Real Property and the Law:real and personal property

3 legal test for real vs personal property

1.Method of annexation: How permanent is the method of attachment? Can the item be removed without causing damage to the surrounding property? 2.Adaptation to real estate: Is the item being used as real property or personal property? For example, a refrigerator is usually considered personal property. However, if a refrigerator has been adapted to match the kitchen cabinetry, it becomes a fixture. 3.Agreement: Have the parties agreed on whether the item is real or personal property in an offer to purchase?

trade fixture

A special category of fixtures includes property used in the course of business. An article owned by a tenant and attached to a rented space or a building or used in conducting a business is a trade fixture, or a chattel fixture. Some examples of trade fixtures are bowling alleys, store shelves, and barroom and restaurant equipment. Agricultural fixtures, such as chicken coops and tool sheds, are also included in this category. Trade fixtures must be removed on or before the last day the property is rented. The tenant is responsible for any damage caused by the removal of a fixture. Trade fixtures that are not removed become the real property of the landlord.

severance

An item of real property can become personal property by severance, or separating from the land. For example, a growing tree is real estate until the owner cuts it down, literally severing it from the property. Similarly, an apple becomes personal property once it is picked from a tree.

emblements

Annually cultivated crops such as fruit, vegetables, and grain. are generally considered personal property

To sell manufactured homes in GA

Every retailer and retail broker who sells or offers for sale manufactured or mobile homes in Georgia must obtain a license from the Georgia Real Estate Commission. The license is valid from January1 through December 31 of the year in which it was issued.

Trade fixtures differ from other fixtures in the following 2 ways

Fixtures belong to the owner of the real estate, but trade fixtures are usually owned and installed by a tenant for the tenant's use. Fixtures are considered a permanent part of a building, but trade fixtures are removable. Trade fixtures may be attached to a building so they appear to be fixtures. Legally, fixtures are real property, so they are included in any sale or mortgage. Trade fixtures, however, are considered personal property and are not included in the sale or mortgage of real estate, except by special agreement.

annexation

It is also possible to change personal property into real property through the process known as annexation. For example, if a landowner buys cement, stones, and sand and mixes them into concrete to construct a sidewalk across the land, the landowner has converted personal property (cement, stones, and sand) into real property (a sidewalk).

What type of property is conveyed by bill of sale or reciept

Personal property

What type of property is conveyed by deed

Real property

accession

Trade fixtures that are not removed become the real property of the landlord. Acquiring the property in this way is known as this

When in GA would a manufacture home be considered real property

Under Georgia code (O.C.G.A. § 8-2-183.1), there are conditions under which manufactured homes become real property. A manufactured home that has not been issued a certificate of title from the Commission and that was sold on or before July 1, 2006, becomes real property if the home is permanently affixed on real property and one or more persons with ownership interest in the home also has ownership interest in the real property, and the owner of the home and the holders of all security interest execute and file a Certificate of Permanent Location in the county records where the property is located. Once a Certificate of Permanent Location has been filed, the home becomes, for all legal purposes, a part of the real property on which it is located.

Manufactured housing

dwellings that are not constructed at the site but are built off-site and trucked to a building lot where they are installed or assembled. Manufactured housing includes modular, panelized, precut, and mobile homes. Generally, the term mobile homes is used to refer to factory-built housing constructed before 1976.

Fixtures

personal property that has been so affixed to land or a building that, by law, it becomes part of the real property. Examples of fixtures are heating systems, elevator equipment in highrise buildings, radiators, kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, and plumbing. Almost any item that has been added as a permanent part of a building is considered a fixture. During the course of time, the same materials may be both real and personal property, depending on their use and location.

Personal property

sometimes called personalty, is all the property that can be owned and that does not fit the definition of real property. An important distinction between the two is that personal property is movable. Items of personal property, also called chattels, include such tangibles as chairs, tables, clothing, money, bonds, and bank accounts.