PA Unit 1: Real Property and the Law

3 forms of rights:

1) land rights (surface, air, water, and mineral rights) 2) ownership rights (such as the right of an owner to possess, transfer, and control the property) 3) government rights (such as land use controls, taxation, eminent domain, and escheat)

3 types of land rights:

1) surface rights 2) subsurface rights 3) air rights

The word title, as it relates to real property, has two meanings:

1) the right to or ownership of the land, including the owner's bundle of legal rights; and 2) evidence of that ownership by a deed.

Real estate is transferred by (blank):

A deed

In order to obtain water rights from the state:

A landowner must demonstrate to a state agency that the owner's plans are for beneficial use, such as crop irrigation The priority of water rights is usually determined by the oldest recorded permit date

Real property is often coupled with the term appurtenance. An appurtenance (runs with the land) is:

A right or privilege associated with the property, although not necessarily a part of it. Typical appurtenances include parking spaces in multiunit buildings, easements, water rights, and other improvements. An appurtenance is connected to the property, and ownership of the appurtenance normally transfers to the new owner when the property is sold.

Accretion:

Addition to land through natural causes

Land includes not only the surface of the earth but:

Also the underlying soil. It refers to things that are naturally attached to the land, such as boulders and plants. This includes the minerals and substances that lie far below the earth's surface.

In states where water is scarce, ownership and use of water are often determined by the:

Doctrine of prior appropriation *the right to use water is controlled by the state rather than by landowner adjacent to the water.

Erosion:

Gradual wearing away of the land by natural forces

An off-waterfront owner of a water right does not:

Have the right to cross another person's property to access the water source, but Could obtain the right of access from the waterfront owner via an easement

Appurtenances include:

Improvements Rights Interest Fixtures Privileges

Water use rights do not automatically:

Include the right of waterfront access to the water source.

Improvements are:

Items ATTACHED TO THE LAND with the intent of being permanent.

Define land, real estate, and real property:

Land- earth's surface to the center of the earth and the airspace above the land, including the trees and water. Real estate- land + permanent human-made additions. Real property- real estate + "bundle of legal rights".

Both Riparian and Littoral rights are tied to (blank). Ownership rights generally extend to the (blank):

Navigation rights Average high-water mark

The concept of a bundle of rights comes from:

Old English law. In the Middle Ages, a seller transferred property by giving the purchaser a handful of earth or a bundle of bound sticks from a tree on the property. After accepting the bundle, the purchaser became the owner of the tree from which the sticks came and the land to which the tree was attached. Because the rights of ownership (like the sticks) can be separated and individually transferred, the sticks became symbolic of those rights.

Water rights:

Right of water use Riparian rights- land abutting (*flowing water* (**R = river**)) Littoral rights- land abutting (*standing water* (**L = Lake**))

Air rights:

Rights extend as high as can be legally used Government controls air space above

The surface rights are the (blank). The subsurface rights are the (blank). An owner may (blank) surface rights (blank):

Rights to use the surface of the earth Rights to the natural resources lying below the earths surface Transfer Without transferring the subsurface rights

Avulsion:

Sudden loss of land by an act of nature *the property line is generally maintained even if the land is no longer there

Land rights:

Surface rights- the entire surface of the land

Title refers to ownership of real property, not to a printed document. The document by which the owner transfers title to the real property is:

The Deed.

Land is defined as:

The earth's surface extending downward to the center of the earth and upward into space, including permanent natural objects such as trees and water.

Real property includes both land and real estate. It is also defined as:

The interests, benefits, and rights that are automatically included in the ownership of the land and real estate.

Real estate is immovable. When a property is sold:

The land and all appurtenances automatically transfer to the new owner, via deed.

Real estate is defined as:

The land plus appurtenances that are attached to the land.

In everyday usage, real estate includes:

The legal rights of ownership specified in the definition of real property. Sometimes people use the term realty instead.

Easement:

The right to use the lands of another for a specific purpose

Mineral rights (subsurface rights) are (blank) when the property is (blank) unless (blank):

Transferred Sold Reserved by the seller *mineral rights may be leased or sold separately from the land *they also may be held by a third party

Traditionally, ownership rights of real property are described as a bundle of legal rights. These rights include the:

right of possession, right to control the property within the framework of the law, right of enjoyment (to use the property in any legal manner), right of exclusion (to keep others from entering or using the property), and right of disposition (to sell, will, transfer, or otherwise dispose of or encumber the property).