Full Outline Structure
A hierarchical breakdown of every topic your Property outline should cover.
1
Estates in Land
Present Possessory Estates
- Fee simple absolute — largest estate; infinite duration; no future interest; default presumption ('to A and his heirs' or 'to A')
- Fee simple determinable — automatically ends upon occurrence of stated event ('to A so long as,' 'while,' 'during'); grantor retains possibility of reverter
- Fee simple subject to condition subsequent — grantor must exercise right of entry upon breach ('to A, but if... grantor may re-enter'); does not automatically terminate
- Fee simple subject to executory limitation — upon occurrence of condition, estate shifts to third party; executory interest in third party
- Life estate — measured by life of grantee or another (pur autre vie); duty not to commit waste (affirmative, permissive, ameliorative)
Future Interests in Grantor
- Reversion — automatically follows lesser estate granted (e.g., life estate with no remainder)
- Possibility of reverter — follows fee simple determinable; automatic upon triggering event
- Right of entry (power of termination) — follows fee simple subject to condition subsequent; requires affirmative exercise
Future Interests in Third Parties
- Vested remainder — created in ascertained person with no condition precedent; indefeasibly vested, vested subject to open (class gift), vested subject to divestment
- Contingent remainder — unascertained person or subject to condition precedent (other than natural termination of preceding estate)
- Executory interest — shifting (divests prior transferee) vs. springing (divests grantor); not subject to destructibility rule under modern law
- Rule in Shelley's Case — if same instrument gives life estate to A and remainder to A's heirs, A gets fee simple (largely abolished)
- Doctrine of Worthier Title — inter vivos grant with remainder to grantor's heirs creates reversion in grantor (rebuttable presumption)
2
Rule Against Perpetuities
Traditional Rule
- No interest is valid unless it must vest, if at all, within 21 years of a life in being at creation of the interest
- Applies to contingent remainders, executory interests, vested remainders subject to open (class gifts)
- Does NOT apply to vested remainders, future interests in grantor, or charitable trusts (charity-to-charity exception)
- Validating life — person whose life or death determines whether interest will vest in time
- Fertile octogenarian, unborn widow, slothful executor — classic RAP trap scenarios
Modern Reforms
- Wait-and-see — assess validity based on actual events, not what might happen (USRAP: 90-year wait period)
- Cy pres — court reforms interest to approximate grantor's intent while complying with RAP
- Abolition — many states have abolished RAP entirely, especially for trusts (dynasty trusts)
3
Concurrent Ownership
Types of Co-Ownership
- Tenancy in common — default; no right of survivorship; freely alienable, devisable, inheritable; unequal shares permitted
- Joint tenancy — four unities (time, title, interest, possession); right of survivorship; severed by conveyance, mortgage (title theory states), partition
- Tenancy by the entirety — married couples only; right of survivorship; neither can sever unilaterally; protected from individual creditors in most states
- Community property — marital property acquired during marriage; each spouse owns undivided one-half; separate property (pre-marriage, gift, inheritance)
Rights & Remedies of Co-Owners
- Partition — available as of right for tenancy in common and joint tenancy; in kind (preferred) or by sale
- Ouster — co-owner who excludes another must account for rental value or fair share of profits
- Accounting — co-owner who receives disproportionate benefit must share with others
- Contribution — co-owner who pays necessary expenses (taxes, mortgage) can seek contribution; improvements generally no right to contribution
4
Landlord-Tenant Law
Types of Tenancies
- Term of years — fixed duration; ends automatically; no notice required
- Periodic tenancy — automatic renewal; requires notice (common law: one full period, max 6 months for year-to-year)
- Tenancy at will — terminable by either party at any time; modern statutes often require reasonable notice
- Tenancy at sufferance — holdover tenant; landlord can evict or impose new tenancy
Tenant's Rights & Duties
- Implied warranty of habitability — residential only; premises must be fit for human habitation; remedies: withhold rent, repair and deduct, terminate lease
- Covenant of quiet enjoyment — actual eviction (physical removal) or constructive eviction (substantial interference making premises unsuitable; tenant must vacate)
- Retaliatory eviction — landlord cannot evict tenant for exercising legal rights (reporting code violations)
- Assignment vs. sublease — assignment transfers entire remaining term (privity of estate with landlord); sublease retains reversion (no privity of estate with landlord)
Landlord's Rights & Remedies
- Duty to mitigate — majority rule requires landlord to make reasonable efforts to re-let (Sommer v. Kridel)
- Security deposits — statutory limits and return requirements vary by jurisdiction
- Self-help eviction — generally prohibited; must use judicial process (unlawful detainer/summary proceedings)
- Fair housing — cannot discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, familial status (FHA)
5
Easements & Covenants
Easements
- Appurtenant (benefits dominant estate) vs. in gross (benefits a person); appurtenant easements run with the land automatically
- Creation — express grant/reservation, implication (prior existing use, reasonably necessary), necessity (landlocked parcel), prescription (like adverse possession — open, notorious, continuous, hostile)
- Scope — determined by terms of grant or conditions of creation; cannot be expanded unilaterally
- Termination — release, merger, abandonment (intent + physical action), estoppel, prescription, necessity ends, condemnation
Real Covenants
- Running with the land at law — writing, intent to bind successors, touch and concern, horizontal privity (between original parties), vertical privity (succession to entire estate)
- Touch and concern — covenant must affect parties as landowners, not merely as individuals
- Remedies — damages only (distinguishes from equitable servitudes)
- Changed conditions — covenant unenforceable if neighborhood has changed so substantially that purpose is defeated
Equitable Servitudes
- Requirements — writing (or implied from common scheme), intent to bind successors, touch and concern, notice (actual, constructive, inquiry)
- No horizontal or vertical privity required (unlike real covenants)
- Remedy — injunctive relief
- Common scheme/reciprocal negative servitudes — implied equitable servitude in subdivisions where developer intended uniform restrictions
- Defenses — unclean hands, laches, acquiescence, estoppel, changed conditions
6
Adverse Possession & Recording Acts
Adverse Possession
- Elements — actual possession, open and notorious, continuous for statutory period, hostile (without permission), exclusive
- Tacking — privity between successive adverse possessors allows tacking of possession periods
- Disabilities — statute tolled while true owner is under disability (infancy, insanity, imprisonment) at time adverse possession begins
- Color of title — claim under defective instrument; may extend possession to entire parcel described
- Government land — generally cannot be adversely possessed (sovereign immunity from AP)
Recording System
- Race statute — first to record wins regardless of notice (rare; Delaware, Louisiana, North Carolina)
- Notice statute — subsequent BFP without notice prevails even without recording ('A conveyance not recorded is void against a subsequent purchaser without notice')
- Race-notice statute — subsequent BFP must lack notice AND record first ('not recorded is void against a subsequent purchaser without notice who records first')
- Types of notice — actual, constructive (properly recorded in chain of title), inquiry (facts that would prompt reasonable investigation)
- Shelter rule — person who takes from BFP gets BFP's protection, even if they themselves had notice
7
Takings
Physical & Regulatory Takings
- Physical taking — permanent physical occupation is per se taking (Loretto v. Teleprompter); government must pay just compensation
- Regulatory taking — Penn Central balancing (economic impact, investment-backed expectations, character of government action)
- Per se regulatory taking — regulation eliminates all economically beneficial use (Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council); exception for background principles of nuisance/property law
- Conditions on development — Nollan/Dolan: essential nexus between condition and impact + rough proportionality between condition and impact
- Just compensation — fair market value at time of taking; no consideration of special value to owner
Eminent Domain
- Public use requirement — broadly construed to include public purpose (Kelo v. City of New London — economic development qualifies)
- Many states enacted anti-Kelo legislation restricting eminent domain after Kelo
- Inverse condemnation — property owner sues when government action constitutes uncompensated taking
- Exactions — government demands for property as condition of permit; subject to Nollan/Dolan heightened scrutiny
Outlining Tips for Property
Create a future interests chart with columns for estate type, language of creation, future interest name, and holder — this is the single most important study aid for the estates section
Practice RAP problems until they are automatic — work through the validating life analysis step by step and memorize the classic trap scenarios
For easements, always analyze all four creation methods — exam facts often support multiple theories and professors want thorough analysis
Know the differences between real covenants and equitable servitudes cold — the privity requirements and remedies distinctions are heavily tested
Build a recording act decision tree — identify the statute type, then determine who had notice and who recorded first
Landlord-tenant questions often require you to distinguish between constructive eviction and warranty of habitability — know which remedies apply to each
Recommended Length
45-65 pages
A thorough Property outline typically runs 45-65 pages and covers all 7 major sections with key rules, leading cases, and professor-specific notes. Start with this template and expand each section with your class notes, case briefs, and hypotheticals from lecture.