Real property
Land, attachments, and appurtenances
Personal property
Anything that is not real property. Its main characteristic is movability.
Appurtenance
A right incidental to the land that is transferred with it.
Riparian rights
The water rights of a landowner whose land borders on a stream or other surface water. Riparian rights allow only reasonable use of the water.
Littoral property
Land bordered by a stationary body of water, such as a lake or a pond.
Appropriative rights
Water rights established by obtaining a government permit, and not based on ownership of land beside a body of water.
Lateral support
The support that a piece of land receives from the surrounding land.
Subjacent support
The support that a piece of land receives from the underlying earth.
Emblements
Crops, such as wheat, produced annually through the labor of the cultivator.
Trade fixtures
Personal property attached to real property by a tenant for use in his trade or business. Trade fixtures are removable by the tenant.
Metes and bounds
A system of land description in which the boundaries of a parcel of land are described by reference to monuments, courses, and distances.
Monument
A visible marker (natural or artificial) used in a survey or a metes and bounds description to establish the boundaries of a piece of property.
Point of beginning
The starting point in a metes and bounds description; a monument or a point described by reference to a monument.
Course
In a metes and bounds description, a direction, stated in terms of a compass bearing.
Distance
In a metes and bounds description, the length of a boundary, measured in any convenient unit of length.
Government survey
A system of land description in which the land is divided into squares called townships, and each township is, in turn, divided into 36 sections, each one square mile or 640 acres.
Principal meridian
In the government survey system, the main north-south line in a particular grid, used as the starting point in numbering the ranges and township tiers. California's principal meridians are the Humboldt, Mt. Diablo, and San Bernardino meridians.
Range
In the government survey system, a strip of land six miles wide, running north and south.
Township
The intersection of a range and a township tier in the government survey system. It is a parcel of land that is six miles square and contains 36 sections.
Section
One square mile of land, containing 640 acres. There are 36 sections in a township.
Government lot
In the government survey system, a parcel of land that is not a regular section.
Recorded map
The system of description used for subdivided land. The properties within a subdivision are assigned lot numbers on a plat map, which is then recorded. The location and dimensions of a particular lot can be determined by consulting the recorded plat.
Air lot
A parcel of property above the surface of the earth, not containing any land. For example, a condominium unit on the third floor of the building occupies an air lot.
Real property is equivalent to:
A. land
B. personal property
C. land, attachments, and appurtenances
D. land and water
C. land, attachments, and appurtenances
The most important consideration in determining whether an article is a fixture is:"
A. physical attachment
B. the annexor's intention
C. adaptation of the article to the realty
D. the intended use of the article
B. the annexor's intention
Articles installed in or on realty by tenants for use in a business are called:"
A. personalty
B. trade fixtures
C. emblements
D. easements
B. trade fixtures
A right that goes with or pertains to real property is called:"
A. an attachment
B. an appurtenance
C. personal property
D. a fixture
B. an appurtenance
A landowner's rights regarding water in a stream flowing through her land are called:"
A. riparian rights
B. littoral rights
C. appropriative rights
D. easement rights
A. riparian rights
Minerals become personal property when they are:"
A. "surveyed
B. extracted from the land
C. taken to a refinery
D. claimed
B. extracted from the land
Rights to oil and gas are determined by:"
A. the rule of capture
B. offset wells
C. the Bureau of Land Management
D. the Department of the Interior
A. the rule of capture
Whether land borders on a lake or stream is irrelevant under the system of:"
A. riparian rights
B. capture rights
C. littoral rights
D. appropriative rights
D. appropriative rights
Ted's property is damaged by sinkholes caused by old coal mining tunnels beneath his land. The rights implicated in this situation are:"
A. "riparian rights
B. subjacent support rights
C. proximate support rights
D. lateral support rights
B. subjacent support rights
Which of the following is most likely to be considered part of the real property?"
A. Piano
B. Dining room table
C. Living room drapes
D. Kitchen sink
D. Kitchen sink
Which of the following benefits tenant farmers?"
A. Doctrine of emblements
B. Rule of capture
C. Overlying rights
D. Method of attachment test
A. Doctrine of emblements
A section of a township contains the following number of acres:"
A. 360
B. 580
C. 640
D. 560
C. 640
A parcel that measures 1/4 of a mile by 1/4 of a mile is:"
A. 1/4 of a section
B. 1/8 of a section
C. 1/16 of a section
D. 1/36 of a section
C. 1/16 of a section
The distance between the east and west boundary lines of a township is:"
A. one mile
B. two miles
C. six miles
D. ten miles
C. six miles
A township contains 36 sections that are numbered consecutively 1 through 36. The last section in the township is located in the:"
A. southeast corner
B. southwest corner
C. northeast corner
D. northwest corner
A. southeast corner
Appurtenance
An appurtenance is something that goes with or pertains to ownership of a piece of real property, but isn't necessarily a physical part of the property.
Air rights, water rights, mineral rights, and support rights are all examples of appurtenances.
Air rights
A real property owner has the right to use the airspace above the property.
Air rights are limited by federal aviation law, and may also be affected by zoning and other restrictions. Air rights may be sold separately from the surface property.
Water rights
Water rights concern the right to use water in connection with real property. Water rights may be governed by the riparian rights system or the appropriative rights system.
Riparian rights
Under the riparian rights system, a property owner has the right to take water for domestic purposes from a source that touches his land.
The water may not be used on a location other than the riparian property.
Littoral rights
Littoral water is standing water, such as a lake or the ocean, as distinguished from riparian water, such as a river.
However, under the riparian rights system, an owner of littoral land has essentially the same water rights as an owner of riparian land.
Appropriative rights
The appropriative rights system has largely replaced the riparian rights system in California.
Under the appropriative rights system, someone who wants to take water from a water source must obtain a permit from the state, even if she owns land beside the
Mineral rights
Solid minerals are part of the real property until they are extracted. A landowner has the right to extract the solid minerals that lie within his property's inverted pyramid.
Mineral rights may be sold separately from the land.
Rule of capture
Oil and gas rights are governed by the rule of capture. Under this rule, a landowner has the right to any oil or natural gas captured by wells on her property.
Like other mineral rights, oil and gas rights may be sold separately from the land.
Support rights
A landowner has the right to lateral and subjacent support, which is the natural support that his land receives from the land on each side and the land underneath.
Subsurface:
Everything beneath the surface down to the center of the earth
Improvements
Things that have been added to, built on, or done to the land to improve or develop it.
A house, a driveway, and landscaping are all examples of improvements.
Attachments
Things attached or affixed to the land are called attachments, and they are part of the real property unless otherwise agreed.
Attachments are classified as natural or manmade. Manmade attachments are called fixtures.
Natural attachments
Natural attachments are plants growing on the land naturally, or planted there by people. They are ordinarily part of the real property.
However, crops that have been sold may be considered personal property even before they're harvested.
Doctrine of emblements
Under certain circumstances, the doctrine of emblements gives a tenant farmer the right to harvest crops after the lease has expired.
Fixtures
Manmade items of personal property become realty if they are attached to or otherwise closely connected to the land or improvements.
Manmade items that have become realty are called fixtures.
Fixture tests
In the absence of a written agreement between the buyer and seller, four tests are used in deciding whether a disputed item is a fixture.
These are the method of attachment test, the adaptation test, the intention test, and the relationship test.
Severance
Some types of appurtenances and attachments to real property may be severed from the land and transformed into personal property.
Legal description
A property's legal description enables the location and boundaries of the property to be precisely identified.
The three main methods of legal description are metes and bounds, government survey, and recorded map.
Metes & bounds method
In a metes & bounds description, monuments, courses, and distances are used to define the property's boundaries. The description must start at and return to a point of beginning.
Government survey method
A government survey (rectangular survey) description identifies the property by its position within a particular section, township, and range.
The description must also include the name of the principal meridian.
Recorded map method
Property on subdivided land is identified by its lot and block numbers as shown on the plat map that the developer recorded.
Nearly all properties in developed areas can be described with the recorded map method.