Week 1: Section 1-3 Flashcards
the surface of the land, as well as the earth below the surface, any attached natural items, and the airspace above the land.
A parcel of land
the land itself, as well as any attached items—such as buildings, pools, and monuments.
Real estate
includes real estate, as well as the rights that are included in property ownership. These rights are commonly referred to as the bundle of rights.
Real property
Property that is movable, may be owned by a person, and is not real property
Personal property
Ex. Mia was surprised to learn that the sellers took the freestanding fountain with them. She hadn’t realized that it was personal property.
What typically includes things like furniture, fixtures, machinery, or tools?
Personal property (chattel)
equipment that is placed on or attached to real estate which the renter uses in their trade or business. An example would be display shelves installed by a business owner in a rented building.
Trade fixtures
are crops produced through cultivation that belong to the tenant during cultivation and after harvest.
Emblements
Method of annexation
Adaptability of item to land’s use
Relationship of the parties
Intention in placing item on land
Agreement of the parties
MARIA
refers to whether the item is attached to the property and how permanent the attachment is.
The method of annexation (also known as attachment)
is related to how the item is situated or adapted to the real property.
Adaptation
if there’s a dispute between the person who added the item and the person who removed it—is another element used to determine whether an item is real or personal property. In general, the courts tend to favor a tenant’s take on an item over the landlord’s, and a buyer over a seller
The relationship of the parties
Often, the intention of the party who installed the item is regarded as the most important consideration in determining whether the item should stay or go.
Intention in Placing Item on Land
the simplest and first test: If the parties have agreed that an item will stay or go, then that agreement meets the legal test. To be safe, the agreement should be in writing.
Agreement of the Parties
If land is what, its value will likely be greater than if it is plentiful?
Scarcity
What are structures, such as buildings, sheds, barns, fences, etc., that are placed on land?
Improvements: Usually, the term “improvement” refers to making something better.
The cost and nature of infrastructure improvements (roads, underground water, wastewater, natural gas, or electric installations) are sizeable and can’t be easily reversed, and these infrastructure investments have relatively stable returns over time.
Permanence of investment
A property’s value is in large part dependent on its what?
Location or area preference
We refer to both physical and economic characteristics when we discuss the concept of land.
Characteristics of Real Estate
Immobility
Indestructibility
Uniqueness
Physical characteristics of land
The geographic location of land is fixed; it can never be changed.
Immobility
While improvements may deteriorate over time, the land itself cannot be destroyed.
Indestructibility
One parcel (a piece of land) will not be exactly like another. This is the concept of non-homogeneity.
Uniqueness
A description of the land that specifies the boundaries and location of a piece of real property.
a legal description
Metes and bounds
Lot and block
Rectangular
Three Methods of Land Description
Uses monuments, compass headings, and directions
Ex. Darla laughed when she saw the metes-and-bound description of her property. Although it was a legal description, it contained terms like “west of the widow Fiona Smith’s stone wall.”
Metes and bounds
What is a measurement system mainly used in urban and suburban areas?
Lot and block also called a plat reference system
Divides land into six-mile-square townships, which can then be further divided
Rectangular government survey
A permanent physical marker that is either man-made or natural
monument
What are the direction and distance of a line forming the boundary of the property?
Metes
the physical features that define the boundaries of the land.
Bounds
Either a rectangular government survey or a metes and bounds description.
The first step of the lot and block system survey
The land is divided into lots with a numerical designation of a parcel.
The second step of the lot and block system survey
Either a metes and bounds or a rectangular survey description is always the starting point for a lot and block survey.
True
The lot and block system includes numbered or lettered blocks and lots.
True
The lot and block system doesn’t include lot measurements or distances.
False
What comes to mind when you see this image?
Rectangular Survey System or Public Land Survey System (PLSS)
Who regulates the PLSS or Rectangular Survey System?
the Bureau of Land Management under the U.S. Department of the Interior
What is the PLSS?
a series of surveys that divide land into townships that are six miles by six miles square (for a total area of 36 square miles or 23,040 acres)
What is a township?
A square that is six miles by six miles (36 square miles) and makes up the principal unit of the rectangular government survey system
The north-south line that runs through the initial point is a
true meridian (called the principal meridian)
an east-west line from which all measurements originate or through an initial point
a base line
The PLSS is used throughout the U.S.
False
Consists of 640 acres
Section
Consists of 36 one-square-mile sections
Township
North-south lines that don’t run through the initial point
Range lines
East-west lines that don’t run through the initial point
Township lines
DEEP C
Right of Disposition
Right of Exclusion
Right of Enjoyment
Right of Possession
Right of Control
include both land and water rights. This can be particularly important for land in a part of the world where water is scarce, as well as in situations where water is necessary for agriculture and farming.
Surface rights
rights pertain to the right to use underground resources, such as natural gas and minerals
Subsurface is often called mineral rights.
involve the right to use the open space above buildings up to an elevation established by law
Air rights
What is the right to harvest timber and sell it?
Right of profit
Gives the owner the right to sell or convey the property.
Disposition
Allows the owner to control the use of the property, including how others may use the property.
Control
Gives the owner the ability to use the property in any legal manner.
Enjoyment
the right to occupy the property in privacy, which belongs to the legal title holder
the right of possession
the owner controls the use of the property
the right of control
the right to decide who may or may not access the property
the right of exclusion
the right of the owner to use and enjoy the property in any legal manner
the right of enjoyment
the right to sell or convey the property
the right of disposition
the common term to mean the complexities of property ownership rights, and helps to explain how a property can be “owned” by multiple parties at the same time.
The bundle of rights
What are the two primary types of water rights and natural processes associated with water rights?
Riparian and Littoral Rights
granted to landowners whose land abuts a river or stream.
Riparian Rights
(To remember this, keep in mind that riparian and river both start with R.)
are granted to landowners whose land borders closed bodies of water, such as lakes and oceans. (An easy way to remember this is that both littoral and lake begin with L.)
Littoral Rights
(An easy way to remember this is that both littoral and lake begin with L.)
Accretion
Alluvion
Accession
Erosion
Avulsion
Reliction
Natural Processes Associated with Water Rights
The process in which water carries rocks, sand, and soil and causes land build-up
Accretion
New deposits of land that are the result of accretion (common at the mouth of large rivers)
Alluvion
The increase of land or property due to natural or man-made causes
Accession
Gradual loss of land due to natural force
Erosion
Rapid loss of land
Avulsion
Gradual receding of water, which uncovers new land
Reliction
What does the term appurtenance mean when applied to real property?
The inherent or automatic ownership rights that are the natural consequences of property ownership
Legal term that means the right to take products out of the soil
Profit
Permission to do something on another’s land without actually possessing any interest or ownership in the land
License
May be revoked by the owner at any time unless a termination date has been specified by contractual agreement
License
Interest in land; alternatively, assets owned by a deceased person
estate
The right to live or work on a property
possession
The right or claim a person has to property
interest (property)
An inheritable estate with absolute ownership; provides the most complete form of ownership and bundle of rights in real property
fee simple absolute
Right to possession, but not ownership, of a property
Tenancy
Form of real property ownership
Fee simple absolute
Legal interest or right one has in the land; intangible and immeasurable
estate
Right or claim a person has to property
interest
Evidence of ownership of a property
title
Tom Jr. can own the property his parents transferred, but if he develops the land, his ownership will end.
fee on condition
Property possessed for someone’s lifetime
life estate
Tom Jr. can keep the property his parents transferred to him as long as he remains unmarried.
fee simple determinable
She could sign a lease for a period of 12 months, establishing a(n)
estate for years
She could sign a lease for a period of 12 months, at the end of which the lease is renewed. This is a(n
periodic estate
she could establish a(n) ??? by signing a lease for an unspecified period of time, with the stipulation that either she or the landlord may terminate the lease by giving notice to the other.
estate at will
she could just refuse to leave the property when her lease terminates, creating a(n)
estate at sufferance
Sarah inherited Hank’s estate but failed to pay property taxes on the condominium, causing her eventual loss of the condo.
Act of waste
An elementary school will receive title to 20 acres of land upon the death of the life tenant, Teddy Jr. The elementary school is the ______.
Remainderman
Papa conveyed 20 acres of land to Teddy Jr. for life. Upon Teddy Jr.’s death, the land will go back to Papa.
Reversionary interest
Upon Cooper’s death, Carolyn will take full ownership of the farm.
Dower
Upon Carolyn’s death, Cooper will take full ownership of the farm.
Curtesy
Although the name sounds like “several,” don’t let that fool you.
Estate in severalty
The root word, “sever,” means one person owns the property, and all other interests are severed.
Property with ownership by more than one person, also called concurrent ownership.
Co-ownership
Each person is entitled to possession of the whole. If one dies, that person’s ownership is inheritable and doesn’t necessarily pass to the other owner(s).
Tenancy in common
This is defined as equal ownership with undivided rights of possession and requires unity of four separate conditions: All owners must have the same type of interest in the property, all must receive their title at the same time from the same source, all must have the same percentage of ownership, and all must have the right to undivided possession in the property. Joint tenancy includes the right of survivorship, meaning when one joint tenant dies, that person’s share automatically goes to the other surviving joint tenant(s). When there are only two joint tenants left, the death of one of the owners terminates the joint tenancy, and the survivor takes title in severalty (sole ownership).
Joint tenancy
This type of tenancy also has the right of survivorship. Only available to married couples, this form of ownership also includes unity of time, title, interest, possession, and marriage. Key to this form of ownership is that creditors of one spouse can’t attach liens to or sell the interest of the debtor spouse. Only creditors with claims against the couple may attach and sell the interest of the property owned in this manner. Also, one spouse can’t transfer interest in the property without the consent of the other spouse. Tenancy by the entirety can’t be reduced to tenancy in common or joint tenancy. Such a change of ownership would require divorce, an annulment, or for the couple to amend the title.
Tenancy by the entirety
Joint tenants may sell their personal share of ownership; however, the buyer of that share does not become a joint tenant, because the required four unities do not exist. The new buyer didn’t receive a title at the same time as the other tenants, so the unity of time is destroyed. Therefore, the new owner is a tenant in common. The remaining tenants continue as joint tenants, with the right of survivorship shared between them. The new buyer, as a tenant in common, has an inheritable share.
Termination of joint tenancies
Remember that in a tenancy in common, each person is entitled to possession of the whole. But what if you hate your co-tenant(s), or simply hate co-tenancy? Each tenant has the right to sell his own share, but the resulting tenancy will still be a tenancy in common situation. In order to terminate a tenancy in common entirely, you may need to bring legal action to have the property partitioned, which would allow each tenant to have a specific, divided portion (partition) of the property exclusively. In the case of an equitably divided piece of land, each tenant would receive title to a separate tract according to that person’s share of interest. In cases where it’s impossible to do an equitable split, a court may order the sale of the property and determine the appropriate share of proceeds to be distributed to the tenants in common.
Termination of co-ownership by partition
Concurrent ownership with two or more people
Tenants in common
Concurrent ownership with two or more people
Joint tenancy
Concurrent ownership between two married people
Tenancy by the entirety
No right of survivorship; when a co-owner dies, interest can pass according to the decedent’s will; the beneficiary becomes a tenant in common.
Tenants in common
Joint tenancy includes the right of survivorship; when a joint tenant dies, interest passes to other joint tenants. When there are only two joint tenants left, the death of one of the owners terminates the joint tenancy, and the survivor takes title in severalty (sole ownership).
Joint tenancy
: Between spouses only; when one spouse dies, interest passes to other spouse.
Tenancy by the entirety
Tenants in common: Deed (owners may each have their own) may contain the words “tenants in common”; if no specific wording is included, almost all states assume tenants in common is the co-ownership type; interest assumed to be equal between co-owners unless stated otherwise, but equal interest isn’t required.
Special Wording: Tenants in common
May be created by a will; otherwise deed must identify each owner as a joint tenant.
Special Wording: Joint tenancy
Possession only
Unities: Tenants in common
Time
Title
Interest
Possession
Unities: Joint tenancy
Time
Title
Interest
Possession
Person
Unities: Tenancy by the entirety
Co-owners can request court-ordered partitioning of property to terminate tenancy in common.
Right to Partition: Tenants in common
: Partition suit may jeopardize joint tenancy.
Right to Partition: Joint tenancy
Divorce or annulment terminates tenancy by the entirety; co-owners become tenants in common.
Right to Partition: Tenancy by the entirety
Undivided (each co-owner has the right to possess the entire property, but can’t claim or exclude others from a specific portion of the property); each owner can sell, trade, gift, etc., own interest without other owners’ consent.
Interest in the Whole Property: Tenants in common
Undivided (each co-owner has the right to possess the entire property, but can’t claim or exclude others from a specific portion of the property); owners can’t sell, trade, gift, etc., interest without other owners’ consent.
Interest in the Whole Property: Joint tenancy
Undivided; neither spouse can will, sell, trade, gift, etc.
Interest in the Whole Property: Tenancy by the entirety
???? states have community property rights: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Nine
Madge and Steve are married. They decide to purchase a home in Arizona, with Steve as the sole owner, yet Madge still has property rights.
True
Sandy and John are married. Before they married, Sandy purchased an apartment in New York in her name only. John has property rights.
False
Gene has owned his home in New Mexico for six years. Four years ago, he married Jade. New Mexico is a community property state, therefore, upon their marriage, Jade is entitled to community property rights.
False
Criteria to Claim Adverse Possession
Open and notorious
Actual possession
Hostile possession
Continuous and uninterrupted
refers to written documentation showing a good faith belief that the possessor is legally entitled to the land
color of title
This means adding the time the claimant has possessed the property onto the time another possessed the property to meet the statutory period of time for an adverse possession claim.
Tacking
What two things do you need to do to acquire ownership of your new abode by a claim of adverse possession?
Appear in court and move to quiet title.
Prove you’ve met all requirements for the statutory period of time.
You can add the years of another possessor’s claim to your own to accumulate the number of years required for adverse possession.
True
For a claim of adverse possession, the use can be interrupted when it transfers from one individual to another.
False
What are the rights of a life estate holder?
Ownership
Possession
Control
When a life estate terminates, ownership reverts to whom?
The grantor of the life estate
The owner owns both the structure and the land.
Townhome
The owner owns a unit within the structure but no land. Condo owners own an interest in the common elements (or common areas).
Condominium (condo)
Shareholders don’t own any real estate, just shares in the corporation.
Cooperative (co-op)
Ownership of property allows the purchaser to use it for periods of time during the year.
Timeshare
Detached home and townhome owners own both the structure and the land and have responsibility for shared common areas.
Planned unit development (PUD)
This is a type of PUD that is self-contained, sometimes gated, and can range in size from a single subdivision to multiple subdivisions. They offer convenience and amenities.
Master-planned community
CCR’s?
covenants, conditions, and restrictions
What percentage of the timeshare market is fee simple:
70% fee simple,
What percentage of the timeshare market is right to use
30% right-to-use.
Pieces of real estate owned by multiple unrelated individuals who occupy the dwelling unit in one- to two-week intervals during the year.
timeshare estate
Gives the purchaser the right to possess the property at given times for a given duration, but does not convey ownership.
timeshare use
Buyers agree to a one-time purchase price and an annual maintenance fee.
vacation ownership
The owner buys the right to use the developer’s facilities and may use the designated area at any time during the year.
Campground membership
Fee simple ownership for a vacation timeshare works in the same way as other types of real estate: Ownership can be enjoyed, sold, or passed down to heirs.
True
Unlike other forms of owned real estate, timeshare estates cannot be sold or passed down to heirs.
False
Resale timeshares often don’t recoup the buyers’ initial investment.
True
