RI Bar Real Property 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: O conveys 'to A for life, remainder to B if B passes the bar exam.' B dies before A, having never passed the bar. What happens to the remainder?
- The remainder lapses and reverts to O in fee simple
- B's estate holds the remainder, which vests if the condition is met posthumously
- The contingent remainder is destroyed and O has a reversion (Correct answer)
- The remainder accelerates and B's heirs take immediately
Correct answer: The contingent remainder is destroyed and O has a reversion
Because B predeceased A without satisfying the condition precedent, the contingent remainder is extinguished and O's reversion becomes possessory at A's death.
Question 2: A covenant in a 1965 deed restricts land 'to residential use only.' The area has since become entirely commercial. A court is most likely to find the covenant:
- Enforceable, because covenants run with the land perpetually
- Unenforceable due to changed conditions rendering its purpose obsolete (Correct answer)
- Enforceable only against the original covenantor's heirs
- Void under the Rule Against Perpetuities
Correct answer: Unenforceable due to changed conditions rendering its purpose obsolete
Courts may refuse to enforce a restrictive covenant when changed conditions in the neighborhood make its original purpose impossible to achieve.
Question 3: A tenant holds a month-to-month tenancy. The landlord wishes to terminate the tenancy. Under Rhode Island law, what notice is required?
- 7 days written notice
- 30 days written notice (Correct answer)
- 60 days written notice
- No notice is required because tenancy is at will
Correct answer: 30 days written notice
Rhode Island requires at least 30 days written notice to terminate a month-to-month tenancy under R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-37.
Question 4: To establish a prescriptive easement under Rhode Island law, a claimant must show use that is:
- Open, notorious, continuous, hostile, and exclusive for 10 years
- Open, notorious, continuous, and hostile for 10 years (exclusive not required) (Correct answer)
- Permissive, continuous, and documented for 20 years
- Adverse, exclusive, and under color of title for 15 years
Correct answer: Open, notorious, continuous, and hostile for 10 years (exclusive not required)
Rhode Island prescriptive easement requires open, notorious, continuous, and hostile use for 10 years; exclusivity is not required because an easement is shared use.
Question 5: A grantor conveys property by quitclaim deed. Six months later, the grantor acquires title to the same property from the true owner. Under the doctrine of estoppel by deed, what occurs?
- The original grantee acquires nothing because the grantor had no title to convey
- Title automatically passes to the original grantee under after-acquired title doctrine (Correct answer)
- The grantor holds the newly acquired title free of any claim by the quitclaim grantee
- The grantee must re-record the deed to capture the after-acquired title
Correct answer: Title automatically passes to the original grantee under after-acquired title doctrine
Under estoppel by deed (after-acquired title), when a grantor who lacked title later acquires it, that title automatically passes to the prior grantee.
Question 6: A buyer purchases land and a neighbor immediately claims an adverse possession interest based on 10 years of use. The buyer's deed was recorded but the buyer had actual notice of the neighbor's use before closing. Can the buyer defeat the adverse possession claim?
- Yes, because recording the deed extinguishes all prior adverse claims
- No, because adverse possession vests title outside the recording system (Correct answer)
- Yes, because the buyer is a bona fide purchaser under the race-notice act
- No, because actual notice bars the buyer from BFP status, but adverse possession is irrelevant to recording acts
Correct answer: No, because adverse possession vests title outside the recording system
A successful adverse possession claim vests title by operation of law and is not defeated by the recording act because it arises outside the chain of title.
Question 7: A tenant without a lease pays rent monthly and the landlord accepts it. This creates what type of tenancy?
- Tenancy at will
- Tenancy at sufferance
- Periodic tenancy (Correct answer)
- Term of years tenancy
Correct answer: Periodic tenancy
When a tenant without a written lease pays and a landlord accepts periodic rent, a periodic (month-to-month) tenancy arises by implication.
RI Bar Real Property 3
O conveys 'to A for life, remainder to B if B passes the bar exam.' B dies before A, having never passed the bar.
What happens to the remainder?