Real Estate Principles Ch. 3

Side Yard

A yard that extends along a side lot line from the front yard to the rear yard.

Rear Yard

A yard that extends along the full length of a real lot line.

Personal Property

All property that is not considered to be real property. That which is movable (not attached to land).

Fixture

Appurtenances attached to the land or improvements, which usually cannot be removed without agreement as they become real property; examples - plumbing fixtures, store fixtures built into the property, etc.

Trade Fixtures

Articles of personal property annexed by a business tenant to real property which are necessary to the carrying on of a trade and are removable by the tenant.

Land

Included, but not limited to, the soil, earth, and ground, that which is the result of nature or man‐ made, as well as an indefinite extent upward into the air, and downward in a direct line from the surface to the center of the earth.

Water Rights

The rights of a land owner and/or land occupier to use adjacent bodies of water in a reasonable fashion.

Contiguous

Lots that touch at any point (even corners).

Setback

The distance a structure must be placed away from the street.

Zoning

The division of an area into zones, as to restrict the number and types of buildings and their uses.

Non-Conforming Use

The historical use whereby an individual would ask to use that property for that historical use, otherwise they will have to endure undue hardship.

Front Foot

The measurement from the street and back through the lot (cannot be right next to it).

Variance

The authorization to improve or develop a particular property in a manner not authorized by zoning.

Erosion

The eating away of a coastline or land by the action of water, ice, and/or wind, or wearing away of a surface by corrosion or traffic.

Metes and Bounds

A term used in describing the boundary lines of land, seeing forth all the boundary lines together with their terminal points and angles.

Accession

The potential right of ownership to land which is produced, then added or united to the owner's land.

Accretion

The process of gradual growth or increase over a period of time from naturally occurring events, resulting in additional layers of matter.

Condemnation

Taking private property for public use, with fair compensation to the owner; exercising the right of eminent domain.

Real Property

That which is immovable. Land, things affixed to land, and appurtenances. Real estate plus the Bundle of Rights.

Alienate

The capacity for a piece of property or a property right to be sold or otherwise transferred from one party to another.

Escheat

The reversion of the State of property in event the owner thereof abandons it or dies, without leaving a will and has no distributes to whom the property may pass by lawful descent.

Right of Lateral Support

The right of a land owner to have the natural physical support of the adjoining piece of land.

Bundle of Rights

The rights, or interests, that an individual has in a particular piece of property. The right to dispose, the right to encumber, the right to possess, the right to use, and the right to exclude others (the right of quiet enjoyment).

Reversion

A future interest that is retained by the grantor after the conveyance of an estate of a lesser quantum that he/she has.

Encumbrance

Any charge, claim, right, burden (otherwise called a cloud on title), and/or interest in real property other than the owners, including but not limited to, any restriction upon the title to real property, affecting and/or limiting any interests or its use.

Real Estate

Land, and generally whatever is erected upon or affixed thereto. Improvements, such as buildings, structures, landscaping, fences, etc, are included.

Appurtenances

That which belongs to something, by not immemorially; all those rights, privileges, and improvements which belong to and pass with the transfer of the property, but which are not necessarily a part of the actual property.

Frontage

The linear distance along which a building faces a lot or a roadway.

Riparian Rights

The right of a landowner whose land borders on a stream or watercourse to use and enjoy the water which is adjacent to or flows over the owner's land provided such use does not injure other riparian owners.

Littoral Rights

The right of a property owner whose land borders on a body of water, such as a lake, ocean or sea, to reasonable use and enjoyment of the shore and water the property borders on.

Police Power

The right of any political body to enact laws and enforce them, for the order, safety, health, morals and general welfare of the public.

Eminent Domain

The right of the government to acquire property for necessary public or quasi‐public use by condition; the owner must be fairly compensated and the right of the private citizen to get paid is spelled out in the 5th Amendment of the United State Constitution.