NJ Bar Real Property — Questions and Answers

Question 1: 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?

Executory interest (Correct answer)
Right of entry
Possibility of reverter
Remainder

Correct 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.

Question 2: Under New Jersey law, what is the minimum period of open, notorious, hostile, and continuous possession required to establish adverse possession?

20 years (Correct answer)
10 years
15 years
30 years

Correct 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.

Question 3: 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:

A license
An easement in gross
An easement appurtenant (Correct answer)
A profit à prendre

Correct 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.

Question 4: 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?

The tenant must have vacated the premises (Correct answer)
The landlord must have acted intentionally
The defect must be cosmetic in nature
The tenant must give 90 days written notice

Correct 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.

Question 5: 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:

Records first and takes without notice of the prior conveyance (Correct answer)
Records first regardless of notice
Takes without notice regardless of recording order
Has actual notice but records first

Correct 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.

Question 6: O conveys Blackacre 'to A for life, then to B if B survives A.' B dies before A. What happens to the remainder?

The remainder lapses and reverts to O (Correct answer)
B's heirs take the remainder
A takes in fee simple
The remainder accelerates into possession

Correct 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.

Question 7: A real covenant running with the land at law requires which of the following elements?

Intent, touch and concern, and privity of estate (Correct answer)
Writing, consideration, and recording
Notice, intent, and horizontal privity only
Consideration, vertical privity, and recording

Correct 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.

Question 8: 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?

It severs the joint tenancy as to the conveyed share (Correct answer)
It is void because joint tenants cannot unilaterally convey
It converts the entire tenancy to a tenancy in common
It has no effect until the other joint tenant consents

Correct 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.

Question 9: 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?

Part performance (Correct answer)
Promissory estoppel only
Equitable conversion
The parol evidence rule

Correct 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.

Question 10: 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?

Covenant of quiet enjoyment
Covenant of seisin
Covenant of right to convey
Covenant against encumbrances (Correct answer)

Correct 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.

Question 11: Under New Jersey law, a residential landlord's implied warranty of habitability:

Cannot be waived by the tenant in a lease agreement (Correct answer)
May be waived in writing by commercial tenants only
Applies only to tenants who pay market-rate rent
Is satisfied once the landlord makes reasonable repair attempts

Correct 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.

Question 12: 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):

The risk of loss falls on the buyer (Correct answer)
The risk of loss falls on the seller
The contract is automatically rescinded
The risk of loss is shared equally between buyer and seller

Correct 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.

Question 13: A mortgage in New Jersey is best characterized under state law as:

A lien on the property, not a transfer of title (Correct answer)
A conveyance of legal title to the lender until repayment
A conditional sale with right of redemption
An assignment of rents and profits only

Correct 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.

Question 14: Which of the following fixtures would most likely be treated as personal property removable by a departing tenant?

A built-in commercial oven installed by a restaurant tenant (Correct answer)
A central air conditioning system installed in a residential unit
A fireplace mantle bolted to the wall by the landlord
Custom cabinetry built into the kitchen walls by the landlord

Correct 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.

Question 15: 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?

No, because delivery was conditional on death and the deed was never effectively delivered during the grantor's lifetime (Correct answer)
Yes, because recording perfects delivery retroactively
Yes, because the grantor's intent controls
No, because a deed cannot transfer property at death

Correct 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.

Question 16: Under New Jersey law, a mortgagor's right of redemption after foreclosure (statutory right of redemption):

Does not exist in New Jersey because it follows judicial foreclosure without a post-sale redemption period (Correct answer)
Allows the mortgagor to redeem within 6 months after the foreclosure sale
Allows the mortgagor to redeem within 1 year after the foreclosure sale
Is available only if the mortgagee agrees in writing

Correct 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.

Question 17: 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:

A variance if the ordinance causes unnecessary hardship unique to the landowner's parcel (Correct answer)
A spot-zoning challenge if only the landowner's parcel is restricted
A takings claim as the first step before administrative remedies
An appeal solely to the state legislature

Correct 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.

Question 18: 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?

The joint tenancy is not severed because a lien does not destroy unity of title (Correct answer)
The joint tenancy is severed because the mortgage transfers title to the lender
The joint tenancy is severed only if A defaults on the mortgage
The mortgage is void because joint tenants cannot encumber their interest

Correct 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.

Question 19: 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:

Just compensation for the strip taken plus severance damages for diminution in value of the remainder (Correct answer)
Only the fair market value of the strip actually taken
The full value of the entire parcel as if entirely taken
Nothing for the remainder if the government improves its value

Correct 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.

Question 20: 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:

An equitable servitude because it runs in equity and notice can be implied from the general plan (Correct answer)
A real covenant because privity of estate exists between all lot owners
A license because it is personal to the original grantor
An easement appurtenant benefiting each lot

Correct 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.

Question 21: Under the merger doctrine in property law, an easement is extinguished when:

The same person acquires ownership of both the dominant and servient estates (Correct answer)
The easement holder sells the dominant estate to a third party
The servient estate owner erects a fence blocking the easement
The easement is not used for 10 consecutive years

Correct answer: The same person acquires ownership of both the dominant and servient estates

The merger doctrine extinguishes an easement when the same person comes to own both the dominant (benefited) estate and the servient (burdened) estate, because one cannot hold an easement in one's own land.

NJ Bar Real Property

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?

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