SAEE Property Rights and Legal Concepts 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A landowner grants a utility company the right to run power lines across their property. This is best described as:
- A leasehold estate
- An appurtenant easement
- An easement in gross (Correct answer)
- A license
Correct answer: An easement in gross
A utility easement benefits a company rather than an adjoining parcel, making it an easement in gross.
Question 2: Which doctrine holds that a property owner who acquires title with constructive notice of a prior unrecorded interest takes subject to that interest?
- Lis pendens
- Inquiry notice (Correct answer)
- Record notice
- Estoppel by deed
Correct answer: Inquiry notice
Inquiry notice arises when circumstances would prompt a reasonable buyer to investigate, imputing knowledge of discoverable interests.
Question 3: A deed restriction prohibits operating a business on a residential lot. A subsequent owner violates the restriction. The most appropriate remedy for neighboring lot owners is:
- Monetary damages only
- Injunctive relief to enforce the covenant (Correct answer)
- Eminent domain
- Filing a mechanics lien
Correct answer: Injunctive relief to enforce the covenant
Equitable servitudes (deed restrictions) are typically enforced by injunction because monetary damages are often inadequate.
Question 4: Under the concept of police power, a municipality may:
- Take private property for public use without compensation
- Regulate land use through zoning without compensation (Correct answer)
- Condemn property for resale to private developers without compensation
- Impose rent control only with owner consent
Correct answer: Regulate land use through zoning without compensation
Police power allows government to regulate property use for public welfare without compensation, as long as it does not constitute a taking.
Question 5: A property owner sells the surface rights but retains the mineral rights. The retained mineral rights are an example of:
- A subsurface easement
- A severed mineral estate (Correct answer)
- An incorporeal hereditament
- A profit à prendre
Correct answer: A severed mineral estate
When mineral rights are separated from surface rights, the result is a severed mineral estate, creating two distinct ownership interests.
Question 6: Which type of notice is provided by the public recording of a deed?
- Actual notice
- Constructive notice (Correct answer)
- Inquiry notice
- Imputed notice
Correct answer: Constructive notice
Recording a deed in the public records provides constructive notice, meaning all subsequent parties are legally presumed to know of the recorded instrument.
Question 7: A tenant who remains in possession after a lease expires without landlord consent is known as a:
- Tenant at will
- Holdover tenant (tenant at sufferance) (Correct answer)
- Life tenant
- Tenant in common
Correct answer: Holdover tenant (tenant at sufferance)
A holdover tenant (estate at sufferance) occupies property without right after a lease ends, at the landlord's option to evict or create a new tenancy.
SAEE Property Rights and Legal Concepts 4
A landowner grants a utility company the right to run power lines across their property.
This is best described as: