Real Estate Ownership & Land Use

Real property generally includes land, things permanently attached to land, and rights that run with ownership. Personal property is movable property that is not treated as real property. On exam questions, classify the item before deciding which transfer, disclosure, or ownership rule applies.

Real property ordinarily includes land, things legally treated as attached to it, and rights or interests associated with ownership. Personal property is generally movable property that has not become part of the realty. This classification matters because a deed usually transfers the described real-property interest, while a bill of sale or a contract term may be needed to address personal items.

Classification is contextual rather than a simple test of weight or ease of removal. A wall-mounted television may remain personal property even though its bracket is attached; a built-in cabinet is ordinarily part of the realty. Items used in a business or tenant's trade can be trade fixtures and may remain the tenant's personal property, subject to the lease and timely removal obligations. An express inclusion or exclusion in the purchase agreement can resolve many disputes.

Whether an item became a fixture depends on the facts. A useful exam framework is MARIA: Method of attachment, Adaptability, Relationship of the parties, Intention, and Agreement. No single factor always controls.

MARIA organizes a fixture analysis: Method of attachment, Adaptability to the property's use, Relationship of the parties, Intention when the item was installed, and Agreement. Consider these factors together. For example, attachment by bolts and wiring suggests a fixture, while an item designed to move with a tenant's business may point the other way. The intent inferred from objective circumstances is more useful than a party's undisclosed later claim.

The parties' agreement is especially valuable in a sale or lease. It can identify items that stay, items a seller or tenant may remove, and whether repair of removal damage is required. California Civil Code § 660 describes affixation and expressly accommodates certain things agreed to be severed before a sale. A contract should not leave an expensive or disputed item to inference if the parties can name it.

A freehold estate is an ownership interest, commonly fee simple or a life estate; a leasehold is a tenant's possessory estate for a stated or determinable term. A life tenant has present rights of use but must not injure the remainder interest. Do not confuse an estate's duration with the physical condition or value of the property.

Fee simple is the broadest ordinary private ownership estate and may be transferred or inherited, subject to law and recorded or other valid limitations. A life estate lasts for the life used to measure it; when that life ends, possession passes according to the remainder or reversion created in the instrument. A life tenant can use the property, but cannot waste it by materially damaging the future interest.

A leasehold grants possession rather than the landlord's full ownership estate. Its duration may be a fixed term, periodic, or otherwise determinable under the lease and applicable law. Read the instrument to identify who has present possession, who holds the future interest, and what event ends each interest. The labels alone do not answer whether a particular transfer or use is permitted.

California property may be held by more than one owner. Common forms include tenancy in common, joint tenancy, community property, and community property with right of survivorship. The form of title can affect transfer, survivorship, probate, taxation, and creditor issues.

Co-ownership form determines whether an owner's share passes automatically at death, whether shares must be equal, and how title may be transferred. Tenancy in common generally permits separate undivided shares that may be unequal and carries no automatic survivorship. Joint tenancy is a distinct form that must be created in the manner required by law, including express declaration; it includes survivorship while it remains in effect.

For spouses, community property is a statutory marital-property regime, not simply another name for joint tenancy. Community property with right of survivorship adds survivorship by an express title form. These labels can affect probate, management, tax, and creditor outcomes, which should not be inferred from the number of owners or their relationship. Read the vesting language and refer legal, tax, and estate-planning questions to qualified professionals.

A legal description identifies real property with enough certainty for legal purposes. Common systems include lot and block, metes and bounds, and the government survey system. A street address is useful for navigation but is not necessarily a sufficient legal description.

A legal description identifies the parcel with enough precision for conveyance and title work. Lot-and-block descriptions refer to a recorded subdivision map; metes and bounds describe a boundary by directions and distances returning to a point of beginning; the government survey system uses mapped townships, ranges, and sections. A street address helps locate a property but may not uniquely define its legal boundaries.

Descriptions should be copied from reliable title or recorded instruments and checked against the parcel involved. A typographical error, omitted unit, or mismatched lot can create uncertainty about what was conveyed. A survey can help locate boundary lines, but a salesperson should not promise that a fence is the legal boundary. Refer discrepancies to the title officer, surveyor, or attorney and ensure transaction documents identify the intended parcel.

An easement is a nonpossessory right to use another's land for a particular purpose. A license is generally permission that does not create the same real-property interest. An encroachment is an unauthorized physical intrusion across a boundary.

An easement is a nonpossessory right to use another parcel for a limited purpose, such as access or utility lines. An easement appurtenant benefits a dominant parcel and burdens a servient parcel; an easement in gross benefits a person or entity rather than another parcel. A license is generally permission to do something on land and does not ordinarily create the same property interest. The exact instrument and facts matter.

An encroachment is a physical intrusion across a boundary, such as a fence or roof overhang. It is not itself an easement, though long use or an agreement may raise separate legal questions. Buyers should review title exceptions and available surveys for access and boundary issues. Agents should disclose known material facts and avoid promising that an informal path or longstanding fence establishes a legally enforceable right.

A lien is a claim or charge against property as security for an obligation. Liens may be voluntary or involuntary, specific or general. Priority determines the order in which competing interests are paid or protected, subject to statutory exceptions.

A lien is a claim against property securing or arising from an obligation; it does not ordinarily give the lienholder general possession. A mortgage or deed of trust is a consensual security interest, while tax and judgment liens arise under legal rules. A lien may attach to one identified property (specific) or reach a broader set of assets (general), depending on its source.

Priority determines which competing interests are paid or protected first, but a simple 'first recorded always wins' rule is incomplete. The type of lien, recording, notice, statutory priority, and applicable foreclosure rules all matter. In a transaction, a title search identifies recorded encumbrances, and escrow commonly obtains payoff and release instructions. A broker should not assure a party that an unreviewed lien will disappear merely because the property is sold.

Ownership is not unlimited. Government controls include police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat. Private controls can include covenants, conditions, restrictions, easements, and agreements.

Ownership is limited by public powers and private arrangements. Police power supports regulations such as zoning and building rules; eminent domain permits qualifying public takings subject to constitutional compensation requirements. Taxation raises public revenue, and escheat transfers property to the state in specified circumstances when no person is legally entitled to it. These powers have different purposes and should not be conflated.

Private controls include recorded covenants, conditions, restrictions, easements, and agreements. A restriction may limit use even when the owner holds fee title. Before advising that a proposed use is allowed, check zoning and other public rules as well as title exceptions and recorded covenants; a broker's general understanding is not a land-use determination. Conflicts may require review by local authorities or counsel.