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Question		Answer
Abandon start learning		A giving up, a total desertion, an absolute relinquishment.
Abandonment start learning		The leaving behind of property; an indifference as to the fate of a chattel.
Abstract of Title start learning		A statement of the conveyances and charges appearing of record and affecting the title to real property.
Acceleration Clause start learning		A clause in a contract that states that if a payment is missed, or some other default occurs (such as the debtor becoming insolvent), then the contract is fully due immediately.
Adverse Possession start learning		The possession of land, without legal title, for a period of time sufficient to become recognized as legal owner.
Ancient Lights start learning		An opening through which light has flowed uninterrupted for twenty years and which can, in some circumstances, support a claim for nuisance if blocked.
Appraisal start learning		The informed and objective inspection and estimation of a thing's worth.
Appurtenance start learning		Something that, although detached, stands as part of another thing.
Betterment start learning		An improvement put upon a property which enhances its value more than mere replacement, maintenance, or repairs.
Boarding House start learning		Residential premises where both shelter and food are provided.
Call For Tenders start learning		A property owner's invitation, sometimes at large, sometimes to a select group, for bids to complete a particular project.
Calvo Clause start learning		Mexican real estate law that requires that any action challenging the title of real property situated in Mexico must be litigated in Mexico and exclusively governed by Mexican law.
Caveat start learning		Latin: let him beware. A formal warning.
Certificate of Pending Litigation start learning		A registration or/of a notice or warning that litigation is ongoing as to ownership of a particular piece of land or other real property.
Clean Hands start learning		A maxim of the law to the effect that any person, individual or corporate, that wishes to ask or petition a court for judicial action, must be in a position free of fraud or other unfair conduct.
Common Area start learning		Those areas of multi-owner real property which are for the exclusive use of all individual owners.
Common Law start learning		Judge-declared law. Law which exists and applies to a group on the basis of customs and legal precedents developed over hundreds of years in Britain.
Concurrent Estates start learning		Property owned by two or more persons at the same time.
Condominium start learning		A unit or defined portion of ownership in real property, similar to an apartment.
Constructive Eviction start learning		An implied eviction where the landlord's act or omission justifies the immediate departure of the tenant.
Contract start learning		An agreement between persons which obliges each party to do or not to do a certain thing.
Contract Law start learning		That body of law which regulates the formation and enforcement of contracts.
Co-ownership start learning		A generic legal term that refers to various forms of ownership over one asset by more than one person.
Covenant start learning		A written document in which signatories either commit themselves to do a certain thing, to not do a certain thing or in which they agree on a certain set of facts.
Cuius Est Solum Ejus Est Usque Ad Caelum start learning		Latin: whose is the soil, his it is even to the skies and to the depths below.
Cuius Est Solum Ejus Est Usque Ad Coelum Et Ad Inferos start learning		Latin: for whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to heaven and down to hell.
Dance Hall start learning		A public hall devoted to dancing and for which admission is not based on personal selection or invitation.
Deed start learning		A binding promise to do something or certifying a transaction which adheres to required legal rituals such as a seal or form of signature.
Defence of Habitation start learning		The right to use lethal force to prevent a felony committed within a person's home.
Demesne start learning		Land held by a noble under the English feudal system, in absolute ownership.
Dependent Indian Community start learning		(USA) Any area validly set apart for the use of the Indians under the superintendence of the Government.
Distraint start learning		The right of a landlord to seize the property of a tenant which is in the premises being rented, as collateral against a tenant that has not paid the rent or has otherwise defaulted on the lease, such as wanton disrepair or destruction of the premises.
Distress start learning		A common law remedy available to landlords to hold the tenant's belongings while the tenant is behind on rent but continues to occupy the premises.
Domestic Animal start learning		A pet; dogs, cats or other tame animals or birds and which serve some purpose for its owner or others.
Dominant Tenement start learning		Used when referring to easements to specify that property (i.e. tenement) or piece of land that benefits from, or has the advantage of, an easement.
Dominion Utile start learning		Latin: the property rights of a tenant; exclusive right to use a thing
Dominium Directum start learning		Latin: qualified ownership of a land: not having possession or use of property but retaining ownership.
Duplex start learning		A house which has separate but complete facilities to accommodate two families as either adjacent units or one on top of the other.
Dwelling start learning		A place to live in.
Ejectment start learning		A ancient now disused claim to remove an individual from poccupying another's real property, based on tresspass.
Eminent Domain start learning		USA: The legal power to expropriate private land for the sake of public necessity.
Emphyteusis start learning		Civil law: a long-term lease of land or buildings; 99 years or such similar long term, or even in perpetuity.
Estover start learning		Limited rights granted to a tenant of land to certain product of the land, mostly wood.
Eviction start learning		Some permanent act by landlord, or by person or thing under his control, which deprives a tenant of enjoyment of the rented premises.
Expropriation start learning		The forced purchase of land by a public authority from a private owner.
Extinguishment start learning		The termination of legal rights.
Fair Market Value start learning		The hypothetical most probable price that could be obtained for a property by average, informed purchasers.
Fixtures start learning		A chattel which has become real property by having been affixed thereto.
Flood Waters start learning		Waters which escape from a watercourse in great volume and flow over adjoining lands in no regular channel.
Foreclosure start learning		The sale of real property secured by a mortgage, in order to satisfy an outstanding loan.
Gavelkind start learning		A form of limited land ownership in England pre-Conquest (1066) which vested to all sons equally.
Guarantor start learning		A person who pledges payment or performance of a contract of another, but separately, as part of an independently contract with the obligee of the original contract.
Heriot start learning		A right in ancient common law of a land lord, upon the death of his tenant, to pick any beast belonging to the estate of the deceased tenant.
Heritage start learning		Scot law: real property.
Hypothec start learning		A charge on property upon which an unpaid creditor may enforce payment of the debt.
Immovable start learning		Land and fixtures thereto, civil law term.
Incorporeal Hereditament start learning		An intangible right which is attached to property and which is inheritable.
Indian Country start learning		(USA) Land within an Indian reservation and all such other dependent Indian territories, and all land acquired by Indians in which tribal and federal laws normally apply and state laws do not.
Indian Title start learning		A right of exclusive occupancy in land by Indians.
Joint Tenancy start learning		When two or more persons are equally owners of some property.
Jus Spatiandi Et Manendi start learning		Latin: the right to stray and remain.
Landlord start learning		A land or building owner who has leased the land, the building or a part of the land or building, to another person.
Lease start learning		A special kind of contract between a property owner and a person wanting temporary enjoyment and exclusive use of the property, in exchange for rent paid to the property owner.
Leasehold start learning		Real property held under a lease.
Lessee start learning		The tenant, the person to whom is granted exclusive possession of a thing under the terms of a lease.
Lessor start learning		The landlord; a person who grants a lease, usually the owner of the thing being leased.
Lex Situs start learning		A conflict of law rule that selects the applicable law based on the venue or location of something.
License start learning		A special permission to do something on, or with, somebody else’s property which, were it not for the license, could be legally prevented or give rise to legal action in tort or trespass.
Lis Pendens start learning		Latin: a dispute or matter which is the subject of ongoing or pending litigation.
Merger start learning		The absorption of one corporation by another.
Mortgage start learning		An interest given on a piece of land, in writing, to guarantee the payment of a debt or the execution of some action.
Mortgagor start learning		The person who borrows money secured by conceding a mortgage against his interest in real property.
Nuisance start learning		Excessive or unlawful use of one’s property to the extent of unreasonable annoyance or inconvenience to a neighbor or to the public.
Occupiers' Liability start learning		Liability of a person who controls land or building(s) in regards to damages caused to others who enter thereon.
Park start learning		An area of land set aside for passive common use, where certain types of activities are restricted, to permit individuals to escape the intensity of urban life.
Party Wall start learning		A partition wall; a dividing wall which separates two adjoining real properties.
Percolating Water start learning		Water which seeps or filters through the ground without any definite channel and not part of the flow of any waterway (eg. rain water).
Personalty start learning		Personal property.
Per Tout Et Non My start learning		French: as to the whole and not just a part.
Plat start learning		A subdivision map prepared for approval by a governmental authority.
Premises Liability start learning		The liability of an occupier of real property towards injury to others.
Profit à Prendre start learning		A servitude which resembles an easement and which allows the holder to enter the land of another and to take some natural produce such as mineral deposits, fish or game, timber, crops or pasture.
Property start learning		A comprehensive collection of legal rights over a thing.
Quia Emptores start learning		A 1290 English statute that held that notwithstanding the subdivision (subinfeudation) of a feeholding; the new tenant owed feudal rights and obligations not to the seller but to the Land Lord.
Quick Take start learning		A formal process of the exercise of eminent domain in which the government takes possession before the adjudication of compensation.
Quicquid Plantatur Solo, Solo Cedit start learning		Latin: whatever is planted in the ground, belongs to the ground.
Quiet Enjoyment start learning		A landlord's obligation to provide the tenant with reasonable privacy and freedom from any interference with the tenant's exclusive use and enjoyment of the rented premises.
Real Estate start learning		Same as real property; land and rights attached to land.
Real Obligation start learning		A legal obligation associated with real property.
Real Property start learning		A property interest in land.
Reddendum start learning		Latin: that part of a lease which sets out the amount of rent and when it is payable.
Redemption start learning		Reverting title to property.
Rent start learning		Money or other consideration paid by a tenant to a landlord in exchange for the exclusive use and enjoyment of land, a building or a part of a building.
Replevin start learning		A legal action taken to reclaim goods which have been distrained.
Residential Tenancy start learning		The lease of residential premises for residential purposes.
Restrictive Covenant start learning		A contract in which a party agrees to be restricted in some regards as to future conduct.
Reverse Mortgage start learning		A loan made by the homeowner on which the home stands as collateral, and which payment is not required until the homeowner sells, moves out or dies, and the loan amount and interest, is then paid out of the proceeds of sale.
Reversionary Interest start learning		Any interest, vested or contingent, the enjoyment of which is postponed.
River start learning		A watercourse which is of capacity to be navigated.
Rooming House start learning		Rented residential premises where an individual shares a kitchen and bathroom with others.
Security Deposit start learning		Money paid to another to be held as security for the occurrence of a specified event.
Seisin start learning		The legal possession of property; historically, possession under claim of freehold.
Semayne's Case start learning		A 1604 English case that established the right of a home-owner to defend his premises against intrusion ("every man's house is his castle") yields to those seeking to enter with lawful authority such as to make an arrest.
Servient Tenement start learning		The land which suffers or has the burden of an easement.
Servitude start learning		From Roman law and now a feature of civil law; equivalent to the common law's easement: access rights over, under or on the property of another.
Slander of Title start learning		Intentionally casting aspersion on someones property including real property, a business or goods (the latter might also be called slander of goods).
Spite Fence start learning		A fence built not to any beneficial purpose but, rather, to annoy a neighbor.
Statute of Frauds start learning		A statute that set a minimum standard for enforceable contracts, usually requiring at a minimum something in writing or the actual exchange of reciprocal obligations, at least in part.
Straight Condemnation start learning		A formal process for the exercise of eminent domain in which a price is adjudicated and then the property bought by the government.
Stream start learning		A watercourse having banks and channel through which waters flow, at least periodically.
Subfile Order start learning		A declaration of rights as regards waterways for the interim regulation of those rights pending a final determination of those rights either by contract or judicially.
Subinfeudation start learning		The process whereby, under the feudal system of tenure, a person receiving a grant of land from a lord, could himself become a landlord by subdividing and subletting that land to others.
Sublease start learning		The subsequent lease of property that is itself leased; with the primary tenant retaining an interest in the original lease.
Surface Waters start learning		Waters falling on the land by precipitation or rising from springs.
Swamp start learning		Lands which, from excessive rainfall or other causes, retain at some seasons of the year excessive water which damages and renders them unfit for use.
Tenancy start learning		A contract by which the owner of real property (the landlord), grants exclusive possession of that real property to another person (tenant), in exchange for the tenant's periodic payment of some sum of money (rent).
Tenancy By The Entireties start learning		A form of common law co-ownership where, when real property was transferred to a husband and a wife, the property could not be seized or sold unless both spouses agreed or by ending the marriage.
Tenant start learning		A person to whom a landlord grants temporary and exclusive use of land or a part of a building, usually in exchange for rent.
Tenants In Common start learning		Share a specified proportion of ownership rights in real property and upon the death of a tenant in common, that share is transferred to the estate of the deceased tenant.
Tenement start learning		Property that could be subject to easements.
Tenendum start learning		Latin: to be held. In law, that part of a contract in which an interest in real property is created that sets out the extent or limitations of that interest.
Time of the Essence start learning		A contractual term requiring performance within a specified time.
Title start learning		The right or proof of ownership.
Torrens Land Registration System start learning		A land registration system invented by Robert Torrens and in which the government is the keeper of the master record of all land and their owners.
Transfer start learning		Delivery from one person to another of property.
Transferee start learning		A person who receives property being transferred.
Transferor start learning		The person from whom title or ownership to property moves.
Trespass start learning		Unlawful interference with another’s person, property or rights.
Trinoda Necessitas start learning		Latin: three necessities owed all common law landowners to the kingdom.
Usufruct start learning		The rights to the product of another's property.
Watercourse start learning		A stream usually flowing in a particular direction, in a definite channel, having a bed or banks, though it need not flow continually.
Words of Limitation start learning		Words in a conveyance or in a will which set the duration of an estate.

Real Estate and Tenancy Law Dictionary (Duhaime. org)

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