Real Estate and Property Law
Estates, Ownership, and Transfers
Know the estates: fee simple absolute, life estate, and leasehold. Concurrent ownership includes tenancy in common, joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and tenancy by the entirety. Joint tenancy requires the four unities - time, title, interest, and possession - and is severed by conveyance. Deeds require delivery and acceptance; recording protects against later purchasers under race, notice, or race-notice statutes. Easements may be appurtenant or in gross, created by grant, implication, necessity, or prescription. Covenants run with the land if they touch and concern it. Landlord-tenant law covers leases, security deposits, and eviction; mortgages and foreclosure govern financing.
Traps
Recording acts differ: notice protects a later purchaser without notice; race-notice requires both no notice and recording first. Adverse possession requires actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous possession for the statutory period. A life tenant cannot commit waste. An easement appurtenant benefits a dominant parcel; in gross benefits a person.
Worked Example
O conveys to A, who does not record. O then conveys to B, who records without notice of A. In a notice jurisdiction, B wins; in a race-notice jurisdiction, B also wins if B recorded first and lacked notice. Rule of thumb: identify the recording statute before picking a winner.