Unit 7: Interests in Real Estate

A city decides to build a new library. Which of these terms BEST describes the action taken by the city to acquire the land for the new library?

A) Zoning allows the city to take the land by granting a variance for the library.

B) The city has the right to take the land by eminent domain as long as just compensation is paid the property owners.

C) County laws permit the city to take the land by escheatment so long as the property owners are paid just compensation.

D) The sheriff sells the property at a public sale and pays the owners just compensation, and then the city could build the library.

B) The city has the right to take the land by eminent domain as long as just compensation is paid the property owners.

A purchaser of real estate learned that his ownership rights could continue forever and that no other person could claim to be the owner or exert any ownership control over the property. This person owns a:

A) life estate.

B) determinable fee estate.

C) fee simple absolute interest.

D) fee simple on condition.

C) fee simple absolute interest.

A person owned the fee simple title to a vacant lot adjacent to a hospital and was persuaded to make a gift of the lot. She wanted to have some control over its use, so her attorney prepared her deed to convey ownership of the lot to the hospital “so long as it is used for hospital purposes.” After completion of the gift, the hospital will own a:

A) fee simple absolute estate.

B) license.

C) leasehold estate.

D) fee simple determinable.

D) fee simple determinable.

Your neighbors regularly use your driveway to reach their garage, which is on their property. Your attorney explains that ownership of the neighbor’s real estate includes an easement appurtenant giving them the right to do this. Your property is the:

A) dominant tenement.

B) servient tenement.

C) license property.

D) a leasehold interest.

B) servient tenement.

A tenant who rents an apartment from the owner of the property holds:

A) an easement.

B) a license.

C) a leasehold interest.

D) a freehold interest.

C) a leasehold interest.

If the owner of real estate does not take action against a persistent trespasser before the statutory period has passed, the trespasser may acquire:

A) an easement by necessity.

B) an easement by prescription.

C) a license.

D) title by eminent domain.

B) an easement by prescription.

A property owner wants to use water from a river that runs through his property to irrigate a potato field. To do so, the owner is required by his state’s law to submit an application to the Department of Water Resources describing in detail the beneficial use he plans for the water. If the department approves the property owner’s application, it will issue a permit allowing a limited amount of river water to be diverted onto the property. Based on these facts, what doctrine of law is the state likely relying upon in requiring the property owner to submit this application?

A) Doctrine of prior appropriation

B) Common-law riparian rights

C) Common-law littoral rights

D) Doctrine of highest and best use

A) Doctrine of prior appropriation

Which of these is NOT a governmental power?

A) Easement in gross

B) Police power

C) Eminent domain

D) Taxation

A) Easement in gross

Property deeded to a town “on the condition that it is used for recreational purposes” conveys a:

A) fee simple absolute.

B) condition subsequent.

C) fee simple on condition precedent.

D) leasehold interest.

B) condition subsequent.

A property owner has the legal right to pass over the land owned by her neighbor. This is:

A) an easement.

B) an estate in land.

C) a police power.

D) an encroachment.

A) an easement.

Which of these is a legal life estate?

A) Leasehold

B) Homestead

C) Fee simple absolute

D) Determinable fee

B) Homestead

A father conveys ownership of his residence to his daughter to last for the length of his life. The interest the daughter owns during her father’s lifetime is:

A) pur autre vie.

B) a reversion.

C) a remainder.

D) a leasehold.

A) pur autre vie.

An owner has a fence on her property. By mistake, the fence extends one foot onto the property of a neighbor. The fence is an example of:

A) a license.

B) an easement by necessity.

C) an easement by prescription.

D) an encroachment.

D) an encroachment.

Encumbrances on real estate:

A) make it impossible to sell the encumbered property.

B) must all be removed before the title can be transferred.

C) are established by condition subsequent.

D) include easements and encroachments.

D) include easements and encroachments.

A person has permission from a property owner to hike on the owner’s property during the autumn months. The hiker has:

A) an easement by necessity.

B) a license.

C) an easement by prescription.

D) a determinable freehold interest.

B) a license.

In Illinois, the homestead exemption

A) must be recorded with the county recorder to be in effect.

B) can never be released.

C) is limited to $15,000 per head of household.

D) is limited to littoral rights of $15,000 per residence.

C) is limited to $15,000 per head of household.

What can terminate an easement?

A) Continued use of the easement

B) Owner of either property becomes sole owner of both

C) Release of the easement by the servient tenement

D) Maintenance of the easement

B) Owner of either property becomes sole owner of both

In Illinois, a prescriptive easement may be

A) established by 15 years of continuous, uninterrupted use without the owner’s approval or permission.

B) prevented by posting a “No Trespassing” sign in a prominent place on or near the boundary of the property.

C) established by 20 years of continuous, uninterrupted, exclusive use under claim of right and without the owner’s permission.

D) defeated by showing that the adverse possession was not exercised by a single individual for the requisite period but by successive parties in interest.

C) established by 20 years of continuous, uninterrupted, exclusive use under claim of right and without the owner’s permission.

In Illinois, which of these is TRUE when a decedent’s real property escheats?

A) Ownership of the property goes to the county in which it is located.

B) The decedent’s heirs must receive just compensation for the property’s fair market value, measured at the time of the decedent’s death.

C) The state laws of eminent domain apply.

D) Ownership of the property goes to the state.

A) Ownership of the property goes to the county in which it is located.

The type of easement that is a right-of-way for a utility company’s power lines isan

A) easement by necessity.

B) an easement by prescription.

C) a nonassignable easement.

D) an easement in gross.

D) an easement in gross.