New York Real Estate Salesperson — All Questions

A legal description that refers to a lot and block number on a recorded subdivision map uses the:

• a.Metes and bounds system
• b.Lot and block (recorded plat) system✓
• c.Monument-only system defined by landmarks alone
• d.Rectangular government survey of townships and ranges

The lot and block system describes property by referencing a lot and block number on a subdivision plat recorded in the public records. It is the most common method for platted subdivisions, including many in New York.

In a metes and bounds description, a fixed reference point such as an iron pin or a natural landmark is called a:

• a.Baseline
• b.Township line
• c.Monument✓
• d.Benchmark datum

In a metes and bounds description, monuments are fixed physical points of reference, either natural (a tree or stream) or artificial (an iron pin or marker), used to fix boundaries. The description always closes back at the point of beginning.

Which characteristic is NOT one of the seven classes protected under the federal Fair Housing Act?

• a.Marital status✓
• b.Race and color
• c.Familial status
• d.Physical or mental disability

The federal Fair Housing Act protects race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status. Marital status is not a federally protected class, though it is protected under New York State law.

Under fair housing law, 'familial status' protects:

• a.Households with children under 18 and pregnant persons✓
• b.Only couples who are legally married
• c.Individuals based on their family's ancestry
• d.Unrelated adults who choose to share a dwelling as roommates

Familial status protects families with one or more children under 18, as well as pregnant persons and those securing custody of a child. It bars discrimination against households simply because children live there, subject to limited housing-for-older-persons exemptions.

The familial status protection has a limited exemption for:

• a.Detached single-family homes, which are entirely exempt from every fair housing rule
• b.Owner-occupied duplexes in which the resident owner rents out the other living unit
• c.Any apartment building whose owner simply adopts an internal no-children rental policy
• d.Qualified housing for older persons, such as 55-and-over or 62-and-over communities✓

Housing that qualifies as housing for older persons (generally 62-and-over, or 55-and-over meeting specific criteria) is exempt from the familial status protection. This narrow exemption must meet strict federal requirements to apply.

Which of the following is a protected class under New York's Human Rights Law but NOT under the federal Fair Housing Act?

• a.Religion, which the federal Fair Housing Act already covers
• b.Lawful source of income, such as a housing voucher✓
• c.Race, which federal fair housing law now covers
• d.Disability, which the federal Fair Housing Act already covers

New York's Human Rights Law adds protected classes beyond the federal list, including lawful source of income, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and military status. Refusing a tenant because they will pay with a voucher can violate the source-of-income protection.

In New York, refusing to rent to an otherwise qualified applicant solely because they would pay with a Section 8 housing voucher is:

• a.Required by federal law whenever a voucher is presented
• b.A violation of the state's lawful source-of-income protection✓
• c.Permitted, because the voucher program is optional for landlords
• d.Allowed for cooperatives but prohibited for condominium rentals

New York protects lawful source of income as a class, so a landlord generally may not reject an otherwise qualified applicant just because they intend to pay rent with a Section 8 voucher or other lawful assistance. Screening must apply neutral, income-source-blind standards.

A lender's refusal to make loans in a particular neighborhood based on its racial composition is called:

• a.Steering by protected class
• b.Puffery
• c.Redlining✓
• d.Blockbusting

Redlining is the illegal practice of denying or restricting loans, insurance, or services in specific areas based on the racial or ethnic makeup of the neighborhood rather than the applicant's qualifications. It violates fair housing and fair lending laws.

Which advertising phrase would most likely violate fair housing law?

• a.Spacious three-bedroom with a recently updated eat-in kitchen
• b.Convenient to transit, highways, and parks
• c.Available immediately; pets considered
• d.Ideal for a mature Christian couple, no children✓

Advertising that expresses a preference or limitation based on a protected class, such as religion or familial status, violates fair housing law. Describing the property's features is fine, but 'Christian' and 'no children' signal prohibited preferences.

Reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications for persons with disabilities in housing are required primarily by the:

• a.Sherman Antitrust Act
• b.Fair Housing Act✓
• c.Truth in Lending
• d.Statute of Frauds

The Fair Housing Act requires housing providers to allow reasonable accommodations in rules and reasonable modifications to the premises so persons with disabilities can use the housing. The Americans with Disabilities Act separately addresses access to public accommodations.

In real estate, the term 'improvement' refers to:

• a.The seller's written disclosure of completed repairs
• b.Any general increase in a property's market price over a period of time
• c.A tax abatement granted by the municipality to reduce the owner's levy
• d.A man-made addition to land, such as a building, fence, or road✓

An improvement is a permanent, man-made addition to land, such as a building, fence, driveway, or utility line. Improvements are part of the real property and generally transfer with the land unless specifically excluded.

'Real property' is best distinguished from 'real estate' because real property also includes:

• a.The bundle of legal rights and interests in the real estate✓
• b.The furniture and appliances kept inside the building
• c.Only the physical soil, rocks, and minerals inside the boundaries
• d.The movable trade fixtures that a commercial tenant has installed

Real estate refers to the physical land and its permanent improvements, while real property adds the bundle of legal rights and interests that come with owning that real estate, such as possession, control, and disposition.

Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) in a subdivision are typically enforced by:

• a.The New York Department of State
• b.The county tax assessor's office
• c.The Federal Housing Administration when it insures the loans
• d.The homeowners association or other lot owners✓

Private CC&Rs are enforced by the homeowners association or by other owners in the subdivision, typically through injunctions or lawsuits, not by a government agency. Courts will not enforce restrictions that are illegal or discriminatory.

The physical characteristic of land meaning that no two parcels are exactly alike is:

• a.Scarcity of usable land
• b.Uniqueness (nonhomogeneity)✓
• c.Indestructibility of the land
• d.Immobility of a parcel of land

Uniqueness, also called nonhomogeneity or heterogeneity, means no two parcels are identical because each occupies its own location. Along with immobility and indestructibility, it is one of the three physical characteristics of land.

Which of the following is an economic characteristic of land?

• a.Scarcity✓
• b.Leverage
• c.Uniqueness
• d.Indestructibility

The economic characteristics of land are scarcity, improvements (modification), permanence of investment, and situ(area preference). Immobility, indestructibility, and uniqueness are the physical characteristics.

The right in the bundle of rights that allows an owner to sell, gift, or will the property is the right of:

• a.Exclusion
• b.Quiet possession
• c.Disposition✓
• d.Enjoyment

The right of disposition lets an owner transfer the property by sale, gift, or will. It is one of the core sticks in the bundle of rights, along with possession, control, enjoyment, and exclusion.

Acquiring title by openly and continuously occupying another's land without permission for the statutory period is:

• a.Adverse possession✓
• b.Accretion by natural deposit
• c.Novation of the contract
• d.Escheat to a state

Adverse possession lets an occupant gain title by possessing land in a way that is hostile, actual, open and notorious, exclusive, and continuous for the statutory period, which is ten years in New York. The use must be without the true owner's permission.

Recording a deed in the county land records provides:

• a.No legal effect until the property is resold
• b.A government guarantee of marketable title
• c.Constructive notice to the world of the owner's interest✓
• d.Actual notice, but only to those who personally signed the deed

Recording gives constructive (legal) notice to the world of the recorded interest, so later purchasers are presumed to know of it. Recording does not itself guarantee title; that protection comes from title insurance.

Compared with riparian rights, the doctrine of prior appropriation allocates water based on:

• a.Who first put the water to beneficial use under a state permit✓
• b.An equal pro rata share among neighboring owners
• c.The parcel's mere physical adjacency to the watercourse or lake
• d.The relative size of each parcel of land

Under prior appropriation, water rights are granted by the state to those who first put water to beneficial use ('first in time, first in right'), independent of land location. Riparian rights, by contrast, belong to owners whose land borders the watercourse.

Which encumbrance is a non-money encumbrance that affects use rather than a claim for payment?

• a.A property tax lien for unpaid taxes
• b.A deed restriction limiting building height✓
• c.A mortgage lien securing the purchase loan
• d.A judgment lien docketed after a money award

Encumbrances fall into money encumbrances (liens securing a debt) and non-money encumbrances that affect the use or physical condition of the property, such as easements and deed restrictions. A height restriction limits use rather than securing a debt.

A recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting title to a property is pending is a:

• a.Satisfaction of mortgage
• b.Lis pendens✓
• c.Lien waiver
• d.Certificate of occupancy

A lis pendens ('litigation pending') is a recorded notice that a lawsuit that could affect title is underway, warning potential buyers and lenders. It clouds the title until the litigation is resolved or the notice is removed.

A single wall that straddles the boundary line of and is shared by two adjoining owners is a:

• a.An encroachment that must be torn down
• b.A fixture belonging to whichever owner paid to build it
• c.A prescriptive easement in gross benefiting a utility
• d.Party wall, with an easement for mutual support✓

A party wall is a shared wall on the boundary between two properties, and each owner typically has an easement in the other's half for mutual support. The owners usually share the cost of maintaining the wall.

Which estate is a freehold estate rather than a leasehold estate?

• a.Fee simple absolute✓
• b.Estate for years
• c.Periodic tenancy renewing automatically
• d.Tenancy at will terminable at any time

Freehold estates involve ownership of indefinite duration and include fee simple and life estates. Estate for years, periodic tenancy, and tenancy at will are leasehold (nonfreehold) estates that give possession without ownership.

In a condominium, the lobby, elevators, roof, and land are typically:

• a.Owned outright by the managing agent
• b.Common elements owned jointly by all unit owners✓
• c.Leased by the association from the municipality under a ground lease
• d.Owned individually by whichever unit is physically closest to them

In a condominium, areas outside the individual units, such as the lobby, elevators, roof, hallways, and land, are common elements owned jointly by all unit owners as tenants in common. Owners share responsibility for them through common charges.

The document that legally creates a condominium and defines the units and common elements in New York is the:

• a.Certificate of occupancy issued for the finished building
• b.Declaration, together with the related bylaws✓
• c.Estoppel certificate from the lender
• d.Proprietary lease for a co-op unit

A condominium is legally created by recording a declaration (and related bylaws) that submits the property to the condominium form of ownership and defines the units and common elements. In New York, the offering plan is also reviewed by the Attorney General.

In New York, the offering plan for a newly created condominium or cooperative must be filed with and accepted by the:

• a.The Internal Revenue Service
• b.The Department of State's licensing division
• c.New York State Attorney General✓
• d.The Federal Housing Finance Agency

In New York, sponsors of new condominiums and cooperatives must file an offering plan that is reviewed and accepted by the New York State Attorney General's office before units or shares may be sold. This consumer-protection review is distinct from DOS licensing.

When a life estate ends and title returns to the original grantor rather than passing to a third party, the grantor holds a:

• a.Remainder
• b.A possibility of reverter
• c.A leasehold estate
• d.Reversion✓

If a life estate is set to return to the grantor when it ends, the grantor holds a reversion. If instead a named third party will take title, that party holds a remainder.