California Real Estate Principles and License Preparation

An appurtenance is an object, right, or interest that is incidental to the land and goes with or pertains to the land. "A thing is deemed to be incidental or appurtenant to land when it is by right used with the land for its benefit, as in the case of a way, or watercourse, or of a passage for light, air, or heat from across the land of anothe

Personal property is usually transferred by a bill of sale.

"Land is the material of the earth, whatever may be the ingredients of which it is composed, whether soil, rock, or other substance, and includes free or occupied space for an indefinite distance upwards as well as downwards, subject to limitations upon the use of airspace imposed, and rights in the use of airspace granted, by law." CC §6

A wood board being carried by a carpenter toward a house that is being built is personal property. Moments later, once the carpenter permanently affixes it to the house as part of a wall or floor, the board becomes real property. If sometime later during remodeling the board is removed from the house, it again becomes personal property.

Riparian rights are the rights of a landowner to the reasonable use of water that flows through or adjacent to his or her property.

Real vs. Personal Property Property comes in two, and only two, mutually exclusive kinds: real and personal. "Every kind of property that is not real is personal." CC §663. Each kind of property can, under certain circumstances, be transformed into the other kind.

All other considerations being equal, it is generally held that a tenant who installs an item, such as a chandelier, intends to remove the item at the expiration of the lease. However, an owner who installs the same chandelier likely did so with the intention of improving the property, thus making this chandelier a fixture. Following similar reason

Abbreviations Used in this Book* B&PC — California Business and Professions Code CC — California Civil Code CCP — California Code of Civil Procedure CR — Commissioner’s Regulations FC — California Family Code GOV — Government Code HSC — Health and Safety Code PC — California Probate Code

Transfer of real property is completed by the delivery of a written deed.