Real Estate Salesperson Exam (National Portion) Public and Private Land Use Controls Summary

Eminent domain lets the government take private property for public use, such as a highway, but it must pay the owner just compensation. The legal process of taking the property is called condemnation.

Wrong choices

• Escheat: Escheat is when property goes to the state because the owner died without a will or heirs.
• Police power: Police power is the right to regulate property, such as zoning, without taking ownership.
• Taxation: Taxation is the power to charge taxes on property.

Escheat returns property to the state when an owner dies without a will and without heirs, or when property is abandoned under state law.

Wrong choices

• Eminent domain: Eminent domain is a taking for public use with compensation.
• Adverse possession: Adverse possession is gaining title by open, continuous use of another's land.
• Condemnation: Condemnation is the legal process used for eminent domain.

Police power is the government's right to make rules that protect public health, safety, and welfare. Zoning, building codes, and subdivision rules are all uses of police power. No payment to the owner is required.

Wrong choices

• Eminent domain: Zoning regulates use; it does not take ownership.
• Escheat: Escheat concerns property of owners with no heirs.
• Taxation: Zoning is not a tax.

Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) are private controls placed by a developer or owner, usually recorded with the subdivision plat or in deeds. Homeowners' associations often enforce them.

Wrong choices

• Zoning ordinance: Zoning is a public rule made by the local government.
• Building code: Building codes set construction standards and are public rules.
• Easement: An easement is a right to use land, not a limit on the height of homes.

A nonconforming use is a use that was legal before the zoning changed. It is usually allowed to continue ("grandfathered"), but it may not be expanded and may be lost if abandoned or destroyed.

Wrong choices

• Variance: A variance is permission to differ from the zoning rules, usually because of a hardship.
• Conditional use permit: A conditional (special) use permit allows a use that the zone permits only under certain conditions.
• Spot zoning: Spot zoning singles out one parcel for different zoning and is often illegal.

A variance allows an owner to depart from a zoning requirement, such as a setback, when strict rules would cause an unusual hardship because of the property's shape or conditions.

Wrong choices

• Nonconforming use: A nonconforming use is a use that existed before the zoning changed.
• Deed restriction: A deed restriction is a private limit, not permission from the zoning board.
• Down zoning: Down zoning is a change to a less intense use for an area.

An easement in gross benefits a person or company rather than a neighboring parcel. Utility easements are the most common example. An easement appurtenant has a dominant parcel (which benefits) and a servient parcel (which carries the burden).

Wrong choices

• Easement appurtenant: An easement appurtenant benefits a neighboring parcel of land, not a company.
• Encroachment: An encroachment is an improvement that crosses onto another's land without permission.
• License: A license is temporary personal permission that can be revoked.

An encroachment is a building, fence, or other improvement that extends onto another person's land without permission. A survey usually reveals it. If ignored for a long time, it may lead to a claim of adverse possession or a prescriptive easement under state law.

Wrong choices

• Easement by necessity: An easement by necessity gives access to a landlocked parcel.
• License: A license is permission; the neighbor had no permission.
• Appurtenance: An appurtenance is a right that goes with the land.

A license is personal permission to do something on another's land, such as a ticket to a concert or permission to fish in a pond. It can usually be revoked and ends when the owner dies or sells the land.

Wrong choices

• An easement appurtenant: An easement appurtenant is an interest in land that runs with the land.
• A life estate: A life estate is an ownership interest.
• An easement by prescription: A prescriptive easement is gained by long, open use and is not freely revocable.