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Interactive Quiz for ALT-12e, Chapter 50
Chapter 50 – Real Property and Landlord-Tenant Relationships
1. Suppose that you own a piece of property that has a 200-year-old oak tree located on it. This oak tree:
a. is not considered to be real property.
b. is considered to be chattel.
c. is considered to be real property.
d. is tangible, so it is not real property.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. Plant life is considered to be real property.
b. Incorrect. Chattel is personal property, and personal property is not the same as real property. A tree is real property.
c. Correct. This would be considered to be real property.
d. Incorrect. A tree is considered to be real property.
2. If Ginger gives her mother, Betty, a right to live in and use Ginger’s beachfront house in Maine until Betty dies, Betty gets what kind of ownership interest?
a. An easement.
b. An future interest.
c. A profit.
d. A life estate.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. Betty does not have an easement.
b. Incorrect. Betty does not have a future interest.
c. Incorrect. Betty does not have a profit.
d. Correct. Betty has an interest in land that exists only for the duration of her life, making this a life estate.
3. If Betty gives her friend Roger the right to walk his Irish wolfhound across her property to the beach, what kind of property right does Roger acquire?
a. A life estate.
b. A possessory interest.
c. A profit.
d. An easement.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. This is not a life estate.
b. Incorrect. This is not a possessory interest because Roger does not possess the property.
c. Incorrect. This is not a profit.
d. Correct. This is an easement.
4. The purpose behind a recording statute is to:
a. provide public notice of claims on property in order to prevent fraudulent transfers of property.
b. promote the use of adverse possession.
c. limit the use of wills to transfer property.
d. regulate land use within suburban locations.
Answers:
a. Correct. Recording statutes put creditors and future purchasers on alert to any claims against property, so that fraudulent transfers are less likely to happen.
b. Incorrect. Recording statutes do not promote the use of adverse possession.
c. Incorrect. Recording statutes do not limit the use of wills to transfer property.
d. Incorrect. Recording statutes do not have to do with land-use regulations.
5. Until the closing of a sale of real estate, deposits toward the purchase price are normally held:
a. in an escrow account.
b. by the seller.
c. by the buyer.
d. in a safe-deposit box.
Answers:
a. Correct. Such deposits normally go into an escrow account.
b. Incorrect. Deposits toward the purchase price are normally not held by the seller.
c. Incorrect. These deposits are not held by the buyer.
d. Incorrect. Normally, deposits do not go into a safe-deposit box.
6. The part of the U.S. Constitution that supposedly protects landowners from unjustified takings of their property is:
a. the contracts clause.
b. the First Amendment.
c. the Fourth Amendment.
d. the Fifth Amendment.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. The contracts clause does not apply to unjustified takings.
b. Incorrect. The First Amendment does not apply to these cases.
c. Incorrect. The Fourth Amendment does not apply to these cases.
d. Correct. The Fifth Amendment requires the government to pay just compensation when it takes private land for a public use.
7. Brown sells his home to Tyler, and the sales contract includes a covenant that Tyler will not resell the house to any Buddhist. This covenant is:
a. legal; it’s a free country.
b. illegal under Title VIII.
c. a leasehold.
d. an illegal restrictive covenant.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. Brown may not restrict the resale of his home in this way.
b. Incorrect. This is not illegal under Title VIII.
c. Incorrect. This is not a leasehold.
d. Correct. This is an example of an illegal restrictive covenant. Such discriminatory covenants are prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (the Fair Housing Act).
8. Which of the following does a written lease contract NOT need to do to create a landlord-tenant relationship?
a. Indicate the length of the term of the lease.
b. Describe the property.
c. Provide for insurance coverage of the tenant’s personal property.
d. Express an intent to establish the relationship.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. The contract must state the term.
b. Incorrect. The contract must describe the property.
c. Correct. The contract need not provide for insurance coverage for the tenant’s personal property.
d. Incorrect. The contract must express an intent to enter the relationship.
9. The “American” rule of possession states that:
a. the landlord must transfer actual physical possession to a new tenant.
b. the landlord must not include a covenant of quiet enjoyment in the lease.
c. the landlord need only transfer the legal right to possession to a new tenant.
d. the landlord must describe the property fully.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. This is the English, not the American, rule.
b. Incorrect. This is not the American rule of possession.
c. Correct. This is the American rule of possession.
d. Incorrect. This is not the American rule of possession.
10. If Greg transfers all of his rights to use and occupy Meredith’s apartment to Kevin for the duration of Greg’s lease term, in legal terms, what is this called?
a. A substitution.
b. A sublease.
c. A subrogation.
d. A submission.
Answers:
a. Incorrect. Kevin is substituted for Greg as tenant, but this is not the correct legal term for the transfer.
b. Correct. This is called a sublease.
c. Incorrect. This is not a subrogation.
d. Incorrect. This is not a submission.