Vocab

Question 1

Bundle of Rights

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Real Property

Answer 2

Generally immovable, goes with the real estate. (land, includes the surface of the earth, fixtures, and anything appurtenant to the land.)

Question 3

Personal Property

Answer 3

Generally movable. Goes with the person. (any property that is not real property.)

Question 4

Chattel Real

Answer 4

Often merely refers to tangible, personal property.

Question 5

Fixture

Answer 5

Personal property that becomes real property. Anything permanently attached to land or improvements so as to become real property.

Question 6

Trade Fixture

Answer 6

Linked to a business. They are personal property. (For example, a hairdresser’s chair or a dentist’s chair.)

Question 7

Riparian Rights

Answer 7

Water rights over a moving body of water. (A river or a stream.)

Question 8

Littoral Rights

Answer 8

Water rights to land that abuts a body of static water. (A lake, sea, or ocean.)

Question 9

Accretion

Answer 9

An increase in actual land due to natural causes. (from the gradual action of ocean or river waters.)

Question 10

Avulsion

Answer 10

Land washed away by water (a dam breaks and the washing water washes away a strip of land.)

Question 11

Reliction

Answer 11

Gradual recession of water, leaving land permanently uncovered.

Question 12

Appurtenances

Answer 12

Anything attached to or used with land for its benefit or is transferred with the land. (runs with the land)

Question 13

Freehold Estate

Answer 13

Estate where ownership is held for an undefined length of time.

Question 14

Fee Simple Estate

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Fee Simple Defeasible

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Life Estate

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Less than Freehold Estate

Answer 17

An estate interest held for a definite period of time.

Question 18

Estate for Years

Answer 18

Estate or tenancy lasting a fixed period of time. (for example, a summer rental lasting from April 5 to September 19.)

Question 19

Periodic Tenancy

Answer 19

Estate where tenancy is renewed periodically. ( for example, week to week, month to month or year to year.)

Question 20

Estate at Will

Answer 20

Estate that can be ended at any time by the landlord or the tenant.

Question 21

Estate at Sufferance

Answer 21

The estate where a tenant continues to occupy the property after the lease or rental agreement has ended.

Question 22

Lease

Answer 22

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)

Question 23

Percentage Lease

Answer 23

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.)

Question 24

Net Lease

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Gross Lease

Answer 25

Lease in which a tenant pays a fixed amount to the landlord, (a standard residential lease.)

Question 26

Sandwich Lease

Answer 26

A lease in which the existing tenant sub-lets (or leases again) the property to a third party. The lessee becomes the lessor.

Question 27

Sale-Leaseback

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

Tenant Improvement Allowance

Answer 28

The amount a landlord is willing to pay so the tenant can retrofit or renovate a commercial space.

Question 29

Abandonment

Answer 29

Voluntarily giving up the rights and responsibilities of possession of a property.

Question 30

Sublease

Answer 30

When an existing tenant sublets (or leases again) the property to a third party. Grants possession but not responsibility.

Question 31

Assignment

Answer 31

When one party passes responsibility on to another. Grants possession and responsibility.

Question 32

Surrender

Answer 32

Giving up possession of a property.

Question 33

Constructive Eviction

Answer 33

When a landlord does something or fails to do something that he or she is legally obligated to do, rendering the property uninhabitable.

Question 34

Estoppel Statement

Answer 34

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.)

Question 35

Deed

Answer 35

Evidence of property transfer.

Question 36

Grant Deed

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

Quitclaim Deed

Answer 37

A deed that operates as a release. It transfers property quickly but without any warranties on the title.

Question 38

Warranty Deed

Answer 38

A deed in which a property owner, when transferring the title, warrants that he owns the property free and clear of all liens.

Question 39

Special Warranty Deed

Answer 39

A deed in which a grantor warrants only against defects that occurred during their ownership.

Question 40

General Warranty Deed

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

Bargain and Sale Deed

Answer 41

A deed that “conveys real property without covenants.” The grantor is implied to hold title and possession, but there is no warranty against encumbrances.

Question 42

Reconveyance Deed

Answer 42

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.