DE Bar Property Law 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A landowner conveys property "to my daughter for life, then to my grandson and his heirs." What interest does the grandson hold during the daughter's life?
- A vested remainder in fee simple (Correct answer)
- A contingent remainder
- An executory interest
- A reversion
Correct answer: A vested remainder in fee simple
The grandson is an ascertained person taking upon the natural end of the life estate with no condition precedent, so his remainder is vested.
Question 2: A buyer purchases land without searching title. The seller had earlier deeded the same land to another party who never recorded. In a notice-jurisdiction like Delaware's recording framework, who prevails?
- The buyer, if she took for value and without notice of the prior deed (Correct answer)
- The prior grantee, because he was first in time
- The buyer, only if she records before the prior grantee
- The prior grantee, because the buyer failed to search title
Correct answer: The buyer, if she took for value and without notice of the prior deed
Under a notice statute a subsequent bona fide purchaser for value without notice prevails over a prior unrecorded conveyance regardless of who records first.
Question 3: A tenant with a one-year lease remains in possession after the term ends and mails a rent check, which the landlord cashes. What tenancy most likely results?
- A periodic tenancy measured by the rent payment period (Correct answer)
- A new one-year term tenancy in all jurisdictions
- A tenancy at will terminable without notice
- A tenancy at sufferance for another full year
Correct answer: A periodic tenancy measured by the rent payment period
When a landlord accepts rent from a holdover tenant, most courts imply a periodic tenancy based on how rent is paid, though some use the prior term for year-long leases.
Question 4: A neighbor openly uses a path across another's land daily for the statutory prescriptive period, but the owner had given the neighbor written permission at the outset. Can the neighbor claim a prescriptive easement?
- No, because permissive use is not hostile (Correct answer)
- Yes, because the use was open and notorious
- Yes, because the use was continuous for the full period
- No, because prescriptive easements require color of title
Correct answer: No, because permissive use is not hostile
Prescriptive easements require use that is hostile (without permission), so permission defeats the claim no matter how long or open the use.
Question 5: A deed states the seller conveys "with full covenants of warranty." After closing, the buyer discovers an undisclosed mortgage recorded before the sale. Which present covenant has the seller most clearly breached?
- The covenant against encumbrances (Correct answer)
- The covenant of quiet enjoyment
- The covenant of further assurances
- The covenant of warranty
Correct answer: The covenant against encumbrances
An outstanding mortgage existing at the time of conveyance breaches the present covenant against encumbrances immediately upon delivery of the deed.
Question 6: Two siblings hold land as joint tenants with right of survivorship. One sibling secretly conveys her interest to a friend. What is the state of title?
- The friend and the remaining sibling hold as tenants in common (Correct answer)
- The friend and the remaining sibling hold as joint tenants
- The conveyance is void without the other sibling's consent
- The remaining sibling owns the whole upon the conveyance
Correct answer: The friend and the remaining sibling hold as tenants in common
A joint tenant's inter vivos conveyance severs the joint tenancy as to that share, leaving the grantee and the other co-tenant as tenants in common.
Question 7: A buyer signs a contract to purchase a home, and the house burns down before closing through no one's fault. Under the majority doctrine of equitable conversion, who bears the loss?
- The buyer, because equitable title passed at contract signing (Correct answer)
- The seller, because he holds legal title until closing
- The parties share the loss equally
- Neither, because the contract is automatically rescinded
Correct answer: The buyer, because equitable title passed at contract signing
Under equitable conversion the buyer is treated as the equitable owner from the moment of contracting and thus bears the risk of loss in the majority view.
DE Bar Property Law 2
A landowner conveys property "to my daughter for life, then to my grandson and his heirs." What interest does the grandson hold during the daughter's life?