Real Property Flashcards

A conveyance reads: 'To Alice and her heirs, but if the land is ever used for commercial purposes, then to Bob.' What interest does Bob hold?

Answer: Executory interest

Bob holds a shifting executory interest because the future interest is held by a third party (not the grantor) and cuts short Alice's fee simple defeasible.

Under New Jersey law, what is the minimum period of open, notorious, hostile, and continuous possession required to establish adverse possession?

Answer: 20 years

New Jersey requires 30 years of adverse possession unless the claimant has paid taxes on the property, in which case the period is 30 years; the standard statutory period codified is 30 years under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-6, though the common law period recognized is 20 years.

A landowner grants a neighbor the right to use a path across her land 'for as long as the neighbor needs it for access.' This creates:

Answer: An easement appurtenant

An easement appurtenant benefits a dominant estate (the neighbor's land) by burdening a servient estate, and it runs with the land when both parcels are involved.

A landlord fails to repair a broken heating system during winter despite repeated tenant requests. The tenant vacates and stops paying rent, claiming constructive eviction. Which element is most critical to establish constructive eviction?

Answer: The tenant must have vacated the premises

Constructive eviction requires that the tenant actually vacate the premises within a reasonable time after the landlord's breach renders the property uninhabitable.

Under the New Jersey recording act, which is a race-notice statute, a subsequent purchaser for value prevails over a prior grantee if the subsequent purchaser:

Answer: Records first and takes without notice of the prior conveyance

Under a race-notice statute, the subsequent purchaser must both record first AND take without notice (actual, constructive, or inquiry) of the prior conveyance.

O conveys Blackacre 'to A for life, then to B if B survives A.' B dies before A. What happens to the remainder?

Answer: The remainder lapses and reverts to O

At common law, a contingent remainder that fails (because the condition—B surviving A—cannot be met) lapses and reverts to the grantor O by way of a reversion.

A real covenant running with the land at law requires which of the following elements?

Answer: Intent, touch and concern, and privity of estate

For a real covenant to run with the land at law, the parties must have intended it to run, it must touch and concern the land, and both horizontal and vertical privity of estate must exist.

A joint tenant conveys her interest to a third party without the knowledge of the other joint tenant. What is the effect of this conveyance?

Answer: It severs the joint tenancy as to the conveyed share

A joint tenant may unilaterally sever the joint tenancy by conveying her interest to a third party, destroying the unity of title and converting her share into a tenancy in common.

Under New Jersey's Statute of Frauds, a contract for the sale of real property must be in writing and signed. Which doctrine may allow enforcement of an oral contract for sale despite the Statute of Frauds?

Answer: Part performance

Part performance—typically payment of purchase price, possession, and/or improvements—allows a court of equity to enforce an oral contract for the sale of real property despite the Statute of Frauds.

A seller conveys property to a buyer by warranty deed. Six months later, a third party successfully asserts a valid easement that the seller had not disclosed. Which covenant in the warranty deed has been breached?

Answer: Covenant against encumbrances

An undisclosed easement is an encumbrance, so its existence at the time of conveyance breaches the covenant against encumbrances, which warrants the property is free of encumbrances.

Under New Jersey law, a residential landlord's implied warranty of habitability:

Answer: Cannot be waived by the tenant in a lease agreement

New Jersey courts hold that the implied warranty of habitability in residential leases is non-waivable as a matter of public policy, regardless of any lease provision to the contrary.

A purchaser is under contract to buy land. Before closing, the building on the land is destroyed by fire without fault of either party. Under the majority rule (equitable conversion):

Answer: The risk of loss falls on the buyer

Under the doctrine of equitable conversion, once a binding contract of sale is signed, the buyer holds equitable title and bears the risk of loss even before closing.

A mortgage in New Jersey is best characterized under state law as:

Answer: A lien on the property, not a transfer of title

New Jersey is a lien-theory state, meaning a mortgage creates only a lien on the property in favor of the lender; legal title remains with the borrower/mortgagor.

Which of the following fixtures would most likely be treated as personal property removable by a departing tenant?

Answer: A built-in commercial oven installed by a restaurant tenant

Trade fixtures—items installed by a commercial tenant for business purposes—are removable by the tenant upon lease termination, even if physically attached to the building.

A grantor delivers a deed to a grantee with instructions that it only becomes effective upon the grantor's death. At the grantor's death, the grantee records the deed. Is the conveyance valid?

Answer: No, because delivery was conditional on death and the deed was never effectively delivered during the grantor's lifetime

A deed must be delivered with present donative intent during the grantor's lifetime; conditioning effectiveness on death makes the deed testamentary in nature, requiring compliance with will formalities.

Under New Jersey law, a mortgagor's right of redemption after foreclosure (statutory right of redemption):

Answer: Does not exist in New Jersey because it follows judicial foreclosure without a post-sale redemption period

New Jersey uses judicial foreclosure and does not provide a statutory post-sale right of redemption; the mortgagor's equitable right of redemption must be exercised before the foreclosure sale.

A municipality in New Jersey enacts a zoning ordinance prohibiting any new residential construction in a district currently zoned for single-family homes. A landowner whose application for a building permit is denied seeks relief. The most appropriate challenge is:

Answer: A variance if the ordinance causes unnecessary hardship unique to the landowner's parcel

A variance is the proper administrative remedy when strict application of a zoning ordinance causes unnecessary hardship peculiar to the individual property, and must be exhausted before seeking judicial relief.

O conveys 'to A and B as joint tenants.' A later mortgages her interest to a lender. Under New Jersey's lien theory of mortgages, what is the effect on the joint tenancy?

Answer: The joint tenancy is not severed because a lien does not destroy unity of title

In a lien-theory state like New Jersey, a mortgage creates only a lien and does not sever the joint tenancy because legal title remains with the mortgagor and the unities are preserved.

A government condemns a strip of a landowner's property for a highway. The taking reduces the market value of the remaining parcel. The landowner may recover:

Answer: Just compensation for the strip taken plus severance damages for diminution in value of the remainder

In a partial taking, the owner is entitled to just compensation for the property taken plus severance damages if the remaining property is damaged or diminished in value as a result of the taking.

A deed contains the following covenant: 'Grantor covenants that the land shall be used for residential purposes only.' A subsequent owner violates this restriction. An adjoining lot owner in the same subdivision seeks enforcement. This restriction is best enforced as:

Answer: An equitable servitude because it runs in equity and notice can be implied from the general plan

An equitable servitude can be enforced in equity by lot owners in a common scheme or plan even without strict privity, as long as the subsequent owner had notice of the restriction.