Property Ownership
Property ownership covers the estates, rights, and interests a person can hold in real estate. It also includes limits on ownership imposed by government and others.
Estates and Interests
A freehold estate such as fee simple gives ownership of indefinite duration, while a life estate lasts for a measuring life. Nonpossessory interests include easements, which grant the right to use another's land for a purpose like access. An encroachment is an unauthorized intrusion of a structure onto neighboring land.
Government Powers
Ownership is always subject to the government powers often remembered as PETE: police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat. Eminent domain allows taking property for public use with just compensation through condemnation. Escheat returns property to the state when an owner dies without heirs or a will.