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MA Real Estate
Property and Property Rights
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Air Rights | The rights to the space above a piece of property. |
| Ad Valorem Taxation | The right of a city or town to levy and collect taxes. (Based according to valuation. Property taxes are based on the value of the property being taxed.) |
| Annexation | The process of changing from personal property to real property. (ex. installing a new sink as a fixture). |
| Board of Appeals | Local city or town committee that rules on matters of zoning variances. |
| Building Codes | A set of rules established by state or municipal government to regulate standards in the construction trades. |
| Bundle of Rights | A concept used to describe all the rights that an owner has in the property owned. |
| Chattel | An article of tangible personal property. |
| Chattel Personal | Item of personal property that is movable. for example: furniture - a table. |
| Chattel Real | Item of personal property that is associated with a piece of real estate. for example, a lease. |
| Corporeal | Interest in property that is tangible such as buildings or trees as opposed to intangible such as an easment or a lease. |
| Emblements | Growing crops that are produced annually through labor and industry and are considered personal property. A tenant has the right to such crops, resulting from their labor, even if the harvest occurs after the tenancy ends - aka Fructus Industriales. |
| Eminent Domain | The right of the government (Federal, State, or Municipal) to take title to private property for the common good; through a process known as condemnation. |
| Escheat | Process by which property reverts to the state when no will or heirs exist or when the property is abandoned |
| Fixture | An article of personal property that has become real property by being attached to the realty. |
| Heterogeneity | Physical characteristic of being unique. Used in reference to real property. There is no exact duplicate (aka: non-homogeneity). |
| Improvements | Additions to real property that are intended to increase value (more than maintenance or repair). |
| Incorporeal | Intangible or non-possessory rights. No physical substance. (ex. a right of way). |
| Intangible | Having no physical or material being. (ex. a right of way) |
| Intestate | Property owner dies without a will or with a will that is defective. Property changes ownership through the state laws of descent. |
| Location | Economic characteristic of real property tht indicates that value is affected by what exact site real property occupies including abutters neighborhood and zoning. |
| Long Term Investment | Economic characteristic of real property that indicates real property will last a long time, more than a mortgage, often more than a lifetime as opposed to short time - stocks, bonds, etc. |
| Mineral Rights | Subsurface rights to real property. May be granted separately from surface rights as iin rights to oil, gas, minerals, etc. |
| Physical Characteristics of Real Property | Land is immobile, indestructible and unique. |
| Personal Property | All property that is not real property. An article that is moveable and not attached to the realty. (aka personalty) |
| Personalty | See personal property |
| Possession Rights | The rights to occupy real property. Often granted separately from other rights as in the case of a lease. |
| Property | The rights and interests that an individual has in a thing that is owned. May be real or personal. |
| Real Estate | Land and whatever is attached to the land. Also known as real property or realty. |
| Real Property | Land and whatever is attached to the land. Also known as real estate or realty. |
| Realty | See Real Estate |
| Scarcity | An appraisal principle that a reduction in the availability or supply of a good will increase its value. |
| Severance | The process of changing from real property to personal property (ex. cutting down a tree to make firewood). |
| Situs | Refers to characteristic of location |
| Subsurface Rights | landowners interest in the property below the surace to access oil, gas, or other solid minerals (mineral rights). |
| Surface Rights | Rights to real property on the surface of the property. |
| Tangible | Having physical or material being such as height, width, mass, weight. |
| Taxation | The right of the government to levy charges on a piece of property. One of the government limits to rights of ownership. |
| Trade Fixture | A fixture attached to real propertyas part of a tenant's trade or business. it can be removed by the tenant at the end of the lease. |
| Variance | Permission to build, convert or otherwise use a parcel of property in violation of the zoning ordinances. |
| Zoning | An exercise of police power whereby a city or town limits property rights by determining what can be built within certain sections of a municipality. |
| Police Power | The right of the government to enforce laws, statutes and regulations for the public welfare. includes building codes and zoning ordinances. |
| Testate | An individual who dies with a will. |
| Testator | One who dies testate - with a will. |
| Condemnation | The administration of judicial procedure used when taking land by local, state or federal government for the public good called eminent domain. |
| Economic Characteristics of Real Property | scarcity, improvements, long-term investment and location (situs). |
| Property Rights | Control; Possession; Enjoyment; Disposition; Exclusion (aka bundle of rights) |
| Control | A property right to use at your discretion within the law. |
| Possession | A property right to hold and use or not to use as in a lease |
| Enjoyment | A property right to use without others infringing on your rights |
| Disposition | A property right to sell, convey or will as you choose |
| Exclusion | A property right to limit others from entry as you choose. |
| Government Limits to Property Rights | Eminent Domain; Police Power; Taxation; Escheat |