real estate taxes, mortgages, and trust deeds, judgements, and mechanics liens

Question 10

Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs)

Answer 10

Private agreements that affect land use.

Question 11

Easement

Answer 11

The right to use the land of another party for a particular purpose. There is a written agreement between the parties that establishes the easement rights.
1. Easement by Necessity: Right of ingress and egress- tenant needs access to the street.
2. Easement by Prescription- In PA 21 years
Continuous
Adverse
Notorious
Open
Exclusive
3. Easement by Condemnation- Created under the governments right of eminent domain. Easement is acquired for a public purpose. Owner must be compensated.

Question 12

Appurtenant Easement

Answer 12

Runs with the land. Attached to the ownership if one parcel of land and allows the owner the use of a neighbors land. Involves 2 adjacent and separately owned tracts. The tract benefited is known as the dominant tenement. The one burdened is the servant.

Question 13

Party Wall

Answer 13

Straddles the boundary line between two lots or a shared partition wall between two connected properties. A written party wall agreement must be used to create easement rights.

Question 14

Easement in Gross

Answer 14

Individual or company interest in right to use someone else land. Utility easement. Only serviant tenants.

Question 15

Terminating an Easement

Answer 15

• need no longer exists
• termination by merger
• release of the right of easement by the owner of the servient tenement
• abandonment of easment
• nonuse of prescriptive easment
• adverse possession by the owner of the servant tenement
• destruction of the sevient tenement
• lawsuit
• converted into a commercial use

Question 16

License

Answer 16

personal privilege to enter the land of another for a specific purpose. Can be terminated or canceled. Ends at death of the owner or sale of the property. Usually oral and informal.

Question 17

Encroachment

Answer 17

illegal extension of building or a fence that extends beyond the land of the owner. Disclosed by either a physical inspection or a spot survey. Neighbor may recover damages or secure removal of the building if it does not exceed the prescriptive period.

Question 18

Doctrine of Prior Appropriation

Answer 18

A state may control all but limited domestic use of water if water is scarce. A landowner must get a permit to use the water for the limited purpose of the beneficial use. They need to prove that they will use it for beneficial use such as crop irrigation.

Question 19

Riparian

Answer 19

refers to rivers, streams, and similar waterways

Question 20

Littoral

Answer 20

refers to lakes, oceans, and similar commercially navigable waterways

Question 21

Littoral Rights

Answer 21

unrestricted use of available waters but own the land adjacent to the water up to the mean high water mark. Land below that point belongs to the government.

Question 22

Riparian Rights

Answer 22

Unrestricted use of navigable water. Cannot interrupt or alter the flow or contaminate the water. Owner owns navigable water they own the waters edge. State owns submerged land. If non-navigable then the owner owns the land under the water to the exact center of the waterway.

Question 23

Accretion

Answer 23

increase in the land due to soil deposits from the water. Owner is entitled to all land created.

Question 24

Alluvion

Answer 24

Newly created deposits of soil, gravel, or sand upon the bank of a stream or river.

Question 25

Reliction

Answer 25

Newly created amount of land due to the permanent withdrawal from the sea.

Question 26

Avulsion

Answer 26

Sudden removal of soil by an act of nature. EX) earthquake or a mudslide

Question 27

Erosion

Answer 27

Slow natural process of land wearing away. Landowner loses title to any land lost by erosion.

Question 28

States Enabling Rights

Answer 28

Municipalities and countries have the authority to enact legislation to preserve order and to protect public health