UT Bar Property Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Utah recognizes boundary by acquiescence. Which element is required for this doctrine to fix a boundary at a fence line?
- Mutual acquiescence in the line as a boundary for at least 20 years by adjoining owners (Correct answer)
- A written agreement recorded within one year
- Payment of taxes on the disputed strip
- A court-ordered survey before the period runs
Correct answer: Mutual acquiescence in the line as a boundary for at least 20 years by adjoining owners
Utah's boundary by acquiescence requires occupation up to a visible line mutually acquiesced in as the boundary by adjoining owners for at least 20 years.
Question 2: Utah allocates water rights under which doctrine?
- Prior appropriation — first in time, first in right, based on beneficial use (Correct answer)
- Riparian rights based on land adjoining the watercourse
- Correlative rights shared proportionally among overlying owners
- Absolute ownership of all water beneath one's land
Correct answer: Prior appropriation — first in time, first in right, based on beneficial use
As an arid western state, Utah follows prior appropriation, giving priority to the earliest beneficial use rather than to riparian landowners.
Question 3: A buyer of a Utah home discovers after closing that the seller knew the basement flooded every spring and said nothing. The buyer's best claim is:
- Fraudulent nondisclosure of a known material defect not discoverable by the buyer (Correct answer)
- Breach of the covenant of seisin
- Mutual mistake voiding the contract
- Violation of the implied warranty of habitability
Correct answer: Fraudulent nondisclosure of a known material defect not discoverable by the buyer
A seller who knows of a material defect not reasonably discoverable by the buyer may be liable for fraudulent nondisclosure despite the deed's delivery.
Question 4: O grants a utility company an easement 'for power lines' across her ranch. The company later tries to add fiber-optic cables for a third party's benefit, substantially increasing the burden. O may:
- Enjoin the expanded use as exceeding the scope of the easement (Correct answer)
- Do nothing, because easements may be used for any purpose
- Only collect damages, never an injunction
- Terminate the easement automatically by unilateral notice
Correct answer: Enjoin the expanded use as exceeding the scope of the easement
Use that materially exceeds the scope of the granted easement is a misuse that the servient owner may enjoin.
Question 5: A mortgagor in Utah defaults, and the lender forecloses nonjudicially under a trust deed. Which statement about the trustee's sale is correct?
- The trustee may sell after notice of default and the statutory waiting and notice periods, without a court action (Correct answer)
- A judicial decree is always required before any foreclosure sale
- The borrower loses all rights the day of default
- The lender may simply take possession and keep the property
Correct answer: The trustee may sell after notice of default and the statutory waiting and notice periods, without a court action
Utah trust deeds permit nonjudicial foreclosure through a trustee's sale after statutory notice of default and publication requirements are met.
Question 6: A developer records a declaration imposing residential-only covenants on all lots in a subdivision. A later buyer with record notice opens a business in his home in violation. A neighboring lot owner sues. The covenant is enforceable against the buyer primarily because:
- It is an equitable servitude binding purchasers with notice under a common scheme (Correct answer)
- All covenants automatically bind successors regardless of notice
- The developer still owns one lot
- Zoning laws incorporate private covenants
Correct answer: It is an equitable servitude binding purchasers with notice under a common scheme
A recorded declaration creating a common scheme binds subsequent purchasers with notice as an equitable servitude enforceable by other lot owners.
Question 7: T leases a store for five years and assigns the lease to A, who later assigns to B. B stops paying rent. Absent any assumption agreements, from whom can the landlord collect?
- T (privity of contract) and B (privity of estate), but not A (Correct answer)
- Only B
- T, A, and B all remain liable
- Only T
Correct answer: T (privity of contract) and B (privity of estate), but not A
The original tenant stays liable on the contract, the current assignee is liable through privity of estate, but an intermediate assignee who never assumed drops out after reassignment.
UT Bar Property Law 3
Utah recognizes boundary by acquiescence.
Which element is required for this doctrine to fix a boundary at a fence line?