Unit 3: Interests in Real Estate

A landowner has divided a large parcel of land into smaller parcels and has recently sold a tract near a nature preserve that is landlocked and cannot be entered except through one of the other tracts. The buyer of that property will probably be granted what type of easement by court action? A. Easement by necessity B. Easement in gross C. Easement by prescription D. Easement by condemnation

A. Easement by necessity An easement by necessity arises when there is no ingress or egress (entry or exit) from one piece of property without crossing over a parcel of land owned by another. An easement of necessity is not merely for convenience or imposed to validate a shortcut.

Which of the following is NOT an example of governmental power? Eminent domain is the right of the government to acquire privately owned real estate for public use. A. The answer is remainder B. Police power C. Eminent domain D. Taxation

A. The answer is remainder The four governmental powers that limit private rights to ownership of land are represented by the acronym PETE (police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat).

The type of easement that is a right-of-way for a utility company's power lines is A. an easement in gross. B. an easement by necessity. C. an easement by prescription. D. a nonassignable easement.

A. an easement in gross. Easements in gross are individual rights to use someone's land, as in the case of the utility company. A commercial (but not a personal) easement in gross can be assigned, conveyed, and inherited.

The process by which government takes control of a property after the owner dies without a will or lawful heirs is A. escheat. B. lis pendens. C. condemnation. D. taxation.

A. escheat. Escheat is a process by which the state may acquire privately owned real or personal property. State laws provide for ownership to transfer, or escheat, to the state when an owner dies and leaves no heirs (as defined by the law) and there is no will or living trust instrument that directs how the real estate is to be distributed.

One who has ownership rights of real estate that could continue forever and which provide that no other person can claim to be the owner of or have any ownership control over the property has A. fee simple absolute. B. life estate. C. determinable fee. D. condition subsequent.

A. fee simple absolute. Fee simple is an absolute ownership—an inheritable interest "with no strings attached." A life estate is noninheritable; fee on condition subsequent and determinable fees are both estates involving another person with an interest called "possibility of (either reverter or) re-entry."

Because a homeowner failed to pay the real estate taxes on time, the taxing authority imposed a claim against the homeowner's property. This claim is known as A. a deed restriction. B. a lien. C. an easement. D. a reversionary interest.

B. a lien Unpaid real estate taxes are a lien on the property because they are a charge against the property that provides security for a debt or an obligation of the property owner.

An owner conveys ownership of a residence to a church but reserves a life estate in the residence. The future interest held by the church is A. a pur autre vie. B. a remainder. C. a reversion. D. a leasehold.

B. a remainder. Until the owner dies, the church will have a remainder interest. The owner reserved a life estate. The church may legally sell its future (remainder) interest, even during the lifetime of the life tenant.

A property owner who has the legal right to use a neighbor's land holds A. an estate in land. B. an easement. C. a police power. D. an encroachment.

B. an easement. An easement is a right of use or passage, not of ownership—nor is it is an example of encroachment or the exercise of a government's police power.

The new owner of a property installs a fence on the property. By mistake, the fence extends one foot over the lot line onto a neighbor's property. The fence is an example of A. a license. B. an encroachment. C. an easement by necessity. D. an easement by prescription.

B. an encroachment. To build over a property line is to encroach on the property of another.

The right of a government body to take ownership of real estate for public use is called A. escheat. B. eminent domain. C. condemnation. D. police power.

B. eminent domain The process by which the right is exercised is condemnation. Escheat and police power are other examples of government limitations on rights of private ownership.

A homestead is a legal life estate in real estate that is A. leased by renters. B. occupied as the family home. C. used as a vacation home. D. a secondary residence.

B. occupied as the family home. In many states, a portion of the area or value of this land is protected or exempt from judgments for debts other than those secured by the property.

Which of the following is a legal life estate? A. Leasehold B. Fee simple absolute C. Homestead D. Determinable fee

C. Homestead Homestead rights are granted by statute in some states to provide some protection to debtors and their families against the execution of judgment liens on their homes by the action of unsecured creditors.

The owner of fee simple title to a vacant lot adjacent to a hospital decided to make a gift of the lot to the hospital. The deed conveyed ownership of the lot to the hospital "so long as it is used for hospital purposes." After completion of the gift, the hospital will own A. a fee simple absolute estate. B. a license. C. a fee simple determinable. D. a leasehold estate.

C. a fee simple determinable. A determinable fee estate has a special limitation and may end automatically if there is noncompliance with that stipulation. Language such as so long as or while characterize this estate. The hospital's ownership of the lot would come to an end if the property were to be no longer used for hospital purposes, and the lot would immediately become the property of the former owner or that owner's heirs.

A license is an example of A. an easement appurtenant. B. an encroachment. C. a personal privilege. D. a restriction.

C. a personal privilege. A license is a personal, revocable right of use. It is temporary in that it can be withdrawn at will by the one who issued it.

A property on Main Street that was formerly a retail store will become the site of a new city hall, made possible by the government's power of A. escheat. B. possibility of reverter. C. eminent domain. D. taxation.

C. eminent domain. Eminent domain is the right of the government to acquire privately owned real estate for public use.

A homeowner may be allowed certain protection from judgments of creditors as a result of the state's A. littoral rights. B. curtesy rights. C. homestead rights. D. dower rights.

C. homestead rights Homestead rights are granted by statute in some states to provide some protection to debtors and their families against the execution of judgment liens on their homes by the action of unsecured creditors.

Your neighbors use your driveway to reach the garage on their property. Your attorney explains that the neighbors' real estate includes an easement appurtenant giving them the right to do this. Your property is A. the leasehold interest. B. the dominant tenement. C. the servient tenement. D. the license property.

C. the servient tenement. Your driveway is on the property over which the easement runs and is the servient tenement. The adjacent property owned by the neighbors is known as the dominant tenement.

A person has permission from a property owner to hike on the owner's property during the autumn months. The hiker has A. an easement by necessity. B. an easement by condemnation. C. riparian rights. D. a license.

D. a license. Such permission given to an individual is personal, nontransferable, and can be withdrawn.

All of the following will terminate an easement EXCEPT A. when the need no longer exists. B. nonuse of a prescriptive easement. C. abandonment of easement. D. release of the right of easement to the dominant tenement.

D. release of the right of easement to the dominant tenement. An easement is terminated when the owner of the dominant tenement releases that right to the owner of the servient tenement.

An easement appurtenant A. terminates with the sale of the property. B. is a right-of-way for a utility company. C. is revocable. D. runs with the land.

D. runs with the land. An easement appurtenant can only be created if the adjacent properties involved have different owners. This easement runs with the land and transfers with the deed.