Real Property Characteristics, Ownership, and Interests
Land, attachments, and estates
Real property includes land, things permanently attached, and the bundle of rights (use, possess, exclude, transfer, encumber). Personal property becomes a fixture when it is permanently attached. Illinois questions usually test four clues: intention of the parties, method of annexation, adaptation to the property, and any agreement between buyer and seller. Trade fixtures installed by a commercial tenant generally remain the tenant's and are removed before lease end.
Estates and forms of co-ownership. Fee simple absolute is the largest estate; a life estate ends at death with no inheritance by the life tenant's heirs; leaseholds are personal property interests. Concurrent owners may hold as tenants in common (unequal shares, no survivorship), joint tenants (four unities - time, title, interest, possession - plus survivorship), or, for married couples, tenants by the entirety. Illinois is not a community property state.
Encumbrances and government powers. Encumbrances include liens, easements (appurtenant runs with the land; in gross is personal), licenses, encroachments, and deed restrictions. An easement by necessity arises from landlocked parcels; prescription in Illinois generally requires about 20 years of adverse use. Government powers: taxation, eminent domain, police power (zoning), escheat.
Trap: joint tenancy questions - if one joint tenant conveys his interest to a stranger, the joint tenancy is severed as to that share and the parties become tenants in common. Also, the Illinois homestead estate (protection from forced sale) is not the property-tax homestead exemption.
Example: three siblings take title as joint tenants; one deeds her share to a friend. Result: the friend and the two siblings hold as tenants in common - no survivorship between them.