Unit 7 of REI

Question 1

Government Powers (P.E.T.E)

Answer 1

POLICE POWER - The state’s authority is passed on to municipalities and counties through legislation.

EMINENT DOMAIN - (The right of the Gov. to acquire privately owned real estate for public use.

    QUICK TAKE - (Condemn / may immediately 
     take the property.)

TAXATION - Charge on real estate to raise funds to meet the public needs of the government.

ESCHEATMENT - State acquires privately owned property when an owner DIES and they DO NOT have a will and leave NO HEIRS.

    (In Illinois, real estate (real property) escheates to the county in which its located. PERSONAL PROPERTY eschates to the state.

Question 2

Freehold estates (definition)

Answer 2

You have an interest in real estate. It is for an indeterminate amount of time.

Question 3

Fee Simple Absolute Estate (definition)

Answer 3

Absolutely the best type of interest you can have in real estate. Has the most bundle of rights.

Question 4

Fee Simple Defeasible (definition)

Answer 4

Interest in the property can be defeated (subject to specific event (conditions) “I will give you the property on the condition that you never sell liquor on this property.”

Question 5

Fee Simple Determinable (definition)

Answer 5

Has special limitations.
No need to go to court to enforce.

“You can have the property “for as long as” you keep the cows and it stays a dairy farm.”

Question 6

Leasehold Estate (definition)

Answer 6

Possession for a “fixed” period of time.

Question 7

List the Freehold Life Estates

Answer 7

Conventional Life Estate - Created by the owner during their life or by a provision of the owner’s will after the owner’s death. When they die it reverts back to the person who gave them the estate or to the remainder person.

Pur Autre Vie - The life estate is based on the life of someone other than someone who is getting the life estate.

Remainder Interest - The person that the life estate will pass to when the life estate ends.

Reversionary Interest - The creator of the life estate may choose not to name a remainderman. If that is the case, the creator will RECAPTURE ownership when the life estate ends.

Question 8

A Legal Life Estate is created by who?

Answer 8

The state.

Question 9

A Life Estate is created by who?

Answer 9

The owner.

Question 10

Legal Life Estates that are not recognized in Illinois are:

Answer 10

Dower - Husband dies the wife gets all of his stuff.

Curtsey - The wife dies the husband gets all of her stuff.

Question 11

Legal Life estate that is recognized in Illinois is:

Answer 11

Homestead - Protects the family home from unsecured creditors (credit card companies)

$15k - individual homestead exemption amount
$30k - married couple homestead exemption amt.

Question 12

Encumbrance (definition)

Answer 12

A claim, charge or liability that attaches to real estate. (i.e. liens)

Question 13

Lien (definition)

Answer 13

A charge against property that provides security for a debt or an obligation of the property owner.

Question 14

Deed Restrictions

Answer 14

Private agreements that affect land use.

Question 15

What are CC&R’s?

Answer 15

Covenants -
Conditions -
Restrictions -

(i.e. HOA)
“You can only put this kind of roof on the house.”

Question 16

Example of encumbrances are:

Answer 16

Liens
Deed Restrictions
Easements

Question 17

License

Answer 17

A privilege for a specific purpose.

Question 18

Easement (definition)

Answer 18

The right to use another’s real estate for a particular purpose. It runs with the land. (transfers with the deed)

Question 19

How many types of easements are there?

Answer 19

2

Appurtenant Easements
Easement in Gross

Question 20

Servient tenement (definition)

Answer 20

The land that “serves” the other party.

Question 21

Dominant tenement (definition)

Answer 21

The dominating party “benefitted” by the easement.

Question 22

Appurtenant Easement (definition)

Answer 22

Part of the dominant tenement. Gives the right to use the land of another for a specific purpose.

Easement by Necessity - Created when an owner sells a parcel of land that has no access to a street or public way except over the seller’s remaining land.

Easement by Prescription - Start using someone else’s property and you don’t want to pay them for it because you’ve used it continuously for a long period of time. (in illinois it’s 20 years) After that they cannot stop you if they were already aware you were doing it.

Easement by Condemnation - Acquired for “public purpose” through the right of eminent domain.

Question 23

Easement in Gross (definition)

Answer 23

An individual or company interest in or right to use someone else’s land. (i.e. a railroad’s right-of-way is an easement in gross; utility company’s easements; powerline, etc.)

Question 24

Encroachment (definition)

Answer 24

Occurs when all or part of a structure (fence; driveway, etc.) illegally extends beyond the land of its owner.

Question 25

Riparian rights (definition)

Answer 25

Rights of owners of land along the course of rivers. (non-navigable - Meaning: unsuitable for commercial boat traffic) own the land to the center of the waterway.

Question 26

Littoral rights (definition)

Answer 26

Rights of owners whose land boards commercially navigable lakes, seas and oceans.

Question 27

Accretion (definition)

Answer 27

An increase in land resulting from the movement of water.

Question 28

Erosion (definition)

Answer 28

The gradual wearing away of the land by natural forces such as wind, rain, and flowing water. (usually takes hundreds of years to see the effects.)

Question 29

Avulsion (definition)

Answer 29

The sudden removal of soil by an act of nature. (mudslide; avalanche)

Question 30

Doctrine of Prior Appropriation (definition)

Answer 30

The right to use any water, with the exception of limited domestic use, is controlled by the state rather than by the landowner whose property lies adjacent to the water.