Property Law Flashcards

O conveys "to A and her heirs so long as the land is used as a farm, then to B." What future interest does B hold?

Answer: A shifting executory interest

A future interest in a third party that cuts short a fee simple determinable is a shifting executory interest.

A landlord and residential tenant's lease says the tenant accepts the unit "as is" and waives all repair claims. The furnace fails and the landlord refuses to fix it. In jurisdictions recognizing the implied warranty of habitability, what result?

Answer: The warranty applies because it generally cannot be waived in residential leases

The implied warranty of habitability protects residential tenants and in most jurisdictions cannot be waived by lease provisions.

A buyer purchases land at a foreclosure sale, but a prior owner's ex-spouse occupies the property under an unrecorded deed. The buyer never inspected the premises. Regarding notice, what is the likely result?

Answer: The buyer is charged with inquiry notice from the occupant's visible possession

Open possession by someone other than the record owner puts a purchaser on inquiry notice of the possessor's potential rights.

A landowner sells the back half of his parcel, leaving it with no access to a public road except across the retained front half. The deed says nothing about access. What right does the buyer most likely have?

Answer: An easement by necessity over the seller's retained land

Severance of a commonly owned parcel that landlocks one portion creates an easement by necessity over the retained land.

A testator devises Blackacre to a friend, but before death the testator sells Blackacre and never amends the will. At the testator's death, what does the friend take under the traditional doctrine of ademption?

Answer: Nothing, because the specific devise adeems by extinction

Under ademption by extinction, a specific devise fails when the property is not in the estate at death.

In Indiana, a mortgagor whose home is sold at a sheriff's foreclosure sale generally has what right after the sale is confirmed?

Answer: No statutory right of redemption after the sale; redemption must occur before the sale

Indiana permits redemption only before the foreclosure sale; once the sheriff's sale occurs, there is no statutory post-sale redemption for the mortgagor.

A zoning ordinance is enacted after a small grocery store has lawfully operated in what is now a residential zone. What is the store's status?

Answer: A lawful nonconforming use that may generally continue

A use lawfully established before a zoning change becomes a nonconforming use that may continue, though it typically cannot expand.