Property Law For Dummies -- About the Author -- Contents at a Glance -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- About This Book -- Conventions Used in This Book -- What You're Not to Read -- Foolish Assumptions -- How This Book Is Organized -- Icons Used in This Book -- Where to Go from Here -- Part I: Introducing Property Law -- Chapter 1: Getting the Lowdown on Property Law -- Defining Property -- Describing the Duration and Sharing of Ownership -- Acquiring Original Property Rights -- Transferring Property Rights to Another -- Chapter 2: Defining Property in Legal Terms -- Distinguishing between Real and Personal Property -- Describing a Property Owner's Rights -- Limiting a Property Owner's Rights -- Exploring Remedies for Violations of Property Rights -- Chapter 3: Considering Property Ownership -- Defining Title -- Acquiring Title -- Sharing and Dividing Property Ownership -- Part II: Understanding Real Property Rights -- Chapter 4: Identifying Common Law Rights in Real Property -- Nuisance Law: Enjoying Property without Unreasonable Interference -- Altering How Surface Water Drains -- Regulating Water Rights -- Extracting Oil and Gas from Underground -- Avoiding Landslides and Subsidence: Supporting Land -- No Trespassing! Excluding Others from Land -- Using Airspace -- Chapter 5: Adjusting Rights by Private Agreement: Covenants -- Introducing Land-Related Covenants -- Enforcing a Running Covenant at Law -- Enforcing a Covenant in Equity -- Burdens for the Benefit of All: Enforcing Implied Reciprocal Covenants -- Interpreting Covenants -- Amending Covenants -- Terminating Covenants -- Analyzing a Covenant Dispute -- Chapter 6: Giving Others the Right to Use Your Land: Easements -- Grasping the Basics of Easements -- Creating Easements -- Interference and Trespasses: Determining the Scope of Easements -- Transferring and Dividing Easements.

Terminating Easements -- Chapter 7: Zeroing In on Zoning -- Discovering Who Typically Regulates Land Use -- Regulating the Big Three: Use, Height, and Bulk -- Protecting Nonconformities from New Zoning Restrictions -- Permitting Conditional Uses -- Avoiding Unnecessary Hardship with Variances -- Amending Zoning -- Chapter 8: Recognizing the Limits of Public Regulation -- Looking for the Local Power Source: State Enabling Statutes -- Explaining Property Deprivations: Substantive Due Process -- Compensating for Property Taken for Public Use -- Treating Similarly Situated Owners the Same: Equal Protection -- Respecting Free Speech Rights -- Part III: Looking at Shared and Divided Property Ownership -- Chapter 9: Dividing Ownership over Time: Estates -- Introducing the Concept of Present and Future Estates in Land -- Creating and Distinguishing the Present Estates -- Making Present Estates Defeasible: Conditional Endings -- Identifying Future Estates -- Restricting Certain Future Estates via Common Law Rules -- Limiting Nonreversionary Interests: The Rule against Perpetuities -- Transferring Present and Future Estates -- Governing the Relationship between Owners of Present and Future Estates -- Chapter 10: Sharing Property: Concurrent Ownership -- Concurrent Ownership: Owning the Same Property at the Same Time -- Getting Familiar with Tenancy in Common -- Taking a Closer Look at Joint Tenancy -- Examining Tenancy by the Entirety -- Governing the Relationship among Cotenants -- Breaking Up: Terminating Concurrent Ownership by Partition -- Creating and Owning Condominiums -- Chapter 11: Owning Property in Marriage -- Protecting the Surviving Spouse -- Yours, Mine, and Ours: Community Property Systems -- Protecting Homesteads -- Dividing Property upon Divorce -- Chapter 12: Leasing Property: Landlord-Tenant Law.

Distinguishing Leaseholds from Other Interests -- Creating and Differentiating the Four Types of Tenancies -- Possessing the Leased Premises -- Maintaining the Leased Premises -- Transferring the Leasehold -- Terminating the Leasehold -- Evicting the Tenant -- Part IV: Acquiring and Transferring Property Rights -- Chapter 13: Acquiring Rights by Finding and Possessing Personal Property -- Taking a Closer Look at Possession -- Resolving Claims among Competing Possessors -- Becoming an Owner by Possessing Unowned Property -- Taking Possession of Owned Property -- Examining the Possessor's Ownership Rights against Third Parties -- Resolving Conflicts between a Finder and the Landowner -- Reforming the Common Law by Statute -- Chapter 14: Becoming an Owner by Adverse Possession -- Getting Acquainted with Adverse Possession -- Exploring the Elements of Adverse Possession -- Element #1: Actually Possessing the Property -- Element #2: Possessing Exclusively -- Element #3: Possessing Openly and Notoriously -- Element #4: Possessing Adversely -- Element #5: Possessing Continuously and without Interruption -- Element #6: Possessing for the Statutory Period -- Understanding Title by Adverse Possession -- Chapter 15: Contracting to Sell Land -- Creating an Enforceable Contract to Sell Real Property -- Specifying Deadlines for Performance -- Conditioning the Parties' Obligations to Perform -- Managing the Risk of Loss -- Remedying Breaches of Contract -- Disclosing Latent, Material Facts -- Implicitly Warranting Workmanship and Habitability -- Chapter 16: Conveying Title by Deeds -- Merging a Purchase Agreement with a Deed -- Recognizing the Formal Requirements for a Deed -- The Handoff: Delivering and Accepting a Deed -- Warranting Title in a Deed -- Chapter 17: Recording Title -- Understanding Priority Disputes -- Recording Documents.

Using Indexes to Find Recorded Documents -- Distinguishing the Three Types of Recording Statutes -- Determining Whether an Interest Is Recorded -- Paying Value for Property Interest -- Taking Property Interest without Notice -- Protecting Subsequent Purchasers from Unlikely Claims -- Chapter 18: Mortgaging Real Property -- Introducing Mortgages and Deeds of Trust -- Possessing the Property before Foreclosure -- Selling Property in Foreclosure -- Protecting Mortgagor by Statute -- Transferring Mortgaged Property -- Transferring Mortgage -- Part V: The Part of Tens -- Chapter 19: Ten Notable Property Cases -- Spur Industries, Inc. v. Del E. Webb Development Co. -- Tulk v. Moxhay -- Sanborn v. McLean -- Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. -- Penn Central Transportation Co. v. City of New York -- Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council -- Javins v. First National Realty Corp. -- Armory v. Delamirie -- Pierson v. Post -- Stambovsky v. Ackley -- Chapter 20: Ten Common Mistakes in Applying Property Law -- Misapplying the Rule against Perpetuities -- Mislabeling Present and Future Estates -- Misunderstanding Hostility -- Considering the Intent to Create a Covenant Rather than Intent to Run -- Considering Only Notice of a Covenant's Burden -- Applying Estoppel or Part Performance without Evidence of an Agreement -- Deciding a Joint Tenancy Exists without the Four Unities and Express Intent -- Applying the Equitable Conversion Doctrine Where It Doesn't Apply -- Failing to Identify the Landlord's Wrongful Act in a Constructive Eviction -- Applying Purchase Agreements after Closing and Deeds before Closing -- Chapter 21: Ten Property Subjects Commonly Tested in Bar Exams -- Purchase Agreements -- Mortgages -- Deeds -- Recording Acts -- Landlord-Tenant Law -- Estates -- Concurrent Ownership -- Covenants -- Easements -- Adverse Possession -- Index.