Real Property Ownership, Interests, and Land Use
Estates and forms of co-ownership
A freehold estate lasts indefinitely or for a life; a leasehold is personal property. Fee simple absolute is the fullest bundle of rights; defeasible fees can be lost on a condition or event; a life estate ends at death and carries the duty not to commit waste (the life tenant pays ordinary taxes and interest, the remainderman pays principal and capital improvements). Co-ownership questions turn on survivorship: tenants in common have no right of survivorship and may hold unequal shares; joint tenants hold equal shares with survivorship and must acquire title at the same time from the same grantor; tenancy by the entirety is available to married couples in Delaware and similarly carries survivorship. Community property does not exist in Delaware.
Encumbrances, fixtures, and land use
Fixtures pass with the land under the MARIA test (method of attachment, adaptability, relationship of parties, intention). Easements may be appurtenant (runs with the dominant parcel) or in gross (personal), and they end by release, merger, abandonment, prescription, or condemnation. Covenants and deed restrictions are private controls enforced by injunction; zoning, building codes, and subdivision rules are public controls. A variance relieves a hardship; a nonconforming use predates the ordinance; spot zoning is an improper singling out of one parcel. Delaware also regulates coastal development and tidal submerged lands, and its Unit Property Act and common-interest ownership statute govern older condominiums and newer communities respectively.
Trap to watch
An easement is not ownership, and an encroachment is a physical trespass, not a title defect you can ignore in a CMA. A life tenant cannot sell the fee.
Rule of thumb
Ask two questions: does the interest survive death, and does it run with the land?