Rights In Real Estate

Question 1

land

Answer 1

• the surface area of the earth
• everything beneath the surface of the earth extending downward to its center
• all natural things permanently attached to the earth
• the air above the surface of the earth extending outward to infinity.

Question 2

parcel or tract

Answer 2

a portion of land delineated by boundaries

Question 3

Land has three unique physical characteristics:

Answer 3

immobility, indestructibility, and heterogeneity

Question 4

real estate

Answer 4

• land

- all man-made structures that are “permanently” attached to the land

Question 5

bundle of rights

Answer 5

• In owning property, one has the right to possess and use it as the law allows.
• The owner has the right to transfer ownership of the item (sell, rent, donate, assign, or bequeath).
• The owner may also encumber the item by mortgaging it as collateral for debt.
• Finally, the owner has the right to exclude others from use of the item.

Question 6

real property

Answer 6

is ownership of real estate and the bundle of rights associated with owning the real estate

Question 7

personal property

Answer 7

is ownership of anything which is not real estate, and the rights associated with owning the personal property item. Items of personal property are also called chattels or personalty

Question 8

tangible property

Answer 8

is physical, visible, and material

Question 9

intangible property

Answer 9

is abstract, having no physical existence in itself, other than as evidence of one’s ownership interest (stock certificate, contract, patent)

Question 10

right to use

Answer 10

the right to use it in certain ways, such as mining, cultivating, landscaping, razing, and building on the property

Question 11

right to transfer

Answer 11

the right to sell, bequeath, lease, donate, or assign ownership interests

Question 12

right to encumber

Answer 12

the right to mortgage the property as collateral for debt

Question 13

right to exclude

Answer 13

the legal right to keep others off the property and to prosecute trespassers

Question 14

surface rights

Answer 14

apply to the real estate contained within the surface boundaries of the parcel. This includes the ground, all natural things affixed to the ground, and all improvements. Also includes water rights.

Question 15

air rights

Answer 15

apply to the space above the surface boundaries of the parcel, as delineated by imaginary vertical lines extended to infinity

Question 16

subsurface rights

Answer 16

apply to land beneath the surface of the real estate parcel extending from its surface boundaries downward to the center of the earth

Question 17

water rights

Answer 17

concern the rights to own and use water found in lakes, streams, rivers, and the ocean

Question 18

Doctrine of Prior Appropriation

Answer 18

the state owns and controls all bodies of water and this position requires that property owners obtain permits for use of water

Question 19

littoral rights

Answer 19

concern properties abutting bodies of water that are not moving, such as lakes and seas. Owners of properties abutting a navigable, non-moving body of water enjoy the right of use, but do not own the water nor the land beneath the water. Ownership extends to the high-water mark of the body of water. Legal premise is that a lake or sea is a navigable body of water, therefore, public property owned by the state.

Question 20

riparian rights

Answer 20

concern properties abutting moving water such as streams and rivers. If a property abuts a stream or river, the owner’s rights are determined by whether the water is navigable or not navigable. If the property abuts a non-navigable stream, the owner enjoys unrestricted use of the water and owns the land beneath the stream to the stream’s midpoint. If the waterway in question is navigable, the waterway is considered to be a public easement. In such a case, the owner’s property extends to the water’s edge as opposed to the midpoint of the waterway. The state owns the land beneath the water.

Question 21

fixture

Answer 21

A personal property item that has been converted to real property by attachment to real estate

Question 22

trade fixtures/chattel fixtures

Answer 22

are items of a tenant’s personal property that the tenant has temporarily affixed to a landlord’s real property in order to conduct business (a grocer’s food freezers, a merchant’s clothes racks, a tavern owner’s bar, a dairy’s milking machines, and a printer’s printing press).

Question 23

emblements

Answer 23

Plants and crops requiring human intervention and labor

Question 24

manufactured housing

Answer 24

is factory-built housing that conforms to HUD standards. Factory-built housing may be considered real property or personal property, depending on whether it is permanently affixed to the ground, and according to state law

Question 25

conversion

Answer 25

This process is the changing of the classification between real and personal property.

Question 26

severance

Answer 26

is the conversion of real property to personal property by detaching it from the real estate, such as by cutting down a tree, detaching a door from a shed, or removing an antenna from a roof

Question 27

affixing

Answer 27

is the act of converting personal property to real property by attaching it to the real estate, such as by assembling a pile of bricks into a barbecue pit, or constructing a boat dock from wood planks

Question 28

federal regulation

Answer 28

is primarily concerned with broad standards of real property usage, natural disaster, land description, and discrimination.

Question 29

state regulation

Answer 29

are the primary regulatory entities of the real estate business; establish real estate license laws and qualifications; established real estate commissions to administer license laws and oversee activities of licensees; play a role in defining how real property may be owned, transferred, encumbered, and inherited; also exert regional influence in the usage and environmental control of real estate within the state

Question 30

local regulation

Answer 30

focuses on land use control, control of improvements, and taxation

Question 31

judicial regulation

Answer 31

exerts an influence on real estate ownership and use through decisions based on case law and common law