Alaska Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

Which type of estate gives an owner the fullest bundle of rights, is of potentially unlimited duration, and passes to the owner's heirs?

• a.Fee simple absolute✓
• b.Estate at will
• c.Estate for years
• d.Life estate

A fee simple absolute is the highest and most complete estate in land: it lasts indefinitely and is freely inheritable and transferable. A life estate ends at the death of the measuring life, so it is not inheritable. An estate for years and an estate at will are leasehold (less-than-freehold) estates that give possession, not ownership, so they confer far fewer rights.

Two people own a property as joint tenants. When one owner dies, what happens to the deceased owner's interest?

• a.It reverts to the original grantor
• b.It passes to the deceased owner's heirs by will
• c.It passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant✓
• d.It is sold and the proceeds go to the estate

The defining feature of joint tenancy is the right of survivorship: on the death of one joint tenant, that interest passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant(s) outside of probate. Because of survivorship, the interest cannot be devised by will (that is the rule for a tenancy in common instead). There is no forced sale and no reversion to the grantor.

A homeowner installs built-in bookshelves bolted to the wall studs. With no contrary agreement in the sale, these shelves are generally treated as:

• a.movable chattels that were never attached to the land
• b.fixtures that transfer with the real property✓
• c.the seller's personal property that may be removed before closing
• d.trade fixtures installed by a business tenant

A fixture is personal property annexed to realty so firmly, and with the intent, that it becomes part of the real estate; bolted-in shelving passes with the deed unless excluded in writing. Trade fixtures are installed by a business tenant and stay personal property. Chattels are movable items that are not attached.

Which factor is LEAST relevant in deciding whether an item has become a fixture?

• a.the purchase price of the item✓
• b.the item's adaptation to the use of the real estate
• c.the method by which the item is attached
• d.the intention of the party who installed the item

Courts judge fixtures by the method of annexation, adaptation to the property's use, and the parties' intention (the classic tests). What the item originally cost is not a determining factor. The other three choices are all recognized fixture tests.

An owner conveys a parcel 'to Ann for life, then to Ben.' Ben's future interest is best described as:

• a.an executory limitation that cuts the estate short
• b.a reversionary interest that returns to the grantor
• c.a reversion retained by the original grantor
• d.a remainder✓

When a life estate is followed by a grant to a named third party, that party holds a remainder. A reversion is the grantor's retained interest that comes back to the grantor after the life estate ends. Because Ben is a named third party, his interest is a remainder, not a reversion.

A life tenant who neglects the property and lets it seriously deteriorate, harming the value for those who take title afterward, has committed:

• a.waste✓
• b.an easement created by necessity
• c.an encroachment onto adjoining land
• d.escheat to the state government

A life tenant must not commit waste - conduct that permanently damages the property and injures the remainderman's or reversioner's future interest. Escheat is reversion to the state when there are no heirs. An encroachment is an improvement intruding onto adjoining land. An easement by necessity provides access to landlocked land.

Two unmarried partners hold title as tenants in common with unequal shares. When one of them dies, what happens to that person's interest?

• a.the share is divided equally among the other co-tenants
• b.the surviving co-tenant automatically owns the entire property
• c.the property immediately escheats to the state
• d.the deceased owner's share passes to their heirs or by will✓

Tenancy in common has no right of survivorship, so a deceased co-tenant's undivided interest passes to their heirs or devisees. Automatic survivorship is the defining feature of joint tenancy instead. Escheat applies only when there are no heirs, and the shares are not redistributed to the other co-tenants.

The four unities required to create a joint tenancy are time, title, interest, and:

• a.conveyance
• b.possession✓
• c.partition
• d.survivorship

A joint tenancy requires the four unities - time, title, interest, and possession (PITT): the tenants take by the same instrument, at the same time, with equal interests, and an undivided right to possess the whole. Survivorship is the result of a joint tenancy, not one of the four unities. Partition is a legal action to divide co-owned property.

A married couple holds title so that each spouse has an undivided one-half interest with the right of survivorship, and neither may convey separately. This is:

• a.a tenancy in common with no survivorship
• b.community property owned equally by the spouses
• c.tenancy by the entirety✓
• d.a joint tenancy that has already been severed

Tenancy by the entirety is a co-ownership form reserved for married couples in states that recognize it, featuring survivorship and protection against one spouse conveying alone. Tenancy in common lacks survivorship and allows separate transfer. Community property treats marital property as equally owned but operates differently.

An easement that benefits an adjoining parcel of land and passes automatically when that parcel is sold is an easement that is:

• a.appurtenant✓
• b.personal to the holder and not transferable
• c.in gross, benefiting a person or company
• d.created by prescription through long hostile use

An easement appurtenant benefits a particular parcel (the dominant tenement) and runs with the land, transferring automatically to a new owner of that parcel. An easement in gross benefits a person or company rather than a parcel. A prescriptive easement is acquired by long, open, hostile use.

In an easement appurtenant, the parcel that receives the benefit is the ___ tenement, and the parcel that is burdened is the ___ tenement.

• a.primary; secondary
• b.dominant; servient✓
• c.superior; inferior
• d.servient; dominant

The dominant tenement enjoys the benefit of the easement, while the servient tenement is burdened by it (for example, by providing a driveway across it). The other paired terms are not the recognized legal labels for the two parcels.

A utility company holds a recorded right to run power lines across many separate private lots. This is best classified as an easement:

• a.appurtenant to a neighboring parcel
• b.in gross✓
• c.arising by estoppel from reliance
• d.created by strict necessity for access

An easement in gross benefits a person or entity rather than an adjoining parcel; commercial easements in gross, such as a utility's, are common and assignable. An appurtenant easement requires a benefited parcel. An easement by necessity arises to reach landlocked land.

A neighbor's fence is built two feet over the property line onto the adjoining lot. This condition is an example of:

• a.an easement in gross held by a utility
• b.a revocable license to use the land
• c.a private deed restriction on use
• d.an encroachment✓

An encroachment is an unauthorized physical intrusion of a structure - such as a fence, wall, or roofline - onto an adjoining owner's land, and it is a title or boundary problem often revealed by a survey. A license is temporary permission to use land, and a deed restriction is a private limitation on use.

A lien is best described as:

• a.a charge against property used to secure the payment of a debt✓
• b.the legal right to cross a neighbor's land to reach a public roadway for access
• c.a private restriction limiting how the land may be used by its owner
• d.the transfer of title to a new owner at the owner's death by will

A lien is a financial encumbrance - a claim against property that secures payment of a debt or obligation (such as a mortgage, tax, or judgment lien) and may lead to a forced sale if unpaid. Crossing another's land is an easement, a use limitation is a deed restriction, and a transfer at death is a devise.

A general lien differs from a specific lien in that a general lien:

• a.attaches only to a single, specifically identified parcel of real estate and nothing else
• b.can attach to all of a debtor's property, both real and personal✓
• c.is generally considered unenforceable by a court of law
• d.automatically holds first priority over every other lien recorded

A general lien (such as a judgment or IRS lien) can attach to all of a debtor's property, real and personal, whereas a specific lien (such as a mortgage or mechanic's lien) attaches only to a particular property. General liens do not automatically have first priority, and they are enforceable.

Which of the following is an example of an involuntary lien?

• a.a property tax lien imposed by operation of law✓
• b.a mortgage the owner voluntarily signs at the closing table
• c.a deed of trust given to a lender as security
• d.a home equity line the owner chooses to open

An involuntary lien is created by operation of law without the owner's agreement, such as a property tax, mechanic's, or judgment lien. A mortgage, deed of trust, and home equity line are all voluntary liens the owner agrees to. Property tax liens also generally take priority over most other liens.

Riparian rights refer to the water rights of an owner whose land:

• a.contains a small man-made pond
• b.borders the tidal waters of the ocean
• c.abuts a flowing river or stream✓
• d.sits above an underground aquifer

Riparian rights belong to owners of land bordering a flowing watercourse such as a river or stream, allowing reasonable use of the water. Land bordering the sea or a lake has littoral rights, underground water is governed by other doctrines, and a private man-made pond does not create riparian rights.

Littoral rights are associated with land that borders:

• a.an artificial drainage ditch
• b.a small, fast-flowing creek
• c.a navigable river only
• d.a lake, sea, or ocean✓

Littoral rights attach to property abutting a static or tidal body of water such as a lake, sea, or ocean; the owner may generally use the water and owns land to the average high-water mark. Rights along a flowing stream or river are riparian, not littoral.

Subsurface (mineral) rights allow an owner to:

• a.build permanent structures out over a neighbor's adjoining land
• b.cross adjoining land to reach a road
• c.use the open airspace above the parcel
• d.extract minerals, oil, or gas beneath the surface✓

Ownership of real property traditionally extends downward to the center of the earth, so subsurface (mineral) rights let the owner extract or lease minerals, oil, and gas beneath the surface. Airspace above is a separate air right, and crossing adjoining land is an easement, not a subsurface right.

Air rights refer to the right to use or control:

• a.the use of a neighbor's driveway
• b.the water flowing across the land
• c.the minerals and oil lying beneath the parcel's surface
• d.the space above the surface of the land✓

Air rights concern the use and control of the space above a parcel, which owners can sometimes sell or lease (as with development rights over a building). Minerals below are subsurface rights, water is a water right, and using a neighbor's driveway is an easement.

The private, recorded restrictions a developer places on every lot in a subdivision, binding all future owners, are known as:

• a.the power of eminent domain
• b.CC&Rs✓
• c.the government's police power
• d.local zoning ordinances

Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) are private deed restrictions a developer records against a subdivision; they run with the land, bind future owners, and are often enforced by a homeowners association. Zoning, eminent domain, and police power are governmental (public) controls, not private restrictions.