Unit 7 - Real Estate Interests (Vocabulary Flashcards)

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering Unit 7 topics: government powers, types of estates, easements, encumbrances, water rights, etc.

Police Power

State authority to enact laws protecting public health, safety, order, and general welfare (e.g., zoning, building codes); must be uniform and nondiscriminatory.

Eminent Domain

Government's right to acquire private property for public use, with just compensation and due process.

Condemnation

Process by which the government exercises eminent domain to take property.

Quick-Take

A summary eminent domain proceeding in Illinois where the government obtains immediate fee simple title with provisional compensation.

Kelo v. City of New London (2005)

Supreme Court decision expanding the notion of 'public use' to include economic redevelopment; states define rules thereafter.

Equity in Eminent Domain Act (Illinois)

Illinois law requiring fair market value, relocation costs, and attorney’s fees for property owners in eminent domain cases.

Taxation

A charge on real estate to fund government needs; includes real estate taxes, gains taxes on sale, and special fees.

Escheat

State (or county) acquisition of property when owner dies without heirs or a will; prevents property from being ownerless.

Land Estates

Classification of property interests into freehold (ownership) and leasehold (possession for a term); includes fee simple, life estates, and leases.

Fee Simple Estate

Unlimited duration; passes to heirs or by will; two major divisions: absolute and defeasible.

Fee Simple Absolute

Highest form of ownership with full ownership rights, limited only by public/private restrictions.

Fee Simple Defeasible

Qualified estate subject to a condition or event; may be ended and reversion to grantor.

Condition Subsequent

Grantor retains right of re-entry if a condition is violated; may require court action to reclaim.

Right of Re-Entry

Future interest allowing grantor to reclaim ownership if a condition is breached.

Possibility of Reverter

Future interest that may automatically revert to the grantor for a fee simple determinable.

Fee Simple Determinable

Defeasible estate with a special limitation; automatic reversion if the condition ends; words like so long as, while, during.

Life Estate

Freehold estate limited to the life of the owner or designated person; not inheritable; subject to waste.

Life Tenant

Holder of a life estate who can possess, use, and gain profits but must not commit waste.

Waste

Damage or deterioration of property by a life tenant beyond normal use; can lead to injunction or damages.

Conventional Life Estate

Life estate created by deed or will; ends at life tenant's death and passes to remainder or grantor.

Pur Autre Vie

Life estate measured by someone else’s life; ends at the death of the measuring life.

Remainder

Future ownership designated to a person after a life estate ends.

Reversion

Future ownership reverts to the original owner if no remainder is named.

Dower

Wife’s life estate in her deceased husband’s real estate.

Curtesy

Husband’s life estate in his deceased wife’s real estate.

Homestead

Legal life estate in a family home; protects a portion from unsecured creditors; varies by state.

Elective Share

Right of a surviving spouse to claim a portion of the deceased spouse’s estate under the probate rules.

Appurtenant Easement

An easement attached to a dominant parcel that benefits the owner of that parcel and runs with the land.

Dominant Tenement

Parcel that benefits from an appurtenant easement.

Servient Tenement

Parcel burdened by an easement.

Easement in Gross

Easement not tied to any particular parcel; owned by an individual or company (e.g., railroad, utilities); often cannot be transferred except for commercial rights.

Easement by Necessity

Easement created by court order when land has no access to a street other than over the seller’s land.

Easement by Prescription

Acquired by open, continuous, exclusive, adverse use over a statutory period (Illinois: 20 years; can be tacked).

Easement by Condemnation

Easement acquired through eminent domain for a public purpose; servient owner must be compensated.

Terminating an Easement

Endures when need ends, by merger, release, abandonment, non-use, adverse possession, destruction, quiet title action, or conversion.

Encumbrance

A claim against real estate that affects title but does not give possession (e.g., liens, restrictions, easements, encroachments).

Liens

Charges against property to secure debts; include real estate taxes, mortgages, judgments, and mechanics’ liens.

Deed Restrictions (CC&Rs)

Private agreements restricting land use that run with the land; enforceable by developers, HOAs, or original owners.

CC&Rs

Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions; private land-use standards in a subdivision.

License

Personal privilege to enter land for a specific purpose; can be revoked; ends on death or sale; not a right.

Encroachments

Structures that cross property lines or building setbacks; detected by spot surveys; may lead to damages or removal.

Spot Survey

Survey showing exact location of improvements relative to lot boundaries.

Nature & Water

Water rights: riparian (riverfront) and littoral (lake/ocean); prior appropriation (water scarce states) governs uses.

Riparian Rights

Right of landowners along a river to use water in the channel, subject to not interrupting flow or contaminating water.

Littoral Rights

Rights of landowners along navigable bodies of water to use water up to mean high-water mark.

Prior Appropriation

Water rights allocated by state; priority based on oldest permit; permits attach to land and determine use.

Accretion

Land gained through the deposition of soil by water (alluvion/alluvium).

Alluvion/Alluvium

Deposited soil forming new land from water action.

Reliction

Land gained when water recedes from previously submerged land.

Erosion

Loss of land due to natural forces over time.

Avulsion

Sudden loss or gain of land due to a rapid natural event (earthquake, mudslide).