 Estates are interests in land  An estate provides a possessor with all the rights associated with tenures (mainly the right to occupy) as well as an interest in a property  Estate ownership is the most common form of ownership today  There are 5 types of estates, namely fee simple, life, future, lease and use

 Absolute right in real property; highest estate in terms of rights  It provides the most exercisable rights over land with a minimum number of limitations  Fee simple owners can, enter, gift or lease land

 Fee simple ownership has five limitations: 1. Taxes, failure to pay which your property may be taken away 2. Interference by police 3. Government’s right to regulate – including the right to change zoning limiting use 4. Escheat - the government may take away land if its owner dies and there is no heir to take it 5. Expropriation by government for public use

 Owners of life estates exercise ownership rights over the estate till their death  Ownership rights for life estates are granted for the period of a lifetime  Second highest right over property

 If a fee simple owner gives his father a life estate for a particular property, once the father dies, the property will return to the fee simple owner  The father will be able to exercise ownership rights, including the ability to use or lease the property, up until the point where he dies  Upon his death, interest in the property will revert back to the son

 Future estate is an interest that arises in property once the life estate ends  When the life estate owner dies, the future estate becomes the fee simple owner of the property  If a son grants his father a life estate and mother a future estate, once the father dies, the mother will become the life estate. Upon the mother’s death, the son will become the fee simple owner

 A fee simple owner grants a life estate to his wife and a future estate to his children. If the fee simple owner dies before his wife and children, they will share ownership of the estate  In case an estate is jointly owned, if a single party wishes to lease or sell the estate, they will need the consent of the other parties

 Leasehold estate grants rights for a limited period of time  Once the lease comes to an end, the estate expires  Tenants typically have a number of rights during their lease term, but once their leases expire, they have no rights with regards to the property

 Estate to Uses allows use of property but it does not confer ownership rights  It is a onetime method for holding lifetime ownership  For instance, if a person gives a property to his mother to stay in as long as she needs to without paying any rent or monetary compensation. Once she leaves or dies, the property will return to the fee simple owner  This estate is not used anymore

 What is the best description of fee simple? ◦ “Highest rights, fewest limitations”  What kind of estate is a life estate? ◦ Life = life; life estate lasts for a lifetime  When can a future estate sell property without consent? ◦ On death of fee simple owner, future estate becomes fee simple  What happens if lease contract in place from when wife had life estate and child had future estate, and wife dies after contract is made? ◦ Kid becomes fee simple owner and can evict tenant ◦ Contract becomes void if life estate or future estate dies

 Husband is a fee simple owner. He has the most rights with the least number of limitations. He can own, lease, use, gift or sell land or anything, except: ◦ Police can interfere ◦ Government can expropriate ◦ Government can raise taxes  If husband dies without a will, life estate and future estate will get share in ownership – “life is wife, future are kids”

 If life estate and future estate have share of the property, one party may not sell or lease it without consent of the other  If the life estate owner dies, the future estate owner will become fee simple owner  It operates as a cycle

 Concurrent ownership arises when two or more persons have ownership of a property at the same point in time  There are two kinds of concurrent ownership, namely joint tenancy and tenancy in common

 Joint tenancy is typically between husband and wife  Survivorship operates in joint tenancy, which means that if one joint tenant dies, their rights transfer to the remaining joint tenant(s)  Since joint tenancies are governed by the survivorship principle, wills do not operate in joint tenancy

 Joint tenants do not have a share of interest – each joint tenant has 100% interest in the property  The four PITT unities must be present for a joint tenancy, namely possession, interest, time and title  If the four PITT conditions are not met, the tenancy is a tenancy in common

 Equal Possession: ◦ Each joint tenant is entitled to equal possession of the property, i.e. the full property ◦ Joint tenants may not exclude one another from possessing any part of the property  Equal interest ◦ Each joint tenant has equal and identical interest ◦ This means that a fee simple owner and a leasehold owner cannot be joint tenants

◦ They collectively own 100% of the property; there are no shares ◦ If one party dies, the other is entitled to 100% of the property  Time ◦ The joint tenants must have acquired their interest in the property  Equal Title ◦ The joint tenants must get their identical interests in land from the same document (typically a tenancy deed)

 Under tenancy in common, you own a share in the property  Survivorship does not apply, and tenants can leave their share to anyone through a will  Only unity of possession is required for tenancy in common  It is a common arrangement between friends and business partners