The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Property Law and Landlord-Tenant Relations for Non-Lawyers: Guide for Non-Lawyers, #4

By J. D. Teller, Esq.

Self-Help Guides to the Law™ explain the law in clear, concise terms to a popular audience of non-lawyers. Summarizing the key areas of the law with which readers are most likely to come into contact, the Guides broadly outline the statutes and cases that govern landlord-tenant relations, personal injury, contracts, family law, criminal law and constitutional law and procedure.

With detailed references to sources for readers wishing to delve deeper, the Guides are ideal for readers wishing to better understand their legal rights and responsibilities, regardless of whether they ultimately opt to hire a lawyer.

In addition to The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Contracts, Landlord-Tenant Relations, Marriage, Divorce, Personal Injury, Negligence, Constitutional Rights and Criminal Law for Non-Lawyers, readers may acquire the following individual titles:

• The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Property Law and Landlord-Tenant Relations for Non-Lawyers
• The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Contracts for Non-Lawyers
• The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Negligence and Personal Injury Law for Non-Lawyers
• The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Know Your Constitutional Rights

The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Criminal Law and Procedure for Non-Lawyers

• Language: English
• Publisher: TellerBooks
• Release date: Jul 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781681090436

Book preview

THE SELF-HELP GUIDE TO THE LAW

Property Law and Landlord-Tenant Relations for Non-Lawyers

THE SELF-HELP

GUIDE TO THE LAW

Property Law and Landlord-Tenant Relations for Non-Lawyers

J. D. Teller, Esq.

The Self-Help Guide to the Law

Property Law and Landlord-Tenant Relations for Non-Lawyers

J. D. Teller, Esq.

Copyright © 2014-16 by TellerBooks™. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or copying to any storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the copyright holder.

2016 Edition

ISBN (13) (paperback): 978-1-68109-041-2

ISBN (10) (paperback): 1-68109-041-4

ISBN (13) (Kindle): 978-1-68109-042-9

ISBN (10) (Kindle): 1-68109-042-2

ISBN (13) (ePub): 978-1-68109-043-6

ISBN (10) (ePub): 1-68109-043-0

JuraLaw™

an imprint of TellerBooks™

TellerBooks.com/Time_Books

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www.TellerBooks.com/JuraLaw

Portions of this book were previously published as Law School Survival Guide, copyright © TellerBooks 2008-2016.

DISCLAIMER: Although this book is designed to provide rigorously researched information, it is intended not as a definitive statement of the law, but rather, as a concise and general overview that will help readers to understand basic legal principles and find further information, if necessary. Because the law changes rapidly through new statutes and innovative judicial decisions, law books, including this one, may quickly become outdated. Furthermore, some decisions may be ambiguous and subject to differing interpretations and other sources may come to conclusions distinct from those presented herein. Nothing in this book forms an attorney-client relationship or is intended to constitute legal advice, which should be obtained through consultation with a qualified attorney.

Self-Help Guides to the Law™

Self-Help Guides to the Law™ explain the law in clear, concise terms to a popular audience of non-lawyers. Summarizing the key areas of the law with which readers are most likely to come into contact, the Guides broadly outline the statutes and cases that govern landlord-tenant relations, personal injury, contracts, family law, criminal law and constitutional law and procedure.

With detailed references to sources for readers wishing to delve deeper, the Guides are ideal for readers wishing to better understand their legal rights and responsibilities, regardless of whether they ultimately opt to hire a lawyer.

In addition to The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Contracts, Landlord-Tenant Relations, Marriage, Divorce, Personal Injury, Negligence, Constitutional Rights and Criminal Law for Non-Lawyers, readers may acquire the following individual titles:

-The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Property Law and Landlord-Tenant Relations for Non-Lawyers

-The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Contracts for Non-Lawyers

-The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Negligence and Personal Injury Law for Non-Lawyers

-The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Know Your Constitutional Rights

-The Self-Help Guide to the Law: Criminal Law and Procedure for Non-Lawyers

About the Imprint

With a focus on international and comparative law, the JuraLaw™ imprint publishes monographs exploring public and private international law and overviews of the laws of various nations.

Summary Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Landlord / Tenant Law

Chapter 2. The Acquisition of Unowned Property

Chapter 3. Personal Property

Chapter 4. Conveyances and Acquiring Title

Chapter 5. The Integrity of the Land

Appendices

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Landlord / Tenant Law

I. Introduction

A. Leasehold Estates

B. Three Kinds of Leaseholds

II. Discriminatory Preferences and Religious Liberty Issues

A. The Evolution of Regulations on Landlords

B. Modern Statutes and Religious Liberty

III. Tenant’s Rights and Remedies

A. Introduction

B. Legal Possession

C. Actual Possession

D. The Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment & Constructive Eviction

E. The Implied Warranty of Habitability

F. Illegal Leases

IV. Duration of the Tenancy and Use of the Premises

A. Duration of the Tenancy

B. Restrictions on the Uses of the Premises

C. The Duty of Continuous Operations

V. Fixtures

A. Common Law

B. Modern Law

VI. Lessor’s Remedies Against Defaulting Tenants

A. Termination of the Lease

B. Eviction

C. Damages

D. Limits on the Lessor’s Actions

VII. Assignments and Subleases

A. Introduction

B. Determining Whether a Sublease or an Assignment has been Created

C. Privity

D. Landlord’s Rights

Chapter 2. The Acquisition of Unowned Property

I. The Acquisition of Wild Animals and Unowned Property

A. The Acquisition of Unowned Personal Property

B. First Occupancy Theory

II. Acquisition of Volatile Minerals (Oil and Gas)

III. Acquisition by Conquest

Chapter 3. Personal Property

I. Bailment

A. Overview

B. Conditions under which the Bailee becomes Liable to the Bailor:

C. Burden of Providing Negligence

II. Findings

A. Introduction to the Findings Law

B. Lost Items

C. Mislaid Items

D. Treasure Trove

E. Imbedded Property

F. Constructive Possession

G. Abandoned items

H. Trespassing Finders

I. Legislation Regulating Findings

III. Prior (Unauthorized) Possession

A. Majority Approach

B. Minority Approach

IV. Adverse Possession

A. Meeting the Statute of Limitations

B. Two Approaches to Good Faith

C. Elements of Adverse Possession

V. Accession

A. Introduction

B. Elements

C. The True Owner’s Remedies

VI. Bona Fide Purchase

A. Overview

B. Elements of Bona Fide Purchase:

C. Caveat Emptor

VII. Gifts

A. Classes

B. Elements

Chapter 4. Conveyances and Acquiring Title

I. Financing Arrangements

A. Introduction

B. Mortgages

C. Installment Land Contracts

II. Merchantable Title

A. Introduction

B. The Implied Warranty of Merchantable Title

C. Two Remedies for Breach of the Implied Warranty of Merchantable Title

III. Equitable Conversion and Risk of Loss

A. The Doctrine of Equitable Conversion

B. The Three Approaches to the Effect of the Risk of Loss

IV. The Modern Deed

A. Introduction

B. Construing Deeds

V. The Recording System

A. Introduction

B. Four Approaches to Recordings

C. Two Systems for Searching for Records on One’s Property:

D. Records of Easements

Chapter 5. The Integrity of the Land

I. Trespass and Nuisance; Support of Land

A. Trespass and Nuisance

B. Burdens of Proof

C. Public and Private Nuisances

II. Zoning

A. Introduction

B. Constitutionality

III. Takings

A. Introduction

B. Actual Takings

C. Regulatory Takings

Appendices

Thematic Index

Table of Cases

Glossary

Abbreviations