Property Ownership and Land Use Controls and Regulations
Estates and forms of co-ownership
California recognizes freehold estates (fee simple absolute, fee simple defeasible, life estate) and leasehold estates. Co-ownership appears as tenancy in common (unequal shares allowed, no survivorship), joint tenancy (equal shares; the four unities of time, title, interest, and possession plus right of survivorship), community property (presumption for property acquired during marriage while domiciled in California), and community property with right of survivorship. Separate property is owned before marriage, received by gift or inheritance, or traced to those sources.
Private and public controls
Private controls include CC&Rs, easements (appurtenant versus in gross), licenses, and encroachments. Public controls rest on police power: zoning, building codes, the Subdivision Map Act, CEQA review, and the Coastal Act. Eminent domain requires compensation, while taxation and escheat are other sovereign powers.
Traps
Examiners test whether a restriction is valid police power or a compensable taking; whether an easement runs with the land; and the fixture test (method of attachment, adaptation to the property, and intention of the parties). A nonconforming use may continue but not materially expand; a variance relieves dimensional hardship; a conditional use permit authorizes an otherwise compatible special use.
Rule of thumb
Police power regulates without paying; eminent domain pays to take. If the government physically invades or removes substantially all economic use, think taking.
Worked example
A seller bolts a built-in refrigerator into cabinetry designed around it. Attachment plus adaptation plus the parties' intent make it a fixture, so it conveys with the deed unless the contract expressly excludes it. A freestanding refrigerator is personal property and stays behind.