Property Ownership, Interests, and Estates
Estates in land
Freehold estates last indefinitely or for a life; leaseholds are less-than-freehold. Fee simple absolute is the largest bundle of rights. A fee simple determinable ends automatically on a stated event (grantor keeps a possibility of reverter); a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent requires the grantor to act (right of entry). A life estate is measured by a life, carries a duty not to commit waste, and is paired with a remainder (to a third party) or a reversion (to the grantor).
Co-ownership
Tenancy in common allows unequal shares, has no survivorship, and is freely inheritable. Joint tenancy requires equal shares and the four unities (time, title, interest, possession) and carries survivorship. Tenancy by the entirety is limited to spouses and includes survivorship. A joint tenant's conveyance of her share severs the joint tenancy as to that share.
Encumbrances and limits
Easements appurtenant run with the land; easements in gross benefit a person. Easements arise by express grant, implication, necessity, or prescription. Liens are voluntary or involuntary, general or specific. Deed restrictions and CC&Rs are private controls; zoning is public.
Forms of ownership
Condominium: unit ownership plus an undivided interest in common elements. Cooperative: corporate shares plus a proprietary lease. PUDs, timeshares, and air or subsurface rights all appear in questions.
Traps
- Remainder versus reversion: who holds the future interest?
- A joint tenant's will does not control her share - survivorship does.
- An encroachment encumbers title but is not an easement.
Rule of thumb
Trace the sticks in the bundle: possession, use, transfer, exclusion, enjoyment. Whoever holds them owns the estate; everything else is an encumbrance.
Worked example
A and B take title as joint tenants. A sells his interest to C. B and C now hold as tenants in common, and B's survivorship right as to A's former half is extinguished.