Real Property — UBE practice questions

An owner divided a parcel and sold the rear half, which had no access to any public road except across the front half she retained. No easement was mentioned in the deed. The rear owner's BEST claim to a right of way is

1. an easement by necessity created when the common owner severed the parcel
2. an easement by prescription based on the rear owner's continued use
3. an express easement implied from the recorded description of the parcel
4. a license, revocable at the front owner's convenience at any time she wishes

Answer: A — an easement by necessity created when the common owner severed the parcel

A) Correct — strict necessity created at the moment common ownership is severed gives rise to an easement by necessity. B) Prescription requires open, adverse use for the statutory period, which has not run. C) An easement cannot be express if the deed says nothing; the label is self-contradictory. D) A license would leave the parcel landlocked at the grantor's whim, which the doctrine exists to prevent.

Under the Rule Against Perpetuities, an interest is void if it might vest more than:

1. Fifty years after the grantor's death regardless of the takers
2. Ten years after the last measuring life leaves the property
3. One hundred years after the date the deed is delivered
4. Twenty-one years after the death of a life in being at creation

Answer: D — Twenty-one years after the death of a life in being at creation

A) The 50-year rule is a wait-and-see reform, not the classic rule. D) Correct — the classic Rule voids interests that might vest more than 21 years after a life in being at the creation of the interest. C) Some jurisdictions have adopted USRAP's 90-year alternative; 100 is not standard. B) Ten years is not the rule.

A subsequent purchaser is protected under a race-notice recording statute only if the purchaser:

1. Pays a higher price than the prior grantee paid
2. Records first regardless of any notice
3. Takes without notice and records first
4. Has a family relationship with the grantor

Answer: C — Takes without notice and records first

A) Purchase price does not determine BFP status. B) That describes a pure race statute. C) Correct — race-notice protects a subsequent BFP who takes without actual, constructive, or inquiry notice AND records before the prior interest. D) A family relationship is irrelevant.

A grant 'to A for life, then to B and her heirs' creates in B:

1. A possibility of reverter in the grantor
2. A contingent remainder subject to a condition
3. An executory interest cutting short A's estate
4. A vested remainder in fee simple absolute

Answer: D — A vested remainder in fee simple absolute

D) Correct — B is ascertained, and no condition precedent bars her taking; 'and her heirs' are words of limitation indicating fee simple absolute. B) There is no unmet condition precedent. C) An executory interest divests a prior vested estate, not one that expires naturally. A) A possibility of reverter follows a fee simple determinable retained by the grantor.

Under a race recording statute, the first party to record wins:

1. Only if that party paid the highest price on the property
2. Only if the county clerk personally reviews the underlying deed
3. Only if the second purchaser also lacked any legal counsel
4. Regardless of whether they had actual or constructive notice

Answer: D — Regardless of whether they had actual or constructive notice

A) Price is irrelevant. D) Correct — a pure race statute rewards priority of recording without regard to notice, unlike notice or race-notice. C) Counsel status is irrelevant. B) Clerks do not adjudicate priority.

A covenant to run with the land at law must satisfy the requirements of:

1. Intent to run, touch and concern, notice, and horizontal + vertical privity
2. Notarization by a licensed real-estate attorney of both parties
3. Registration under the state professional-licensing statute
4. Court approval prior to the initial recording of the covenant

Answer: A — Intent to run, touch and concern, notice, and horizontal + vertical privity

A) Correct — for the burden to run at law, courts traditionally require intent, touch and concern, horizontal and vertical privity, and notice; equitable servitudes drop the horizontal-privity requirement. B) Attorney notarization is not required. C) Licensing statutes are irrelevant. D) Judicial pre-approval is not required.

The implied warranty of habitability in a residential lease:

1. May be waived orally by the tenant at any point in the term
2. May not be effectively waived by the tenant in most jurisdictions
3. Applies only to commercial leases in downtown business districts
4. Extends solely to cosmetic problems visible to the eye

Answer: B — May not be effectively waived by the tenant in most jurisdictions

A) Oral waiver is generally unenforceable. B) Correct — most jurisdictions treat the implied warranty as nonwaivable public policy protecting residential tenants. C) It applies to residential leases, not commercial. D) It covers conditions materially affecting habitability, not cosmetics.

A grantor conveyed land "to my daughter for life, then to such of her children as reach thirty." At the conveyance the daughter had two children, aged four and six. Under the common law Rule Against Perpetuities, the gift to the children is

1. valid, because the daughter's living children are identifiable measuring lives
2. valid, because the class closes at the daughter's death, ending any remoteness
3. invalid, because an afterborn child could reach thirty too remotely
4. invalid, because any contingent remainder in an unborn class violates the rule

Answer: C — invalid, because an afterborn child could reach thirty too remotely

C) Correct — a child born after the conveyance could reach thirty more than twenty-one years after the death of the daughter and her then-living children, so the class gift fails under the common law rule. A) The living children cannot validate a gift that afterborn members may claim. B) Class closing at the life tenant's death does not resolve the contingency, since survivors must still reach thirty. D) Overbroad; a similar gift conditioned on reaching twenty-one would be valid.

An easement by necessity arises when land is:

1. Sold to two co-owners as joint tenants in the same year
2. Divided leaving a portion without any access to a public road
3. Improved with a permanent structure over an adjacent lot
4. Passed by will to a family member unable to visit personally

Answer: B — Divided leaving a portion without any access to a public road

A) Co-ownership does not create an access necessity. B) Correct — an easement by necessity is implied when a common owner divides land such that one parcel is landlocked, requiring access over the retained parcel. C) That describes possible implied easement by prior use, not necessity. D) Inheritance does not create necessity easements.

Which correctly distinguishes an easement from a license?

1. Both easements and licenses require a writing
2. A license is a nonpossessory interest in land
3. An easement is nonpossessory and generally irrevocable
4. An easement is a possessory estate in fee

Answer: C — An easement is nonpossessory and generally irrevocable

C) Correct — an easement is a nonpossessory interest that runs with the land (appurtenant) and generally cannot be revoked at will. B) A license is a revocable personal permission, not an interest in land. A) A license need not be in writing. D) An easement is nonpossessory, not a fee estate.

Adverse possession elements?

OCEAN: Open and notorious, Continuous, Exclusive, Adverse/hostile, for statutory period.

Tenancy in common?

Each owner has separate undivided interest. No survivorship. Default for most.

State the Rule Against Perpetuities.

No interest is good unless it must vest, if at all, no later than 21 years after some life in being at the creation of the interest.

Easements?

Right to use another's land. Express, implied, prescription, necessity. Appurtenant or in gross.