Control over ownership

Learning outcome
• Explain controls on rights of ownership
Controls on rights of ownership

Public Controls Private Control

•Police power •Easements

•Eminent domain •Liens
•Taxation •Restrictive
•Escheat covenants
Public controls – Police power

Zoning ordinance
• Land use restrictions
• Height restrictions
• Area regulations

Subdivision regulations

Building codes

Occupancy codes
Police power

• Zoning ordinance – initiated by local community; has three elements

• Land use regulations – classifies parcels into four general categories:
industrial, commercial, residential and agricultural.
• Exclusive zoning – allows only legally specified uses; excludes all
others
• Inclusive zoning – allows all stated uses and other compatible uses
• Height Regulations – specifies the legal height of structures by land-use
category and geographic area.
Police powers

Area regulation

• specifies the relationship between structures and individual

parcels
• E.g. Distance between street and location of structure

How are changes accommodated?

• Rezoning in the case of land use regulations

• Variance in the case of height restrictions and area regulations
Police powers – cont.
Subdivision Regulations

• aims to promote and protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the community
• Designed to prevent construction on flood plains, land parcels with unacceptably steep slopes
etc.

The Building or Construction code

• establishes the minimum acceptable standards for construction (Requirement of building

permits)

Housing or Occupancy code

• establishes the minimum acceptable standards for safe and healthy occupancy of existing and
newly constructed buildings
Eminent domain

Right vested in the government to take private property.

Three conditions are necessary

• Acquisition should be for public purpose or use
• Fair or just compensation must be paid
• Due process of law must be followed
Taxation and assessment powers

Right of local authorities to tax property

Taxes meant to provide money for

• Schools, roads and other such public services

Property tax lien upon failure to pay tax

Escheat

Used when an owner dies without leaving

• A will or
• Legal heirs

State assumes ownership of property

Easement

Right to use another’s property for a specified

purpose and under certain conditions
Holder of easement has no rights of possession

Can be sold or given away under certain

circumstances
Easement

• An easement can either

• Run with the land i.e. passes from one owner to another
• An example is easement appurtenant
• Requires two parcels of land;
• dominant and servient estates
Easement

• Does not Run with Land – also called Easement in Gross

• Involves only one parcel
• Conveys only a personal right
• An exception is commercial easement in gross
• Not personal in nature; transferable
• Used by utility companies etc.
Creation of Easements

• Two ways
• Express agreement
• An explicit agreement is entered into
• Usually specifies the nature of the use and sometimes the duration
• Necessity or Implication
• Circumstances indicate whether easement is implied or not
• Prescription
• Constant use over a long time
Liens

The right a creditor has to petition the courts to force the sale of a
debtor’s property to recover unpaid debt

Tax lien
Specific Lien – affects a specific
Mortgage lien
property Mechanic lien

General Lien – affects the asset holdings of the debtor

Restrictive covenants

• A statement in a deed that restricts the use of a property sold or conveyed.

• Could be imposed by an owner who sells one parcel and retain
possession of an adjacent lot
• Or imposed by a developer on each lot sold
• Commonly used in leases and mortgages