Assignment:
Part 1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you will be able to answer the following questions:
1. What are the interests in real property that someone can hold?
2. How is real property voluntarily transferred?
3. How is real property involuntarily transferred?
4. How is the use of property restricted?
CASE OPENER
Economic Redevelopment in Poletown
General Motors wanted to expand its facility, but when the company offered to purchase the property it needed, the owners would not accept the offers. The firm then approached the Detroit Economic Development Corporation with a request that the corporation use its power of eminent domain to acquire a large parcel of land on which members of the plaintiff organization, Poletown Neighborhood Council, resided and had small businesses. Once the corporation had acquired the land, it would be conveyed to General Motors for its plant expansion. The justification for the use of eminent domain was the creation of jobs for the economically depressed area.
The plaintiffs, who did not want their community destroyed, sued the city and the development corporation on the grounds that they were abusing their power of eminent domain to take private property for a private use.
1. Can business managers ask the city to buy real property for them when the owners do not wish to sell it?
2. What would determine whether the government can legally take the property for the corporation?
The Wrap-Up at the end of the chapter will answer these questions.
Ownership of real property seems to be one of the goals of most people in the United States. In this chapter we examine the nature of real property, the types of interests someone can own in real property, and how those interests can be transferred. As the opening scenario implies, transfers can be either voluntary or involuntary.
Part 2
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you will be able to answer the following questions:
1. How is the landlord-tenant relationship created?
2. What are the rights and duties of the landlord and tenant?
3. What are landlords' liabilities for injuries on the premises?
4. How are interests in leased property transferred?
5. How are leases terminated?
CASE OPENER
Free to Choose?
Roommates.com operates a Web site that helps individuals find roommates. Individuals searching for roommates create profiles using questionnaires provided by the Web site. The questionnaires ask for information about age, sex, and sexual orientation, as well as whether the person lives with children. Roommates.com encourages users to supply additional information via profiles. Roommates.com then distributes e-mails to users after matching members on the basis of preferences. For example, if a person does not want to live with children, Roommates.com does not send that person information from potential roommates who live with children.
The Fair Housing Councils of San Fernando Valley and San Diego have sued Roommates.com, alleging its business practices violate the federal Fair Housing Act and some California statutes. Roommates.com believes it enjoys immunity under the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which provides immunity from liability for providers of interactive computer services that publish information provided by others.
1. In this chapter, you will learn about how the landlord-tenant relationship is created. What is "fair housing," and how does the concept of fair housing affect landlord-tenant relationships?
2. Are tenants allowed to discriminate against potential roommates?
The Wrap-Up at the end of the chapter will answer these questions.
Suppose you are a manager for a new business. One of your responsibilities is to secure office space for the business. You meet with the business owner to talk about whether you should rent or purchase the office space. If you rent the office space, you will enter into a contractual agreement with the owner such that you will be responsible for paying a specific amount of money for a specific period of time to have temporary possession of a certain space. While this agreement will name a specific piece of property (i.e., provide the street address of the property), the lease is typically an agreement for use of some structure on the property. If you will potentially be renting housing or office space for your business, you should be aware of the laws that govern the landlord-tenant relationship.
A clear understanding of the language used in the landlord-tenant relationship is essential. The owner of the property is called the landlordThe owner of a property being leased. or the lessorA person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease.. In contrast, the lesseeA person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease., or the tenantA person who assumes the temporary legal right to possess property., is the party who assumes temporary ownership of the property.
The property in question is called the leasehold estateThe leased property.. The actual agreement between the landlord and the tenant is called the leaseA transfer of the right to possess and use goods for a period of time in return for consideration..
In the landlord-tenant relationship, the landlord grants the tenant the temporary, exclusive right to occupy and use a specific space for a specific amount of time. In turn, the tenant is obligated to pay rent to the landlord, who retains the title to the land. This entire relationship is usually established in a contractual agreement. Usually, we think of landlord-tenant relationships as private.
However, sometimes landlord-tenant relationships are public-private relationships. For example, the City of Orlando is in a relationship with RP Realty Partners, a landlord to tenant Orlando Movie Co., which operates Plaza Cinema Café. The development project is a public-private one, created when the city wanted a downtown movie theater to bring people into the city.
The landlord-tenant relationship has become more complex in recent years. In 1972, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws created the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA), an act that created more uniformity among the state laws governing the landlord-tenant relationship.
The first part of this chapter explains how the landlord-tenant relationship is created. The next section explains the rights and responsibilities associated with the landlord-tenant relationship. The third section focuses on liability associated with injuries that occur on rental premises. The fourth section considers how landlords and tenants can transfer their interests in the rental property. The final section explains the ways a lease can be terminated.