1. Basic Legal Concepts of Property CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

2. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 2 Personal Versus Real Property Personal property: moveable property such as: –Tangible items: car, boat, furniture etc. Stuff that can be seen, felt, or touched. –Intangible items: share of stock, patent, copyright, etc. Real property: land, anything permanently attached to the land and certain interests in land.

3. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 3 Easements, Licenses, and Profits Easement: a right to use land or a portion of the land for a specific purpose without owning the land. –A power company may have an easement in perpetuity to run its power lines across your land. –The owner of a landlocked parcel is entitled to an easement to access his/her property. –The responsibility to honor an easement normally transfers to the new owner when the land is sold. –An easement must be in writing to enforceable.

4. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 4 Easements, Licenses, and Profits (continued) License: similar to an easement, except that it is usually temporary and binds only the person who gives it. –Successive owners are not bound by a license as they would be with an easement. A profit: the right to remove water, natural gas, minerals, or wood from another person’s land.

5. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 5 Acquiring Real and Personal Property Purchase: real and personal property may be purchased or sold through a contract of sale. –Real property: under the statute of frauds a contract to sell real estate must be in writing to be enforced. –Personal property: the contract may be either oral or in writing. A contract for the sale of goods for $500 or more must be in writing.

6. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 6 Acquiring Real and Personal Property (continued) Gift: real or personal property may be transferred by gift. –Real property: the title to the real property is transferred with a deed. –Personal property: the title can transfer by delivery of the item or by a document describing the personal property transferred. A person may receive real or personal property when transferred by a will or through an inheritance when there is no will.

7. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 7 When a Gift is Effective A gift is deemed effective when three requirements are met: –The donor (person giving the gift) intended to make the gift. –The gift was delivered to the donee. (The donee is the person to whom the gift was made.) –The donee accepted the gift. All three requirements must be satisfied for the gift to be considered valid.

8. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 8 Abandonment Personal property may be acquired by taking control of lost or abandoned property. –Generally, property that is found must be turned over to the police. –Often a notice that lost or abandoned property has been found must be published in a local newspaper. –If the owner fails to claim the property in a certain time, the title of the property transfers to the finder. –If the property is abandoned, generally it must be demonstrated that the former owner intended to abandon it.

9. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 9 Lost and Mislaid Property Lost property: the finder of lost property must: –If they know the owner of the property return it to the true owner. –If the true owner is not known the finder must take steps to locate the owner. Those steps include: Notify police of the found property Advertise in the lost and found section of a local newspaper Mislaid property: the finder becomes a bailee and cannot keep the property or obtain title to it.

10. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 10 Adverse Possession A person who: –Is in actual possession of real property, –Is in exclusive possession of the real property, –Occupies the property under a hostile claim of ownership, and –Is in continuous possession of the property for the statutory time (often 15 to 20 years), –Obtains title to the land of another through adverse possession.

11. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 11 Adverse Possession (continued) Adverse possession cannot be obtained against public property. –Public property is property owned by federal, state, or local governments. An easement by prescription can be obtained by similar means. –This involves using the land continuously in an open fashion for the prescribed statutory time period.

12. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 12 Condemnation Federal, state, and local governments often require land for public use such as a highway, a school, an airport, etc. The right of the government to condemnation is practically unlimited. However, two requirements must be met: –The condemnation must be for the public welfare. –The owner of the land must receive just compensation for the land.

13. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 13 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights Patent: granted when a person creates something new that is not obvious based on existing technology. –A patent allows the owner the exclusive right to make, sell, or license others to produce his/her creation for 20 years.

14. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 14 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights (continued) Trademark: a name, logo, etc., that identifies a particular business. Others cannot use the mark if it would confuse customers as to which business is being represented. Copyright: the right to own, produce, sell, and license artistic and intellectual works. Currently, a copyright lives for the life of the creator plus 70 years for those works copyrighted after January 1, 1978.

15. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 15 Remedies for Infringement Persons who infringe upon a patent, trademark, copyright, etc., can be subject to the following: –Injunction issued by a court to stop the infringing use –Actual damages suffered and punitive damages –Criminal sanctions

16. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 16 Computer Technology and Cyberlaw Computer technology is protected by the traditional intellectual property protections of: –Patents, –Trademarks, and –Copyrights. Congress has specifically extended copyright protection to software which allows –The owner of the copyright to the exclusive right to sell and distribute the software, and –Restrict others from copying the software without consent.

17. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 17 Tenancy Sole tenancy: ownership by one person Tenancy in common: ownership is held by multiple parties –Ownership is held separately. The ownership interest held by a tenant in common can be transferred: By sale or contract (the new owner becomes tenant in common) When given as a gift On death of owner (the owner’s interest transfers to his or her heirs) Subject to sale by a judgment creditor Tenancy ends only when all interests are sold or one tenant acquires the interests of all the other tenants in common.

18. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 18 Tenancy (continued) Joint tenancy: involves multiple ownership, but differs from a tenancy in common in that there is a right of survivorship between the joint tenants. –The deceased joint tenant’s interest does not pass through his or her will but rather to the other joint tenants. –Joint tenants own equal shares, while tenants in common can own unequal shares.

19. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 19 Tenancy (continued) Tenancy by the entirety: a tenancy consisting of a husband and wife. –This is similar to a joint tenancy; however, neither can transfer his or her interest without the consent of the other.

20. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 20 Community Property Community property: a husband and wife are considered to own equal interests in all property acquired by either spouse during marriage. –This does not include property one spouse acquired by gift or inheritance. –This does not include property owned prior to the marriage.

21. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 21 Cooperative Ownership In a cooperative two or more people form a corporation to purchase and own a building where they live. Each person who lives in the building owns stock in the corporation and is entitled to live in a specific apartment. All stockholders share the expense of maintaining and operating the building. Management is usually carried out by a board of directors elected by the shareholders. –The board of directors normally appoints a professional to manage the building.

22. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 22 Condominiums In a condominium each person owns a specific unit. –Title to that particular unit is transferred to the owner along with responsibility for property taxes, mortgage interest, etc. –The condominium owner also shares in the ownership of and financial responsibility for common areas. –Decisions regarding condominium management are made through voting by the owners. –Time shares are similar to condominium ownership except the owner owns the unit for a particular time period.

23. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 23 Interests of Owners of Real Property The common and highest form of legal ownership is a fee simple interest. –The owner of fee simple interest may do whatever he or she wishes with the property subject to zoning and restrictive covenant limitations. Life estate is the right to own and possess real property during a person’s lifetime. –At death of the life estate owner the property reverts to another person. A lessee has the right to possess property during the term of the lease.

24. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 24 Restrictive Covenants Restrictive covenants are used to maintain a certain look or appearance in a neighborhood. –This is accomplished by restricting the use of the land to construction of a particular size, type, and appearance of housing. –The restrictive covenant becomes part of the deed and is said to “run with the land.” –Although courts do not look favorably on restrictive covenants, the courts have enforced them.

25. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.29 | 25 Zoning Laws and Regulations Cities and towns often establish areas of their municipality for specific activities. Those areas include: –Residential –Commercial –Industrial Zoning restrictions often include limits on –Building height, –Require distance set back of buildings from the roadway, and –Have minimum parking space requirements.