Multistate Bar Exam Real Property 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A life tenant makes improvements to real property without the remainderman's consent. Upon the life tenant's death, who owns the improvements?
- The life tenant's estate, which may remove them
- The remainderman, because they become part of the realty (Correct answer)
- They must be auctioned and proceeds split proportionally
- The state, under the doctrine of waste
Correct answer: The remainderman, because they become part of the realty
Improvements attached to realty become part of the land and pass to the remainderman upon the life tenant's death.
Question 2: Oscar conveys land 'to Alice for life, then to Bob if Bob survives Alice.' Bob dies before Alice. What happens to Bob's interest?
- The interest passes to Bob's heirs
- The interest fails and the land reverts to Oscar's estate (Correct answer)
- Alice receives a fee simple absolute
- The interest passes to Alice's heirs
Correct answer: The interest fails and the land reverts to Oscar's estate
Bob held a contingent remainder that failed when he predeceased Alice, causing a reversion to Oscar's estate because no other remainderman was named.
Question 3: Under the Rule Against Perpetuities, a contingent remainder is void if it might not vest within:
- 21 years of creation
- A life in being at creation plus 21 years (Correct answer)
- 100 years
- The lifetime of the grantee
Correct answer: A life in being at creation plus 21 years
The common law RAP voids interests that might not vest within a life in being at the creation of the interest plus 21 years.
Question 4: A mortgagor sells the mortgaged property and the buyer 'takes subject to' the mortgage. The original mortgagor later defaults. Who is personally liable to the lender?
- Only the buyer, as current owner
- Both the buyer and the original mortgagor jointly
- Only the original mortgagor (Correct answer)
- Neither party, because the mortgage was assumed
Correct answer: Only the original mortgagor
When a buyer takes subject to a mortgage without assuming it, the buyer has no personal liability; only the original mortgagor remains personally obligated.
Question 5: A restrictive covenant in a subdivision deed will run with the land at law and bind future owners if it meets which requirement?
- The restriction must benefit neighboring land and touch and concern the land (Correct answer)
- The restriction must be recorded in the grantor-grantee index only
- The covenantor must have actual knowledge of the restriction
- The restriction must be expressly stated in every subsequent deed
Correct answer: The restriction must benefit neighboring land and touch and concern the land
For a covenant to run with the land at law, there must be intent, privity of estate, and the covenant must touch and concern the land.
Question 6: A zoning ordinance prohibits all commercial uses in a residential zone, but a property owner has operated a gas station there for 20 years before the ordinance was enacted. The gas station is best described as:
- An illegal nonconforming use subject to immediate closure
- A legal nonconforming use that may continue (Correct answer)
- A variance granted by operation of law
- A conditional use permitted by the zoning board
Correct answer: A legal nonconforming use that may continue
A use that was lawful before a zoning ordinance was enacted is a legal nonconforming use and is generally permitted to continue.
Question 7: A buyer purchases land from a seller. The deed contains a covenant of seisin. This covenant is breached if:
- The seller dies before closing
- The seller did not own the property at the time of conveyance (Correct answer)
- The land is encumbered by a mortgage
- The buyer fails to record the deed
Correct answer: The seller did not own the property at the time of conveyance
The covenant of seisin is breached at the moment of conveyance if the grantor does not actually own the estate being conveyed.
Multistate Bar Exam Real Property 3
A life tenant makes improvements to real property without the remainderman's consent.
Upon the life tenant's death, who owns the improvements?