CT Bar Real Property & Land Use 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A deed contains a covenant that the land 'shall never be used for commercial purposes.' A successor owner opens a retail shop. Which party may enforce this restriction?
- Any neighbor in the surrounding area
- Only the original grantor's estate
- A party who can show the restriction was part of a common scheme (Correct answer)
- The municipality by virtue of its zoning authority
Correct answer: A party who can show the restriction was part of a common scheme
A restrictive covenant running with the land is enforceable by parties who can demonstrate it was part of a general plan or common scheme of development.
Question 2: Under the Connecticut recording act (race-notice statute), a subsequent purchaser is protected only if she:
- Records first, regardless of notice
- Pays value and records before a prior unrecorded instrument, without notice of it (Correct answer)
- Takes possession before the prior grantee
- Files a lis pendens within 30 days of purchase
Correct answer: Pays value and records before a prior unrecorded instrument, without notice of it
Connecticut's race-notice statute protects a subsequent bona fide purchaser who pays value, lacks notice of a prior conveyance, and records first.
Question 3: A landlord rents an apartment 'month-to-month.' To terminate the tenancy, Connecticut law requires notice of at least:
- 7 days
- 30 days (Correct answer)
- 3 days
- 60 days
Correct answer: 30 days
Connecticut requires at least one full rental period's notice (typically 30 days) to terminate a month-to-month tenancy.
Question 4: Which doctrine prevents a grantor who conveys property by deed from later claiming a greater estate than what was conveyed, even if the grantor subsequently acquires that greater estate?
- Equitable estoppel
- Estoppel by deed
- After-acquired title (Correct answer)
- Merger doctrine
Correct answer: After-acquired title
The after-acquired title (or estoppel by deed) doctrine automatically passes to the grantee any interest the grantor later acquires in the same property.
Question 5: A mortgagor in Connecticut defaults. The lender forecloses by strict foreclosure. What is the legal effect of a law day passing without redemption?
- Title vests absolutely in the lender with no further action needed (Correct answer)
- The court must confirm the sale at a public auction
- The mortgagor retains a one-year statutory right of redemption
- The lender must obtain a deficiency judgment before acquiring title
Correct answer: Title vests absolutely in the lender with no further action needed
In Connecticut's strict foreclosure, if the mortgagor fails to redeem by the law day set by the court, title vests absolutely in the lender.
Question 6: An easement appurtenant differs from an easement in gross in that an easement appurtenant:
- Can only be created by express grant
- Benefits a specific parcel of land rather than an individual (Correct answer)
- Is always assignable
- Cannot be extinguished by merger
Correct answer: Benefits a specific parcel of land rather than an individual
An easement appurtenant benefits a dominant estate (parcel of land) and transfers automatically with that parcel, unlike an easement in gross which belongs to a person.
Question 7: A testator devises Blackacre 'to A for life, then to B's children.' At the testator's death, B has no children. Under the modern view (Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities), the remainder to B's children is:
- Void because it might not vest within lives in being plus 21 years
- Valid because the wait-and-see period allows it to vest within 90 years (Correct answer)
- Converted into a fee simple in A
- Valid only if B is alive at the testator's death
Correct answer: Valid because the wait-and-see period allows it to vest within 90 years
Under the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities (adopted in Connecticut), an interest that might violate the RAP is given a 90-year wait-and-see period before being voided.
CT Bar Real Property & Land Use 2
A deed contains a covenant that the land 'shall never be used for commercial purposes.' A successor owner opens a retail shop.
Which party may enforce this restriction?