Question

Why is it important to understand all the ownership rights associated with real estate and give an example of how a potential conflict of these rights may affect the value of real estate.

Answer 1

Why is it important to understand all the ownership rights associated with real estate ?

Real property, sometimes referred to as real estate, realty or immovable property, is composed of any designated portion of land and anything permanently placed on or under it. The elements on or under the land can include natural resources and/or human-made structures.

In the legal sense, owning real property involves the bundle of rights transferred from seller to buyer upon the sale of a property. These rights typically dictate the use, transfer and/or sale of real properties. These real estate rights include the right of possession, control, exclusion, enjoyment, and disposition.

potential conflict of these rights may affect the value of real estate ?

The co-ownership of real estate can arise in many different ways. Many times, it is with the best intentions that the parties decide to own property together. Co-ownership often arises from:

• A devise in a will or a conveyance by a trust to several individuals as co-owners;
• A business decision, such as partners owning property together;
• A family decision, to own a vacation property, investment property, or a family property, together;
• A family decision to pass down family owned real estate to successive generations;
• A real estate investment, where several individuals decide together to invest in a piece of real estate;
• The result of a divorce.

In all cases in which any real estate is now or shall be hereafter held by two or more persons as tenants in common, and one or more of said tenants shall have been or shall hereafter be in possession of said real estate, it shall be lawful for any one or more of said tenants in common, not in possession, to sue for and recover from such tenants in possession his or their proportionate part of the rental value of said real estate for the time such real estate shall have been in possession as aforesaid;  and in case of partition of such real estate held in common as aforesaid, the parties in possession shall have deducted from their distributive shares of said real estate the rental value thereof to which their co-tenant or tenants are entitled.