Property & Estates Flashcards

Question

Landlord-Tenant - Landlord Duties

Answer 1

Deliver Possession Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment

Answer 2

Tenant has right to quiet use/enjoyment Breach by wrongful eviction (actual: excluded, terminates obligation to pay rent; partial: part, relieved from rent payment) Breach by constructive eviction (substantial interference [chronic/perm], notice from T to L, and T vacates) (T can seek damages) (doesn't apply if wrongful act by other tenant)

Answer 3

Premises is fit for human habitation; non-waivable Tenant can move out and terminate lease, make reasonable repairs and deduct from rent, reduce/withhold rent in escrow, or seek money damages.

Answer 4

Landlord knows of thing tenant can’t discover, must disclose Failure to disclose > liability for any injury from condition

Answer 5

No discrimination in sale or rental, negotiate, loan, etc. Unlawful to do ads that indicate discriminatory preference Exemptions: except for ads, doesn’t apply to owner-occupied buildings with less than 4 units AND homes by owner w/ <3 homes

Answer 6

Reasonable accommodations – Must permit or make them for disability

Answer 7

Tenant may freely transfer interest unless prohibited by lease If approval required, once landlord consents to one transfer, landlord cannot object to future transfers by that tenant unless reserved right

Answer 8

Assignee stands in shoes of OG tenant in direct relationship with landlord (privity) Assignment transfers the entire remaining term of the lease Original tenant remains liable on the original contractual obligations

Answer 9

Tenant of OG lessee and pays rent to lessee Tenant retained part of remaining term; sublessee has no privity Sublessee cannot enforce covenants (other than habitability)

Answer 10

Covenants run with land if OG parties intended and it touches and concerns This requires it to benefit landlord and burden tenant or vice-versa

Answer 11

Landlord may assign rents and reversion interest they own (deed); no tenant consent required After notice, T must recognize and pay new owner as landlord

Answer 12

Benefit of T covenants or burdens of L covenants that touch and concern run with estate to new owner OG landlord still liable for all covenants in lease (unless novation subs parties to the contract

Answer 13

Common law norm is for tenant to beware, L no duty to make premises safe (except common areas, latent defects, public spaces, or short term of furnished dwelling) Modern trend is duty of reasonable care, liable for ordinary negligence if L had notice and opportunity to repair

Answer 14

Grant of nonpossessory interest that entitles holder to use/enjoyment of others land Presumed to be perpetual unless grant expressly limits interest Affirmative or negative

Answer 15

Benefits its holder in use/enjoyment of own land Involves a dominant and servient tenement (land parcels) Passes automatically with transfers of dominant tenement and of servient estate (unless new owner BFP w/o notice of easement)

Answer 16

Personal advantage unrelated to use/enjoyment of land Servient land burdened, no benefited land (billboard example) Not transferrable unless for commercial purposes

Answer 17

Requires: memorialized in writing and signed by holder of servient land unless duration brief enough to be outside SoF

Answer 18

Open and notorious, adverse, continuous & uninterrupted for period. Essentially adverse possession, but possession need not be actual and exclusive

Answer 19

Implied from preexisting use: Quasi-easement (use on servient part was apparent & continuous AND parties expected use would survive division bc necessary) Implied without existing use: Subdivision (implied easements for streets to access lots) Profit a prendre (implied easement to extract resources)

Answer 20

When a landowner conveys a portion of her land with no way out except over some part of the grantor’s remaining land.

Answer 21

ENDCRAMP Estoppel (servient owner materially changes position in reliance on oral) Necessity (necessity ends unless an express grant) Destruction (destruction of servient land) Condemnation (by gov) Release (given by easement holder) Abandonment (action intent to never use again) Merger (title to easement and servient land are vested in one person) Prescription (servient owner interferes via adverse possession)

Answer 22

Privilege to enter land and take resources Rules governing creation, alienation, and termination of easements applies Can be extinguished through overuse (surcharge)

Answer 23

Privilege to enter another’s land for a specific purpose; revocable at will Personal to the licensee (inalienable, cannot be transferred) No writing needed (failed attempt to create easement creates license) Freely revocable unless estoppel applies (invested money/labor in reliance)

Answer 24

Written promises to do or not do something related to land If money damages > promise is covenant (vs equitable servitude)

Answer 25

Bound as if they agreed if: Writing, intent (OG parties intended to run), touches and concerns land, horizontal and vertical privity, and notice Privity: non-hostile relationship between OG parties (horiz.) and successor and OG (vertical)

Answer 26

Bound as if they agreed if: Writing, intent (OG parties intended to run), touches and concerns land, and vertical privity

Answer 27

Promise that equity will enforce against successors of burdened land unless successor is a BFP (purchaser for value w/o notice)

Answer 28

Created by writing (SoF), intent for enforcement successors, touch and concern land, and notice (actual, inquiry, or record of covenant)

Answer 29

General Common Scheme Doctrine Court will apply to hold unrestricted lot holder to common scheme Requires a general scheme of residential development + notice

Answer 30

Neighborhood conditions changed > enforcement is inequitable Unclean hands > Person seeking enforcement is violating on land Acquiesced > Benefited party allowed violation by burdened party Estoppel > Benefited party acted so reasonable person would believe covenant was abandoned or waived Laches > Benefited party fails to bring suit in reasonable time Termination by written release, merger, or condemnation

Answer 31

Possession for time can ripen into title bc statute of limitations for ejectment

Answer 32

Continuous – Continuous (as owner would do) possession Open and notorious – Sufficiently apparent to true owner Actual and exclusive – Gain title to land they actually occupy & not sharing (will get full land if entered under color of title) Hostile - no permission (disability > will not run at inception of disability) If AP user violates recorded covenant for period, they take free of real covenant

Answer 33

Permission to depart from zoning restrictions Must show undue hardship and no diminution to neighbor property values

Answer 34

Creates a hierarchy of uses of the land (rank and categorized) Land may be used for that purpose and any higher use

Answer 35

Land may be used only for the purpose for which it is zoned

Answer 36

Must be obtained even though zoning is proper bc of safety (hospitals, funeral homes, etc.)

Answer 37

Each owner owns unit + undivided interest in exterior and common parts Own home in fee simple, own area outside tenant-in-common HOAs – Each owner a member, board oversees common elements

Answer 38

Owner has exclusive right to use/possess surface, airspace, and soil of property

Answer 39

Right to have land supported in natural state by adjoining land Landowner strictly liable if their excavation causes others’ land to slide If excavation causes improved land (buildings) to cave in > liable if negligent

Answer 40

Riparian Doctrine – Water belongs to those who own land bordering (use enjoinable if substantial interference) Prior Appropriation Doctrine – Water belongs to state, rights through use Groundwater – Surface owner can make reasonable use of groundwater Surface water – Landowner can use for any purpose they desire

Answer 41

Possessor can exclude others and get remedy for invasions (trespass, private nuisance, continuing trespass) Ejectment to remove trespasser/tenant (can get money damages)

Answer 42

Conveyance of real estate requires a land contract (equitable title) + deed (legal title)

Answer 43

Conveys equitable title, and endures until the deed Requires a marketable title; if closing happens w/o, no suit

Answer 44

Deed passes legal title and becomes the operative doc Gap between these steps is the escrow period A deed, once it has been delivered, is evidence of title, and its destruction does not cause any change in the title. To transfer title, must to deliver a new deed transferring title

Answer 45

(1) in writing (2) sufficiently describe land (3) identify grantor and grantee (4) evidence intent to convey and (5) be signed Inaccurate description of land > specific performance, reduction in price Oral contract enforced if two acts of partial performance (possession, payment, or improvements)

Answer 46

After land contract signed, equity regards buyer as owner of real property, buyer has risk of loss At closing, seller conveys legal title (giving right to possession)

Answer 47

Marketable title No false statements No implied warranties (fitness or habitabiltiy)

Answer 48

Seller liable to purchaser after closing for defects if false statement buyer relied upon, actively concealed defect, or failed to disclose Seller must have known or had reason to know of defect; realize buyer is unlikely to discover defect; and defect serious enough that buyer would reconsider

Answer 49

Seller will provide marketable title on day of closing Unmarketable title: defects in record chain of title (like adverse possession), encumberances (mortgages, liens, easements, etc.), zoning violations, and future interest holders unborn/unascertained, doubt from lawsuits, litigation, etc. If unmarketable, buyer must notify seller and give time to cure Seller can use proceeds of sale to clear if buyer protected

Answer 50

Buyer’s obligation to pay and seller’s obligation to convey are concurrent. Neither party in breach until other tenders performance.

Answer 51

Damages or (for unique land) specific performance

Answer 52

If buyer permits closing, contract merges with deed and seller only liable for deed promises. Deed must be executed and delivered (writing signed, description of land, ID of parties, words of intent to transfer)

Answer 53

Deeds used to convey property interest

Answer 54

Warrants against defects in title on behalf of self and on behalf of predecessors in interest Covenant of seisin (grantor owns), right to convey, against encumbrances, quiet enjoyment (no third party claim of title), warranty (defend against title claims/compensate for loss), assistance (help perfecting title) First three are breached at delivery if ever (SoL starts to run), other three are breached when grantee is disturbed.

Answer 55

Warrants against defects in title, but only on behalf of self Covenant of seisin (grantor owns), right to convey, against encumbrances, quiet enjoyment (no third party claim of title), warranty (defend against title claims/compensate for loss), assistance (help perfecting title)

Answer 56

Conveys only what the grantor has at the time of the conveyance. Grantor isn’t even promising he has title to convey

Answer 57

Whoever records first

Answer 58

Last BFP to take wins “without notice thereof, unless the conveyance is recorded.”

Answer 59

B wins if B is a BFP and he records properly before A Subsequent purchaser must not have had notice of prior grant “without notice thereof, whose conveyance is first recorded.”

Answer 60

Purchaser for value without notice (actual, record, or inquiry)

Answer 61

Anyone who takes from a BFP will prevail against any interest BFP would have prevailed against

Answer 62

Purchaser must record the deed properly within the chain of title Wild Deed - When a recorded deed is not connected to chain of title, it is incapable of giving record notice. Same as not recording at all.

Answer 63

One who conveys something in which they have no interest is estopped from denying validity of conveyance if they eventually get the title they had purported to transfer

Answer 64

Borrower (mortgagor) gives the lender (mortgagee) a mortgage on property to secure debt

Answer 65

Involves a promissory note (mortgagor’s personal obligation) + mortgage (agreement that land can be sold to pay mortgagee)

Answer 66

Extension of value who takes a security interest in the real estate that its loan enabled the mortgagor to acquire

Answer 67

Can transfer interest by indorsing note and delivering to transferee or executing a separate document of assignment If grantee assumes mortgage, they are now personally liable to lender If grantee takes subject to mortgage, no personal liability but land can be foreclosed

Answer 68

Can freely transfer the note, mortgage follows properly transferred note If recorded, mortgage sticks with the land; though, recording statutes apply Mortgagee can foreclose only via proper judicial proceedings

Answer 69

Each claimant entitled to full satisfaction before a junior lienholder may take Foreclosure terminates interests junior to the mortgage being foreclosed, not senior Junior lienholders can proceed for deficiency judgement against debtor

Answer 70

1. Expenses of Sale 2. Principal and accrued interest on loan 3. Junior Lienors 4. Mortgagor

Answer 71

First in time, first in right – Creditor who records first takes first Senior interests: Receive NO proceeds but remain on property

Answer 72

A buyer at a foreclosure sale takes the title as it existed when the foreclosed mortgage was placed on the property. All interests senior to that one remain on the property, and all interests junior to that one are extinguished.

Answer 73

Mortgagor can recover land after sale by paying sale price

Answer 74

All junior lienholders and debtor Jr mortgagee must be named bc it has the right to pay off the senior mortgage to avoid being wiped out by foreclosure Failure to include party > preservation of that claim on the land

Answer 75

“To A” or “To A and her heirs” Absolute ownership of potentially limitless duration Devisable, descendible, and alienable

Answer 76

“To A so long as the property is used for farming” Terminates upon happening of stated event; automatically reverts to grantor Created by clear durational language limiting duration of estate Devisable, descendible, and alienable Absolute restraints on transfer are void Future interest: Reverter in grantor

Answer 77

“To A, but if the land is used for something other than corn then O retains the right of entry.” Grantor can take action to terminate estate upon happening of event Created by use of conditional language + explicit right to reenter Future interest is right of reentry (not transferrable)

Answer 78

“To A, but if X, then to B” Terminates upon happening of stated event and passes to third party Created by a condition + grant to third party Future interest is shifting executory interest

Answer 79

“To A for life” Measured by the live or lives of persons, never in years Future interest: If held by O > Reversion If held by third party > Remainder

Answer 80

Measured by life other than grantees “To A for the life of B” or if life tenant conveys life estate to another

Answer 81

Entitled to all ordinary uses and profits, but cannot commit waste Voluntary (depletion of resources if necessary, suitable only for that, or permitted) (open mines doctrine: if done prior, can mine in open mines) Permissive (preserve land, pay taxes, pay interest on mortgage) Ameliorative (future interest holders must consent)

Answer 82

Accompanies fee simple determinable Held by O Automatically reverts to grantor upon event

Answer 83

Accompanies Fee Simple subject to Condition Subsequent Held by O Grantor must exercise his right of entry

Answer 84

When grantor conveys estate of lesser than what they own (duration) Held by O

Answer 85

Created in unborn/unascertained persons or subject to a condition precedent

Answer 86

Must be expressly created in the instrument creating the preceding estate Think of it as: social (always accompany a preceding estate of known, fixed duration) and polite (never cuts short or divests prior taker)

Answer 87

Created in an existing/ascertained person and no condition precedent

Answer 88

Not subject to divestment or diminution Holder is certain to acquire without any conditions attached Creation: “To A for life, remainder to B.”

Answer 89

Subject to a condition subsequent Creation: “to A for life, then to B and his heirs; but if B dies unmarried, then to C and his heirs.”

Answer 90

Created in a class of persons Will become possessory but can be diminished by more people Creation: “To A for life, then to B’s children.” Class closes when some member can demand possession

Answer 91

Cuts short interest of someone other than grantor Follows a defeasible fee, cuts short someone other than grantor Creation: “To A, but if B returns from Canada, to B and his heirs.” B has shifting, bc he cuts off A if he returns

Answer 92

Cuts short interest of grantor Creation: O conveys: “To A, if and when she becomes a lawyer.”

Answer 93

Future interests are void if there is any possibility that the interest may come to bear (vest) more than 21 years after a person alive at the time has died Violation of the rule destroys only the offending interest Steps: determine future interest, what must happen for them to take, find a measuring life (connected to vesting), and when the future interest holder can take (possessory, indefeasibly vested remainder, or vested remainder subject to total divestment)

Answer 94

If the interest of any class member may vest too remotely, the whole class gift fails (vesting = class closed and all conditions satisfied)

Answer 95

Wait and See – Wait for measuring life to end and then look to see who takes USRAP: Codifies RAP and provides for alternative 90-year vesting period Cy Pres Doctrine – Court changes nonconforming interests to match intent

Answer 96

Any restriction on the transferability of a legal (not equitable) interest is void. Disabling (transfers are ineffective) > VOID Forfeiture (transfer forfeits interest) > valid if reasonable/time-limits Promissory (transfer breaches covenant) > valid if reasonable/time-limits Discriminatory (based on race, religion, ethnicity) > VOID

Property & Estates Flashcards

(120 cards)