CO Bar Property Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An owner grants "to School District so long as the land is used for a school." What interest does the owner retain?
- A possibility of reverter (Correct answer)
- A right of entry
- A reversion
- An executory interest
Correct answer: A possibility of reverter
A fee simple determinable, created by durational language, leaves the grantor a possibility of reverter that vests automatically.
Question 2: A landowner sells the back half of his parcel, leaving it landlocked with no access to a public road. What easement most likely arises for the buyer?
- An easement by necessity (Correct answer)
- A prescriptive easement
- An express easement
- An easement by estoppel
Correct answer: An easement by necessity
Severance of a commonly owned parcel that leaves one part landlocked creates an easement by necessity.
Question 3: A mortgagor defaults, and the property sells at foreclosure for less than the loan balance. What may the lender typically seek for the shortfall?
- A deficiency judgment against the borrower (Correct answer)
- Reinstatement of the mortgage lien on the property
- An equitable lien on the buyer's other assets
- Nothing, because foreclosure extinguishes the debt
Correct answer: A deficiency judgment against the borrower
When foreclosure proceeds fail to satisfy the debt, the lender may generally pursue a deficiency judgment against the borrower personally.
Question 4: A subdivision developer includes identical residential-use restrictions in every deed but omits it from one lot. When can that lot still be bound?
- When a common scheme existed and the buyer had notice of it (Correct answer)
- Never, because the restriction must appear in the deed
- Only if the buyer signs a separate covenant
- Only if the developer retains ownership of adjacent lots
Correct answer: When a common scheme existed and the buyer had notice of it
Under the implied reciprocal servitude doctrine, a lot may be bound if a common scheme predated the sale and the buyer had actual, record, or inquiry notice.
Question 5: A tenant's landlord fails to fix a broken furnace in winter despite repeated notice, forcing the tenant to leave. What doctrine allows the tenant to terminate the lease?
- Constructive eviction (Correct answer)
- Retaliatory eviction
- Surrender by operation of law
- Anticipatory repudiation
Correct answer: Constructive eviction
A landlord's failure to remedy conditions that substantially interfere with use and enjoyment, followed by the tenant vacating, constitutes constructive eviction.
Question 6: A grantor hands a deed to a grantee saying "this is yours when I die." The grantor keeps possession of the land until death. What is the most likely result?
- The deed fails as a will substitute unless delivery with present intent is shown (Correct answer)
- The deed is valid because manual transfer equals delivery
- The deed automatically becomes a valid will
- The grantee takes a life estate measured by the grantor's life
Correct answer: The deed fails as a will substitute unless delivery with present intent is shown
Delivery requires present intent to pass an interest, and language postponing effect until death suggests testamentary intent that fails without will formalities.
Question 7: A landowner excavates near the property line and the neighbor's land, in its natural state, subsides. What is the excavating owner's liability?
- Strictly liable for withdrawing lateral support of land in its natural state (Correct answer)
- Liable only if negligence is proven
- Not liable absent an express support easement
- Liable only if the neighbor's building caused the collapse
Correct answer: Strictly liable for withdrawing lateral support of land in its natural state
A landowner is strictly liable for subsidence of neighboring land in its natural condition caused by removal of lateral support.
CO Bar Property Law 3
An owner grants "to School District so long as the land is used for a school." What interest does the owner retain?