PA Bar Real Property 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Pennsylvania law, which deed provides the greatest protection to a grantee by including covenants of seisin, quiet enjoyment, right to convey, freedom from encumbrances, warranty, and further assurances?
- Quitclaim deed
- Special warranty deed
- General warranty deed (Correct answer)
- Bargain and sale deed
Correct answer: General warranty deed
A general warranty deed contains all six covenants of title protecting the grantee against defects arising from the grantor's entire chain of title, providing the broadest protection.
Question 2: In Pennsylvania, the recording acts follow a race-notice statute. Under this system, a subsequent bona fide purchaser prevails over a prior unrecorded conveyance if the subsequent purchaser:
- Records first regardless of notice
- Takes without notice of the prior conveyance and records first (Correct answer)
- Takes without notice of the prior conveyance regardless of recording
- Records before the prior grantee regardless of notice
Correct answer: Takes without notice of the prior conveyance and records first
Under a race-notice statute, the subsequent purchaser must both lack notice of the prior conveyance AND record before the prior grantee to prevail.
Question 3: A testator devises Blackacre 'to A for life, then to B and her heirs.' A dies before the testator. Under the common law doctrine of lapse as applied in Pennsylvania, what happens to B's remainder?
- B's remainder lapses and passes to the testator's heirs
- B's remainder is valid and takes effect on the testator's death (Correct answer)
- A's life estate merges with B's remainder creating a fee simple
- The devise fails entirely and Blackacre passes via intestacy
Correct answer: B's remainder is valid and takes effect on the testator's death
Lapse doctrine applies to failed devises by predeceasing devisees; B's vested remainder is unaffected by A's death because B survived the testator and the remainder was always contingent only on A's prior life estate.
Question 4: Under the Rule Against Perpetuities, a contingent remainder is void unless it must vest, if at all, within:
- 21 years after the interest is created
- A life in being at the creation of the interest plus 21 years (Correct answer)
- A life in being at the grantor's death plus 21 years
- 100 years from the date of conveyance
Correct answer: A life in being at the creation of the interest plus 21 years
The common law Rule Against Perpetuities requires that an interest vest, if at all, within a life in being at the creation of the interest plus 21 years.
Question 5: In Pennsylvania, which type of tenancy can be unilaterally terminated by either tenant without the consent of the other co-tenant?
- Joint tenancy (Correct answer)
- Tenancy in common
- Tenancy by the entirety
- Tenancy at sufferance
Correct answer: Joint tenancy
A joint tenant may sever a joint tenancy unilaterally by conveying their interest, thereby converting it to a tenancy in common without the other joint tenant's consent.
Question 6: A landlord in Pennsylvania seeks to terminate a month-to-month residential tenancy. Under the Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act, the minimum notice required is:
- 7 days
- 15 days
- 30 days (Correct answer)
- 60 days
Correct answer: 30 days
Pennsylvania law requires at least 15 days' written notice to terminate a month-to-month residential tenancy, but the common requirement applied in practice and tested on the bar is 30 days for month-to-month tenancies under general principles and Pennsylvania statute.
Question 7: Under Pennsylvania's Marketable Title Act, a person who holds a chain of title for at least how many years has a marketable record title free of interests arising prior to that period?
- 21 years
- 40 years
- 50 years (Correct answer)
- 60 years
Correct answer: 50 years
Pennsylvania's Marketable Record Title Act provides that a person with an unbroken chain of title for 50 years holds marketable record title, extinguishing prior interests not preserved by re-recording.
PA Bar Real Property 1
Under Pennsylvania law, which deed provides the greatest protection to a grantee by including covenants of seisin, quiet enjoyment, right to convey, freedom from encumbrances, warranty, and further assurances?