Property Law Flashcards

A developer records a declaration stating that all lots in a subdivision are restricted to single-family residential use. A later buyer with record notice opens a business on her lot. Neighbors sue. What is the neighbors' strongest theory?

Answer: Enforcement of an equitable servitude under a common scheme

A recorded common-scheme restriction binds purchasers with notice as an equitable servitude enforceable by injunction.

A buyer signs a contract to purchase a house, and the house burns down before closing through no one's fault. Under the majority equitable conversion doctrine, who bears the risk of loss?

Answer: The buyer, because equitable title passed at contract signing

Under equitable conversion, the buyer holds equitable title from the moment of contracting and bears the risk of loss absent a contrary agreement.

A mortgagor in Kentucky defaults, and the lender forecloses. The property sells for less than the debt. What must the lender obtain to recover the shortfall from the borrower personally?

Answer: A deficiency judgment

A deficiency judgment allows the lender to pursue the borrower personally for the unpaid balance after the foreclosure sale.

A grantor hands a deed to a grantee saying, "This is yours when I die." The grantee records it immediately. The grantor continues living on and paying taxes on the land. On the grantor's death, heirs challenge the deed. What is the central legal issue?

Answer: Whether the grantor had present intent to deliver the deed

A deed is effective only upon delivery with present intent to pass an interest, and words postponing effect until death suggest no present intent.

A neighbor's use of a gravel path across another's land was open, continuous, and without permission for the full prescriptive period, but the owner occasionally used the same path too. Does the neighbor acquire a prescriptive easement?

Answer: Yes, because exclusivity is not required for a prescriptive easement

Unlike adverse possession, a prescriptive easement does not require exclusive use, so shared use with the owner does not defeat the claim.

A tenant vacates a leased apartment with eight months left on the lease. In jurisdictions following the modern rule, what must the landlord do before recovering the full remaining rent?

Answer: Make reasonable efforts to mitigate by reletting the premises

The modern majority rule treats leases like contracts and requires landlords to make reasonable efforts to mitigate damages.

O conveys "to the school board so long as the land is used as a school." What future interest does O retain?

Answer: A possibility of reverter

A fee simple determinable, created by durational language like "so long as," leaves the grantor a possibility of reverter that vests automatically.