KY Bar Property Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: 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?
- Enforcement of an equitable servitude under a common scheme (Correct answer)
- Trespass to land
- Easement by prescription
- Breach of the implied warranty of habitability
Correct 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.
Question 2: 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?
- The buyer, because equitable title passed at contract signing (Correct answer)
- The seller, because legal title has not passed
- The parties split the loss equally
- The buyer's lender
Correct 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.
Question 3: 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?
- A deficiency judgment (Correct answer)
- A writ of ejectment
- An equitable lien
- A lis pendens
Correct answer: A deficiency judgment
A deficiency judgment allows the lender to pursue the borrower personally for the unpaid balance after the foreclosure sale.
Question 4: 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?
- Whether the grantor had present intent to deliver the deed (Correct answer)
- Whether the deed was properly acknowledged
- Whether the grantee paid consideration
- Whether the deed satisfied the rule against perpetuities
Correct 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.
Question 5: 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?
- Yes, because exclusivity is not required for a prescriptive easement (Correct answer)
- No, because the use was not exclusive
- No, because shared use implies permission
- Yes, but only if the neighbor also paid property taxes
Correct 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.
Question 6: 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?
- Make reasonable efforts to mitigate by reletting the premises (Correct answer)
- Immediately sue for anticipatory repudiation
- Accept the surrender and terminate the lease
- Serve a forcible detainer notice
Correct 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.
Question 7: O conveys "to the school board so long as the land is used as a school." What future interest does O 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 like "so long as," leaves the grantor a possibility of reverter that vests automatically.
KY Bar Property Law 3
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?