Real Estate Sales Exam FREE Real Estate Sales Property Ownership and Rights Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A property owner grants a neighbor the right to cross their land to access a public road. What type of property right has been created?
- Easement appurtenant (Correct answer)
- License
- Fee simple absolute
- Remainder interest
Correct answer: Easement appurtenant
An easement appurtenant gives a neighboring property owner the legal right to use another's land for a specific purpose such as access.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes tenancy by the entirety?
- A form of co-ownership available only to married couples with right of survivorship (Correct answer)
- Joint tenancy between business partners
- A lease arrangement between landlord and tenant
- Ownership by a corporation through its board of directors
Correct answer: A form of co-ownership available only to married couples with right of survivorship
Tenancy by the entirety is a form of concurrent ownership exclusive to married couples that includes an automatic right of survivorship.
Question 3: What is the primary difference between a life estate and a fee simple defeasible?
- A life estate ends at death of the measuring life while fee simple defeasible ends upon violation of a condition (Correct answer)
- Both terminate at the owner's death
- A fee simple defeasible cannot be inherited
- A life estate allows unlimited transfer of ownership
Correct answer: A life estate ends at death of the measuring life while fee simple defeasible ends upon violation of a condition
A life estate is measured by a person's lifetime, whereas a fee simple defeasible can last indefinitely but terminates if a specified condition is violated.
Question 4: An owner sells mineral rights beneath their property to a mining company while retaining surface rights. This is an example of which concept?
- Subsurface rights severance (Correct answer)
- Eminent domain
- Adverse possession
- Riparian rights
Correct answer: Subsurface rights severance
Subsurface rights severance occurs when mineral or underground rights are separated and sold independently from the surface ownership.
Question 5: Under the doctrine of prior appropriation, water rights are determined by which principle?
- First in time, first in right (Correct answer)
- Ownership of land adjacent to the water source
- Equal sharing among all nearby landowners
- Government allocation based on property size
Correct answer: First in time, first in right
The prior appropriation doctrine awards water rights based on who first put the water to beneficial use, regardless of land proximity.
Question 6: Which of the following would NOT be considered an encumbrance on real property?
- A fee simple absolute ownership interest (Correct answer)
- A mortgage lien
- A restrictive covenant
- A utility easement
Correct answer: A fee simple absolute ownership interest
Fee simple absolute is the highest form of ownership, not a burden or limitation on the property, and therefore is not an encumbrance.
A property owner grants a neighbor the right to cross their land to access a public road.
What type of property right has been created?