RE Unit 4
pur autre vie
"For the life of another." It's a life estate that is measured by the life of a person or persons other than the grantee. Provides for inheritance of the property right by the life tenant's heirs, but the right exists only until the death of the identified person or persons. Often created for people who are physically or mentally incapacitated in the hope of providing incentive for someone to care for them.
license
(1) In real estate practice, the privilege or right granted to a person by a state to operate as a real estate broker or salesperson. (2) The revocable permission for a temporary use of land—a personal right that cannot be sold. differs from an easement in that it can be terminated or canceled by the owner of the property. Generally given orally/informally.
encroachment
A building or some portion of it—a wall or fence, for instance—that extends beyond the land of the owner and illegally intrudes on the land of an adjoining owner or a public street or alley.
Fee Simple Determinable
A fee simple estate qualified by a special limitation. Language used to describe the limitation includes the words so long as, while, or during. This estate is qualified by a special limitation (which is an occurrence or event). The language used to distinguish a special limitation—words such as so long as or while or during—is the key to creating this special limitation. If the limitation is violated, the holder of the possibility of reverter (or heir or successor) can reacquire full ownership with no need to bring a legal action in court. The title is automatically transferred to the person who holds the possibility of reverter.
legal life estate
A form of life estate established by state law, rather than created voluntarily by an owner. It becomes effective when certain events occur. See dower, curtesy, and homestead for legal life estates used in some states. Dower, curtesy, and homestead are the examples currently used in some states.
Condemnation
A judicial or administrative proceeding to exercise the power of eminent domain, through which a government agency takes private property for public use and compensates the owner.
leasehold estate
A nonfreehold estate is one for which the length of time of the property's use can be determined.
future interest
A person's present right to an interest in real property that will not result in possession or enjoyment until sometime in the future, such as a reversion or right of reentry. Applies to defeasible estates.
fee simple defeasible
A qualified fee estate that is subject to the occurrence or nonoccurrence of some specified event. There are two categories of this type of estate: fee simple determinable and fee simple subject to a condition subsequent.
lien
A right given by law to certain creditors to have their debts paid out of the property of a defaulting debtor, usually by means of a court sale.
easement
A right to use the land of another for a specific purpose, such as for a right-of-way or utilities; an incorporeal interest in land because it does not include a right of possession.
Inverse condemnation
An action brought by a property owner seeking just compensation for diminished use and value of land because of an adjacent property's public use.
Easement by Prescription
An easement acquired by open, notorious, continuous, hostile and adverse use of the property for the period of time prescribed by state law. The claimant's use must have been continuous, nonexclusive (the owner isn't excluded from using that part of the property), and without the owner's permission. The use must be visible, open, and notorious, and the owner must have been able to learn of it.
easement by necessity
An easement allowed by law as necessary for the full enjoyment of a parcel of real estate (e.g., a right of ingress and egress over a grantor's land). An easement that is created when an owner sells a parcel of land that has no legal access to a street or public way except over the seller's remaining land
terminating an easement
An easement terminates when the need no longer exists, when the owner of either the dominant or the servient tenement becomes sole owner of both properties, by the release of the right of easement to the owner of the servient tenement, by the abandonment of the easement (the intention of the parties is the determining factor), or by the nonuse of a prescriptive easement.
easement appurtenant
An easement that follows along with the land. For this to exist, two adjacent parcels of land must be owned by two different parties. The parcel that benefits from the easement is known as the dominant tenement; the parcel over which the easement runs is known as the servient tenement. If the dominant tenement is conveyed to another party, the easement transfers with the title.
easement in gross
An easement that is not created for the benefit of any land owned by the owner of the easement but that attaches personally to the easement owner. For example, a right granted by a property owner to a friend to use a portion of the property for the rest of the friend's life would be an easement in gross. Other examples: a railroad's right-of-way; the right-of-way of utility easements.
Fee Simple Subject To A Condition Subsequent
An estate carrying the limitation that, if it is no longer used for the purpose conveyed, it reverts to the original grantor by the right of reentry. An owner gives real estate on condition of ownership, which means there is a difference in the way the estate will terminate if there is a violation of the condition. With this type of estate, the estate does not automatically terminate upon violation of the condition of ownership. The owner (or the owner's heir or successor) has the right of reentry but must bring a legal action in court to assert this right.
Freehold estate
An estate in land in which ownership is for an indeterminate length of time, in contrast to a leasehold estate. Types of freehold estates: fee simple: fee simple absolute, fee simple defeasible, special limitation with possibility of reverter, condition subsequent with right of re-entry; life estates: conventional life estate, ordinary with remainder or reversion, pur autre vie with remainder or reversion, legal life state, dower, homestead, curtesy.
life estate
An interest in real or personal property that is limited in duration to the lifetime of its owner or some other designated person or persons. Unlike other freehold estates, this estate is based on the life of the holder of the estate is not inheritable. It passes to the future owner according to the provisions by which the life estate was created.
encumbrance
Anything—such as a mortgage, tax, or judgment lien; an easement; a restriction on the use of the land; or an outstanding dower right—that may diminish the value or use and enjoyment of a property.
deed restriction
Clauses in a deed limiting the future uses of the property. Deed restrictions may impose a vast variety of limitations and conditions—for example, they may limit the density of buildings, dictate the types of structures that can be erected, or prevent buildings from being used for specific purposes or even from being used at all. Cannot violate any law, such as a fair housing law, by attempting to prohibit certain property transfers.
homestead
Land that is owned and 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.
Taking
Process of land being taken from a property owner for public use through eminent domain with the requirement that the owner be compensated fairly.
estate in land
The degree, quantity, nature, and extent of interest a person has in real property. Many types of estate exist, but not all interests in real estate are estates. To be an estate in land, an interest must allow possession, meaning the holding and enjoyment of the property either now or in the future, and must be measured according to time. Historically, estates in land have been classified primarily by their length of time of possession.
police power
The government's right to impose laws, statutes, and ordinances, including zoning ordinances and building codes, to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. The state's authority is passed on to municipalities and counties through legislation called enabling acts. What is identified as being in the public interest can vary considerably from state to state and region to region.
life tenant
The holder of a life estate. Her ownership may be sold, mortgaged, or leased, but it is always subject to the finite limitation of the life estate.
fee simple absolute
The maximum possible estate or right of ownership of real property, continuing forever.
Taxation
The process by which a government body raises monies to fund its operation. annual real property taxes assessed by local and area governmental entities to support school districts, transportation districts, and utility districts; taxes on profit realized by individuals and corporations on the sale of real property; and special fees that may be levied to finance special projects, such as road or utility installation.
remainder interest
The remnant of an estate that has been conveyed to take effect and be enjoyed after the termination of a prior estate, such as when an owner conveys a life estate to one party and the remainder to another. The creator of the life estate may name a remainderman as the person to whom the property will pass when the life estate ends.
reversionary interest
The remnant of an estate that the grantor holds after granting a life estate to another person. The creator of the life estate may choose not to name a remainderman. In that case, ownership returns to the original owner upon the end of the life estate.
escheat
The reversion of property to the state or county, as provided by state law, in cases in which a decedent dies intestate without heirs capable of inheriting, or when the property is abandoned.
eminent domain
The right of a government or municipal quasi-public body to acquire property for public use through a court action called condemnation, in which the court decides that the use is a public use and determines the compensation to be paid to the owner.
death with fee simple estate
Upon the death of the owner of a fee simple estate, the property interest passes to the decedent's co-owner, if there is one and the co-ownership was accompanied by a right of survivorship; the person or persons specified in the decedent's will (the devisees); or if the decedent has left no will, to the person or persons designated by the state's law of intestate succession.
Fee simple estate
When a freehold estate continues for an indefinite period and may be passed along to the owner's heirs. The highest interest in real estate recognized by the law; the holder is entitled to all rights to the property.
curtesy
a life estate of a husband in the real estate of his deceased wife.
lis pendens
a notice filed in the public record of a pending legal action affecting the title to or possession of property. creates a "cloud on the title" to the property, which may prevent the property from being sold or further encumbered. Recording of this should act as an incentive to the property owner to resolve the underlying dispute. When the matter is resolved, the party who filed the thingy will record a release to clear the title.
tacking
provides that successive periods of continuous occupation by different parties may be combined to reach the required total number of years necessary to establish a claim for a prescriptive easement.
dower
the life estate of a wife in the real estate of her deceased husband.
Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs)
used by a subdivision developer to maintain specific standards in a subdivision, such as by requiring adherence to certain architectural or design specifications for improvements. Future purchasers of the property should be given a copy of the CC&Rs and should make review of the CC&Rs a condition of the purchase.