Untitled

• Real property ownership includes the land and its associated rights
• The document outlines fundamentals of real property ownership

Land

• Land includes minerals beneath the earth's surface
• Land includes water on or below the earth's surface
• Land includes air above the surface
• Land includes plants attached to the ground, like trees and grass

Legal Concept of Land

• Land encompasses the surface area of the earth
• The area beneath the surface extending to the earth's center represents land
• All natural things permanently attached to the earth constitutes land
• The air above the surface extending outward infinitely is considered land

Physical Characteristics of Land

• Immobility: The geographical location of land is fixed and unchangeable
• Indestructibility: Removing a segment of the planet to its core is how one may destroy it
• Heterogeneity: No two parcels of land are exactly the same due to their non-homogenous nature

Real Estate

• Real estate includes land and everything above and below the soil
• Permanently attached land and improvements are part of real estate
• Real estate includes land, and natural and man-made improvements affixed to the land

Real Estate Unique Characteristics

• Real estate has a unique location and composition
• Real estate is durable
• Real estate has finite supply
• Real estate is useful

Property

• Property refers to possessions collectively belonging to someone
• Property includes the right to possess, use, or dispose of something
• Property encompasses interests, rights, and benefits related to ownership
• All things which are or may be the object of appropriation are considered either immovable (real property) or movable (personal property)

Classifications of Property

• Real property is ownership of real estate, including associated rights
• Personal property is ownership of anything not real estate, and the associated rights

Real Property

• Real property entails the right to use, control, and dispose of the land and its attachments
• The combination of rights associated with the ownership of real property

Immovable Property

• Real by Nature: Cannot be carried from place to place
• Real by Incorporation: Attached to an immovable in a fixed manner to be an integral part
• Real by Destination: Placed in an immovable for the utility it provides
• Real by Analogy: Classified by express provisions of law

Sample of Immovable Property (Art. 415, Civil Code)

• Land, building, roads, and constructions of all kind adhered to the soil
• Trees, plants, and growing fruits attached to the land
• Everything attached to an immovable in fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot be separated without breaking the material or deterioration of the object
• Machinery intended by the owner of the tenement for an industry or the works

Personal Property

• Personal Property By Nature: Likely to be consumed when used according to their nature

• Personal Property By Intention: Possibility of being substituted by another property having the same kind or quality

• Movables susceptible of appropriation

• Real property which by any special provision of law is considered as personally (movable assets or things)

• Forces of nature which are brough under control by science such as Elctricity and Water

• All things which can be transported from place to place without impairment of the real property to which they are fixed

Bundle of Rights

• The bundle of rights includes the ability to sell, lease, or mortgage property
• The bundle of rights includes ability to build improvements, sell or lease partial interest or choose to exercise all/none of these rights

7 Rights of an Owner under Roman Law

• Jus possidendi - Right to possess
• Jus utendi - Right to use
• Jus fruendi - Right to the fruits
• Jus abutendi - Right to consume
• Jus disponendi - Right to dispose
• Jus vindicandi - Right to recover
• Jus accessiones - Right to accessories

Ownership under the Civil Law

• Owners can enjoy and dispose of a thing, within legal limitations

• Owners have rights of action against holders/possessors to recover property

• Owners can exclude any person from the enjoyment and disposal of the property

• Owners can use necessary force to repel or prevent unlawful invasion/usurpation of their property

• Owners can enclose or fence their land

• Owners cannot injure third parties' rights

• There is no right to prohibit interference if it's necessary to avert imminent danger

• The owner may demand indemnity for damage

• No person shall be deprived of property except by competent authority for public use, with just compensation

• If property is condemned/seized for health, safety, or security, the owner isn't entitled to compensation unless seizure is unjustified

• Ownership of property gives the right by accession to everything produced thereby, naturally or artificially

• The owner owns natural fruits (spontaneous products of the soil, and the young and other products of animals)

• The owner owns industrial fruits (produced by cultivating land)

• The owner owns civil fruits (rents of buildings, leases of lands, and other property)

Physical Rights of Ownership of Land

• Surface Rights: Use of the land's surface
• Includes crust and underlying soil for vegetation and support for structures
• Air Rights: Right to use and enjoy air space above the land infinitely
• Surface/Subsurface: Rights to natural resources below the surface ("Mineral Rights")
• Water Rights:
  • Riparian Rights: Use water for irrigation, swimming, boating, fishing, and construction of piers/boathouse
  • Littoral Rights: Similar to riparian rights, extend to mean high-water mark

Forms of Legal Interest

• Fee Simple: Absolute ownership subject to state limitations, most complete form of ownership
• Partial Interest: Rights created by legal divisions of the ownership interest, less than free simple interest
• Air Rights: Rights in ownership of all property at/above a horizontal plane, using and enjoying airspace infinitely
• Surface/Subsurface: Rights limited to the surface or subsurface of real estate

Property Ownership Forms

• Serveralty (Individual Ownership): One person owns the entire bundle of rights and can exercise ownership without consent

• Tenancy:

  • Bundle of rights is divided
  • Lessee has right to use/occupy, lessor receives rent and property back after contract expiration

• Condominium:

  • Fee simple interest in a unit like space within walls, ceiling, and flooring
  • Pro-rate share of the common area

• Cooperative:

  • One owns shares in a non-profit corporation that owns an apartment building
  • The shareholder acquires a lease to occupy a unit

• Time Share:

  • Fee or leasehold interest where owners/tenants use the property on a periodic, non-overlapping basis
  • Partial ownership where owners purchase right of use for a specific period

• Undivided Interest/Tenancy in Common:

  • Each tenant has equal right to enjoy the entire property
  • An owner may exercise all incidents of ownership without consent

Characteristics of Undivided Interest / Tenancy in Common

• Two or more owners involved

• Any number of co-tenants in a single property

• Interest individually owned in respective shares of the property owned

• Tenants have distinct ownership

• No Survivorship: A deceased co-tenant's estate passes by probate to heirs and devisees

• Identical Rights: All have equal rights to possess and use the property

• Electable ownership shares of tenants in common

• No unity of time required for tenants in common to acquire interest

Limitations on Ownership

• Government Powers
• Limitations Imposed by Law on Ownership
• Limitations Imposed by the owner himself
• Limitations Imposed by the transferor of the property
• Inherent Limitation

Government Powers

• Escheat: Government right to take property of a deceased person intestate (no will) with no heirs
• Taxation:
  • Government right to tax property for revenue for public expenditures
  • State power to impose charges on persons or property for government use
• Police Power:
  • Government inherent right to restrict land use to preserve order and protect public health/safety
  • State's right to enact laws relating to persons and property to promote public health/morals/safety
• Eminent Domain:
  • Government right to take property from an owner with just compensation for public purposes
  • The procedure is called condemnation

General Limitation imposed by the State in the exercise of its inherent powers

• Limitations imposed by specific provisions of law
• Limitations imposed by the transferor of the property
• Limitations imposed by the owner himself
• Limitations inherent in the property

Imposed by Law

• Legal Easement
• Zoning Regulations
• Building Code
• Rent Control
• Urban and Agrarian Reform
• Subdivision Regulations

Imposed by the Owner Himself

• Contractual/ Private Restrictions: Owners may enter into contracts or arrangements restricting land use
  • Lease: Owner gives up possession of property for a temporary period
  • Mortgage: Title to property pledged as security for a loan
  • Easement: A right of way given to another to use the land for a specific purpose
  • License: Privilege to use the land without exclusive control
  • Deed Restrictions: Limitation on real estate use through written legal document
  • Liens: Charge against a property as security for debt payment
  • Encroachment: Trespass on another's Land
  • Adverse Possession: Method of acquiring ownership through possession