Ownership

Natural Person

A Natural Person is a living person, as distinguished from a legal person or corporation.

A.L.T.A title policy (American Land Title Association)

A.L.T.A. Title Policy is an extended coverage title insurance policy issued to owners and lenders. It expands the coverage normally given in a standard policy to include facts a physical survey would show, and rights of parties in possession. A.L.T.A. stands for American Land Title Association.

Abstract of Title

Abstract of Title is a summary or digest of documents affecting title to real estate.

Actual Notice

Actual Notice is information of a fact actually, expressly, or directly given to a person.

Appurtenance

Appurtenance is anything incident to or attached to the land that is a part of the property. It "runs with the land," meaning it is transferred with a transfer of the land.

Appurtenant

Appurtenant means belonging to.

Bundle of Rights

Bundle of Rights is the group or bundle of interests that a person has in any real or personal property owned, such as a distinct right to possess, use, enjoy, or dispose of property—in other words, an ownership interest.

Certificate of Title

Certificat e of Title is a statement furnished by an abstract company stating that the company found title properly vested in the present owner, based upon its records.

Chain of Title

Chain of Title is a history of all documents transferring title to a parcel of real estate, beginning with the original transfer from government to private ownership and ending with the latest documenttransferring title.

Chattel Real

Chattel Real is a personal property right in real estate, such as a lease.

Chattel

Chattel is any item of personal property.

Chose

Chose is a legal term for an article of personal property. "Chose in possession" is tangible personal property, and "Chose in action" is intangible personal property.

Community Property

Community Property is property acquired by husband and wife during marriage, unless explicitly acquired as separate property.

Constructive Notice

Constructive Notice is notice given by the public records or by possession. Parties involved are not directly informed, but are assumed to be informed. This type of notice is also called notice to the world.

Constructive Severance

Constructive Severance is a way of separating fixtures or appurtenances from land. Sale or mortgaging of crops before harvesting (before severance) is a constructive severance, converting the crops into personal property. Parties may create a constructive severance of fixtures by contract.

Corporation

Corporation means an artificial "person" recognized in law, ordinarily an association of numerous individuals. It has many of the rights and duties of a natural person.

Defeasible

Defeasible means capable of being annulled, or defeated. A defeasible estate is ownership with restrictions that can cause forfeiture of title if broken.

Determinable Fee

Determinable Fee is an estate that may end or terminate, without court action, on the happening of a specified event.

Eminent Domain

Eminent Domain is the power of the government to take or condemn private property for public use upon payment of fair compensation.

Equity of Redemption

Equity of Redemption is the right that an owner has under certain circumstances to redeem property after a judicial foreclosure sale.

Escheat

Escheat is reversion of property to the state if an owner dies without a will, and without heirs.

Estate at Sufferance

Estate at Sufferance is the estate resulting when a tenant holds over without consent of the landlord after expiration of a lease.

Estate at Will

Estate at Will is a leasehold interest that may be terminated at will by either party, without advance notice. It is generally prohibited in California.

Estate for Years

Estate for Years is a leasehold interest for a definite period of time. The period is not nec essarily a year—it may be by the week, month, or year.

Estate in Fee

Estate in Fee is the most inclusive type of ownership of real property, in perpetuity and inheritable. This type of ownership is also called fee simple absolute estate, fee simple estate, fee, or estate of inheritance.

Estate in Remainder

Estate in Remainder is a future interest given by the grantor to a third person, to take effect after termination of a life estate.

Estate in Reversion

Estate in Reversion is the future interest retained by the grantor, for example, to regain possession after termination of a leasehold or life estate.

Estate

Estate is the ownership interest a person has in real property, including partial interests such as leasehold. Estate also means the property left by a deceased person.

Extended Coverage

Extended Coverage is a broad form of title insurance that is available to homeowners. It covers unrecorded liens and other matters not in the standard policy.

Fixture

Fixture is personal property permanently attached to land or improvements, which becomes part of the real property.

Freehold Estate

Freehold Estate is an estate of indefinite duration. It can be either an estate of inheritance (a fee simple estate) or an estate for life.

Guarantee of Title

Guarantee of Title is a guarantee by a title company or abstract company that title is vested as shown on the guarantee. The guarantee is backed only by the ass ets or reserves of the guarantor.

Intangible

Intangible describes property that cannot be touched, such as goodwill.

Joint Tenancy

Joint Tenancy is ownership of property by two or more people with the right of survivorship. It requires unity of time, title, interest, and possession.

Less Than Freehold

Less Than Freehold describes an estate that is limited in time or by desire of the parties, such as a leasehold.

Life Estate

Life Estate is an estate in real property that ends with the life of a person—either the grantee or another person.

Littoral

Littoral describes land bordering the sea, a lake, or other body of water except a watercourse.

Ownership

Ownership is the right to the use and enjoyment of property to the exclusion of others.

Periodic Tenancy

Periodic Tenancy is tenancy for successive periods of the same length unless terminated by proper notice of either party, for example, month-to-month tenancy.

Personal Property

Personal Property is any property that is not real property. It may be movable property, or intangible. Personal property is also called personalty.

Police Power

Police Power is the right of the state to regulate the use of private property for the protection of the health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the public.

Presumption

Presumption is an apparent fact that will stand and be assumed true until overcome by some evidence to the contrary.

Property

Property is anything that is owned—real or personal, tangible or intangible.

Real Property

Real Property is land, that which is affixed to the land, that which is incidental or appurtenant to land, and that which is immovable by law.

Recordation

Recordation is a system by which documents concerning title and other legal matters are collected in one convenient, public place, commonly the county recorder's office. Documents properly recorded constitute constructive notice of the contents of the documents.

Right of Survivorship

Right of Survivorship is the automatic right of a joint tenant to acquire the interest of a deceased joint tenant.

Riparian Rights

Riparian Rights describes the rights of an owner whose land borders on a stream or river to reasonable use of the flowing water, provided such use does not injure other riparian owners.

Separate Property

Separate Property is property owned by either spouse other than community property.

Severalty

Severalty is ownership or obligation by one person only; sole ownership or obligation.

Standard Form

Standard Form is the basic title insurance policy usually issued to a purchaser of real property. It provides coverage against fraud, forgery, and matters of record. This is a California Land Title Association (CLTA) policy.

Sufferance

Sufferance is the interest that exists when a tenant holds over without consent of the landlord after expiration of a lease. It is also called estate at sufferance.

Tangible

Tangible describes property that can be handled physically, such as stock-in-trade.

Tenancy in Common

Tenancy in Common is co-ownership by two or more persons who hold undivided interests, without right of survivorship. The co-owners' interests need not be equal.

Tenancy

Tenancy is the mode of holding property, s uch as a joint tenancy, tenancy in common, or tenancy for years.

Title Insurance

Title Insurance is insurance to protect the property owner against loss if title is imperfect.

Title Plant

Title Plant is a set of copies of pertinent public records maintained at a title company.

Title

Title is the right to or ownership in land, and also the evidence of a person's ownership in property.

Trade Fixtures

Trade Fixtures are articles of personal property annexed to real property but necessary to carry on a business. They are removable by the owner of the fixtures.

Undivided Interest

Undivided Interest is the separate interest of each co-owner in an entire property. Each interest is indistinguishable, meaning a co-owner does not own a specified separate part of the property, but owns a specified interest in the whole.

Waste

Waste is destruction, material alteration, or injury to premises.

Wild Document

Wild Document is a document either created by a "stranger to the title," such as a forger, or made "outside the chain of title," such as a conveyance granted by someone who previously failed to record and thereby left a link missing in the chain of title.