Vocab Flashcards
Bundle of Rights
Legal rights of the real estate title holder. Includes the right of possession, the right of control, the right of exclusion, the right of enjoyment, and the right of disposition.
Real Property
Generally immovable, goes with the real estate. (land, includes the surface of the earth, fixtures, and anything appurtenant to the land.)
Personal Property
Generally movable. Goes with the person. (any property that is not real property.)
Chattel Real
Often merely refers to tangible, personal property.
Fixture
Personal property that becomes real property. Anything permanently attached to land or improvements so as to become real property.
Trade Fixture
Linked to a business. They are personal property. (For example, a hairdresser’s chair or a dentist’s chair.)
Riparian Rights
Water rights over a moving body of water. (A river or a stream.)
Littoral Rights
Water rights to land that abuts a body of static water. (A lake, sea, or ocean.)
Accretion
An increase in actual land due to natural causes. (from the gradual action of ocean or river waters.)
Avulsion
Land washed away by water (a dam breaks and the washing water washes away a strip of land.)
Reliction
Gradual recession of water, leaving land permanently uncovered.
Appurtenances
Anything attached to or used with land for its benefit or is transferred with the land. (runs with the land)
Freehold Estate
Estate where ownership is held for an undefined length of time.
Fee Simple Estate
Also known as “State of Inheritance” or “Fee Simple Absolute”, this is a type of freehold estate. A Fee Simple Estate can be sold or inherited and is not free of encumbrances (taxes). Fee simple absolute is the most interest that one can hold in land.
Fee Simple Defeasible
Has conditions on use of property. For example, if the deed had a condition that no alcohol would be sold on the property and that was violated, the owner could lose the title.
Life Estate
An interest in real property that lasts the length of someone’s life (who is not the life tenant). Is a type of freehold estate because it is indefinite in duration. When the life ends, the title reverts back to its original owner (reversion) or a remainderman.
Less than Freehold Estate
An estate interest held for a definite period of time.
Estate for Years
Estate or tenancy lasting a fixed period of time. (for example, a summer rental lasting from April 5 to September 19.)
Periodic Tenancy
Estate where tenancy is renewed periodically. ( for example, week to week, month to month or year to year.)
Estate at Will
Estate that can be ended at any time by the landlord or the tenant.
Estate at Sufferance
The estate where a tenant continues to occupy the property after the lease or rental agreement has ended.
Lease
A contract between a property owner, called lessor or landlord, and another, called lessee or tenant, conveying and setting forth the conditions of occupancy and use of the property by the tenant.
(possession but not ownership from lessor to lessee, considered personal property)
Percentage Lease
Lease where the amount of rent paid by the lessee is a percentage of the gross income of the lessee’s business. (a commercial parking lot.)
Net Lease
Also known as a Triple Net Lease, is a lease in which the tenant pays for taxes, insurance, and maintenance in addition to other fees like rent and utilities.
Gross Lease
Lease in which a tenant pays a fixed amount to the landlord, (a standard residential lease.)
Sandwich Lease
A lease in which the existing tenant sub-lets (or leases again) the property to a third party. The lessee becomes the lessor.
Sale-Leaseback
Seller leases the recently sold building from the new owner. The vendor becomes the lessee. This allows the seller to deduct all future rent payments as business expenditures.
Tenant Improvement Allowance
The amount a landlord is willing to pay so the tenant can retrofit or renovate a commercial space.
Abandonment
Voluntarily giving up the rights and responsibilities of possession of a property.
Sublease
When an existing tenant sublets (or leases again) the property to a third party. Grants possession but not responsibility.
Assignment
When one party passes responsibility on to another. Grants possession and responsibility.
Surrender
Giving up possession of a property.
Constructive Eviction
When a landlord does something or fails to do something that he or she is legally obligated to do, rendering the property uninhabitable.
Estoppel Statement
A signed statement certifying that certain facts are correct, which cannot be later contradicted by the signer. (ex. That a lease exists or that rent is paid to a certain date.)
Deed
Evidence of property transfer.
Grant Deed
A deed that includes two implied warantees: 1.)The grantor has not already given the deed to another person, 2.)The Estate has no undisclosed encumbrances. It is not necessary to record the deed, grant deeds are considered executed when signed by the grantor.
Quitclaim Deed
A deed that operates as a release. It transfers property quickly but without any warranties on the title.
Warranty Deed
A deed in which a property owner, when transferring the title, warrants that he owns the property free and clear of all liens.
Special Warranty Deed
A deed in which a grantor warrants only against defects that occurred during their ownership.
General Warranty Deed
A type of deed where the grantor or the seller guarantees that they hold clear title of a piece of real estate and has the right to sell it. The guarantee is not limited to the time the grantor owned the property- it extends back to the property’s origins.
Bargain and Sale Deed
A deed that “conveys real property without covenants.” The grantor is implied to hold title and possession, but there is no warranty against encumbrances.
Reconveyance Deed
A deed that indicates that the borrower is released from mortgage debt and transfers the property title from the lender. (or beneficiary) to the borrower. Most commonly issued when a mortgage has been paid in full.
