OH Bar Property Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: O conveys "to A and her heirs, but if the land is ever used for commercial purposes, O may re-enter and retake the premises." What estate does A hold?
- A fee simple subject to a condition subsequent (Correct answer)
- A fee simple determinable
- A fee simple absolute
- A life estate with a reversion in O
Correct answer: A fee simple subject to a condition subsequent
The language of re-entry upon a stated condition creates a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, with O retaining a right of entry.
Question 2: A landlord fails to fix a broken furnace all winter, making an Ohio apartment barely livable, but the tenant stays and pays rent. Which remedy is the tenant most likely entitled to pursue under Ohio's Landlord-Tenant Act?
- Deposit rent into escrow with the court after proper written notice (Correct answer)
- Immediately withhold all rent without notice
- Terminate the lease retroactively to the first cold day
- Self-help repair and deduct unlimited costs
Correct answer: Deposit rent into escrow with the court after proper written notice
Ohio R.C. Chapter 5321 allows a tenant to escrow rent with the clerk of courts after giving the landlord written notice and a reasonable time to repair.
Question 3: A developer records a declaration stating that all lots in a subdivision are restricted to residential use. A later buyer who never read the declaration builds a store. Can neighboring lot owners enforce the restriction?
- Yes, because the recorded declaration gives constructive notice under a common scheme (Correct answer)
- No, because the buyer lacked actual notice
- No, because restrictions must appear in the buyer's own deed
- Yes, but only if the developer still owns a lot
Correct answer: Yes, because the recorded declaration gives constructive notice under a common scheme
A recorded common-scheme declaration binds subsequent purchasers with constructive or inquiry notice, allowing other lot owners to enforce the covenant.
Question 4: For 25 years, a landowner's neighbors used a visible dirt path across his field without permission to reach a lake. In Ohio, what interest have the neighbors most likely acquired?
- A prescriptive easement (Correct answer)
- Title by adverse possession
- An easement by necessity
- An irrevocable license
Correct answer: A prescriptive easement
Open, notorious, continuous, and adverse use of another's land for Ohio's 21-year period creates a prescriptive easement, not possession of the land itself.
Question 5: A seller conveys property by general warranty deed, and the buyer is later evicted by someone holding superior title acquired before the seller ever owned the land. Which covenant gives the buyer a remedy?
- The covenant of warranty, which is breached upon eviction by superior title (Correct answer)
- The covenant of seisin, which cannot be breached by prior claims
- The covenant against encumbrances, breached only by liens
- No covenant — general warranty deeds cover only the seller's own acts
Correct answer: The covenant of warranty, which is breached upon eviction by superior title
The future covenant of warranty is breached when the grantee is actually evicted by a paramount title, and a general warranty deed covers defects arising before the grantor's ownership.
Question 6: A mortgagor in Ohio defaults, and the lender seeks to take possession before foreclosure. Why will the lender likely fail?
- Ohio is a lien-theory state, so the mortgagee has no possessory right before foreclosure (Correct answer)
- Ohio is a title-theory state, but possession requires a jury trial
- Possession automatically passes to the county sheriff on default
- The mortgagor's default cures itself after 30 days
Correct answer: Ohio is a lien-theory state, so the mortgagee has no possessory right before foreclosure
In a lien-theory state like Ohio, the mortgage is only a security lien, so the lender must foreclose judicially before obtaining possession.
Question 7: A tenant assigns her lease to an assignee, who then stops paying rent. Whom may the landlord sue?
- Both — the assignee under privity of estate and the original tenant under privity of contract (Correct answer)
- Only the assignee, because assignment releases the tenant
- Only the original tenant, because the landlord never approved the assignment
- Neither, until the lease term expires
Correct answer: Both — the assignee under privity of estate and the original tenant under privity of contract
Assignment transfers privity of estate to the assignee while the original tenant remains liable on the lease covenant through privity of contract absent a release.
OH Bar Property Law 3
O conveys "to A and her heirs, but if the land is ever used for commercial purposes, O may re-enter and retake the premises." What estate does A hold?