Title, deeds, liens and vesting
Review vesting and title distinctions that overlap with ownership. This transfer reference complements the guide; it does not cover every land-use topic.
Area 1 of 7
Property Ownership and Land Use Controls and Regulations
What can be owned, how it is held, and what limits its use. Distinguish ownership interests, public and private controls, environmental hazards, and California water-rights rules.
15%
of the examination
~23
of 150 questions, derived from the weight
11
sub-topics DRE lists here
What 15% means for your study plan
Property Ownership and Land Use Controls and Regulations account for about 15% of the California salesperson examination. On a 150-question exam, that weighting suggests roughly 22 or 23 questions, although DRE does not promise an exact number on a particular test.
This area is broad because it follows property through an entire chain of questions. What is the item? What legal rights come with it? How is ownership shared? What burdens the title or use? What can government or private agreements restrict? Which environmental, water, subdivision, or common-interest rules apply?
This guide follows all 11 subtopics in DRE's published order. Each section explains the rule, important California distinctions, and a way to apply it. These are study notes, not a substitute for advice about a particular property or transaction.
All 11 official DRE topics, one complete section each
The official outline is reproduced below in DRE's order. Every numbered topic has a matching guide section with California rules, exam distinctions, practical examples, and links to primary sources. DRE notes that its outline is informational rather than totally comprehensive because each test samples the broad field of real estate.
- 01Classes of Property
- 02Property Characteristics
- 03Encumbrances
- 04Types of Ownership
- 05Descriptions of Property
- 06Government Rights in Land
- 07Public Controls
- 08Environmental Hazards and Regulations
- 09Private Controls
- 10Water Rights
- 11Special Categories of Land
Classes of Property
Everything is either real property or personal property, and the classification decides how it transfers, how it is taxed, whether a license is needed to sell it, and whether it stays with the building. Civil Code 658 defines real property as land, that which is affixed to land, that which is incidental or appurtenant to land, and that which is immovable by law.
Personal property, sometimes called chattels or personalty, is property not classified as real property. A bill of sale commonly documents a transfer of tangible personal property, while a deed conveys an interest in real property.
- The bundle of rights
- Ownership is a bundle: possession, use or enjoyment, exclusion, disposition, and the right to encumber. Rights can be separated and sold individually, which is how a mineral estate, an air right, or an easement comes to exist independently of the surface.
- Fixtures
- An item of personal property that becomes real property by being attached. The MARIA test asks about the Method of attachment, Adaptability to the property's use, Relationship of the parties, Intention of the person attaching it, and any Agreement between the parties. Intention is the dominant factor in California, and the other four are largely evidence of it.
- Trade fixtures
- A tenant may remove qualifying fixtures installed for trade during the lease term when removal can be accomplished without injury to the premises and the item has not become an integral part of the property. The lease, timing, and circumstances matter; do not assume every business installation is removable.
- Emblements
- Annual crops produced through cultivation are generally treated as personal property. A tenant's right to return after termination to harvest depends on the tenancy and termination circumstances; it is not an automatic right after every lease expires. Natural perennial growth ordinarily belongs to the land.
- Appurtenances
- Appurtenant rights belong with the land and ordinarily pass with it, such as an easement benefiting the parcel. Stock in a mutual water company can be appurtenant when legally designated that way; not every water-company share automatically has that status.
- Manufactured homes sit on the line
- A manufactured home's legal classification depends on its installation and title records. Under the Health and Safety Code section 18551(a) process, the local agency inspects the foundation installation and records the required HCD 433A after the ownership and lien requirements are satisfied. The recorded conversion makes the home a fixture improvement to the real property. Check those records rather than assuming a foundation alone changes the title.
| Item | Class | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A built-in dishwasher | Real property | Attached, and adapted to the kitchen |
| A refrigerator that plugs in | Personal property | Not attached |
| A tenant's removable restaurant cooler | Trade fixture, personal property | Qualifying business installation, removable under the lease and law |
| This season's tomato crop | Personal property | Emblements, produced by cultivation |
Read both the installation facts and the agreement
Attachment, adaptation, the parties' relationship, objective intent, and an agreement can all matter. A clear contract can allocate an item between buyer and seller, but it does not override mandatory law or automatically eliminate a third party's rights.
Property Characteristics
Study physical and economic characteristics separately. Physical characteristics describe land's fixed location, durability, and uniqueness; economic characteristics explain how supply, improvements, investment, and preferences can affect value.
These categories are study aids. A fact pattern about inability to move land points to immobility, while buyer preference for a location points to situs.
- Immobility
- Land cannot be moved. This is why real estate markets are local, why value depends on what surrounds a parcel, and why the law of the situs governs rather than the law of the owner's home state.
- Indestructibility
- Land endures even when improvements do not. It is why land is not depreciable for tax purposes while buildings are, and why the cost approach values land separately.
- Non-homogeneity
- Also called heterogeneity or uniqueness. No two parcels occupy the same location, which is why specific performance is available for real property and why appraisal requires adjustment rather than simple comparison.
- Scarcity
- The supply is finite, and in California the supply of land that is entitled, serviced, and permitted is far more finite than the supply of raw acreage.
- Improvements
- Improvements to a parcel or surrounding infrastructure can affect nearby values positively or negatively. The effect depends on market reaction, not simply on the cost of the work.
- Permanence of investment
- Capital sunk into infrastructure, sewers, streets, and buildings is fixed for a long time and cannot be recovered by moving it. This is why land use decisions are slow and why investors accept long horizons.
- Area preference, or situs
- Situs describes market preference for a location. Immobility means land cannot be moved; situs explains why buyers may pay different amounts for otherwise similar properties in different locations.
| Physical | Economic |
|---|---|
| Immobility | Scarcity |
| Indestructibility | Improvements |
| Non-homogeneity | Permanence of investment |
| Area preference, or situs |
Distinguish immobility from location preference
Immobility is a physical characteristic: the parcel stays in one location. Situs is an economic characteristic: buyers prefer one location over another. Choose the concept that explains the facts instead of treating every mention of location as the same question.
Verify in the primary sources
Encumbrances
An encumbrance is any claim, right, or interest held by someone other than the owner that affects the title or the use of the property. Ownership is rarely absolute, and this sub-topic is the catalogue of everything that can sit on top of it.
Split them in two before anything else. Money encumbrances are liens: they secure a debt and can force a sale. Non-money encumbrances affect use or physical extent: easements, restrictions, and encroachments. An encumbrance can make title unmarketable without making it invalid, which is the distinction that decides many questions.
- Specific and general liens
- A specific lien burdens identified property, such as a deed of trust or a mechanic's lien. A general lien can attach to a debtor's qualifying property under the governing statute. Recording an abstract of a money judgment generally creates a lien on the debtor's nonexempt real-property interests in that county. Its duration follows the judgment's enforceability and renewal rules, not a fresh ten years measured from every recording.
- Voluntary and involuntary
- A voluntary lien is created by the owner's act, a deed of trust being the obvious case. An involuntary lien arises by operation of law without the owner's agreement, such as a property tax lien or a mechanic's lien.
- Priority requires the lien type and the facts
- Recording priority is a starting point, subject to notice, statutory priority, and other rules. Property-tax liens generally have priority over private liens, but not every assessment or governmental claim has identical priority. Subordination can alter the priority between agreeing parties, and mechanic's-lien priority may relate to commencement of the improvement.
- Mechanic's liens and their clocks
- Preliminary-notice requirements depend on the claimant and the recipients; laborers and direct contractors have specified exceptions. Timely notice generally reaches work furnished in the preceding 20 days and afterward. Without a recorded notice shortening the period, recordation is generally due within 90 days after completion. A notice of completion or cessation can shorten it to 60 days for a direct contractor and 30 days for other claimants. A foreclosure action is generally due within 90 days after recording, subject to statutory exceptions.
- Easements appurtenant
- An easement appurtenant benefits one parcel, the dominant tenement, and burdens another, the servient tenement. It runs with the land and passes on sale whether or not it is mentioned in the deed. This is the shape of a driveway easement or a shared access road.
- Easements in gross
- An easement in gross benefits a person or a company rather than a parcel, so there is no dominant tenement. Utility easements are the standard example, and commercial easements in gross are transferable.
- How easements are created
- An easement can arise by express grant or reservation, qualifying implication from prior use, necessity on severance of commonly owned land, or prescription. California prescription generally requires five years of open, notorious, continuous, adverse use. A landlocked parcel alone does not prove an easement across any neighbor. Dedication or condemnation can also create use rights.
- How easements end
- Merger, when one owner acquires both parcels. Express release by the dominant owner. Abandonment shown by conduct rather than mere non-use. Non-use for five years, which ends a prescriptive easement only. Expiration of a stated term. Destruction of the servient tenement.
- Encroachments
- An encroachment is a physical intrusion, such as a fence, wall, or eaves crossing a boundary. A survey or inspection may reveal what the title record does not. Extended title coverage may cover specified survey-related risks, but the actual policy, exceptions, and endorsements control. Passage of time alone does not automatically create an easement.
- Deed restrictions and CC&Rs
- Private limits on use, imposed by a former owner or a subdivider. A covenant is enforced by injunction or damages. A condition can in principle forfeit the estate, which is why courts read conditions narrowly and prefer to treat a restriction as a covenant.
- Homestead
- California's automatic homestead exemption protects qualifying equity against certain judgment-enforcement sales, subject to statutory conditions. Code of Civil Procedure section 704.730 ties the amount to the prior year's countywide median sale price for a single-family home, bounded by inflation-adjusted statutory minimum and maximum amounts. Use the amount applicable to the relevant year and county; a declared homestead has separate effects and neither form eliminates every lien.
| Encumbrance | Affects | Discovered by |
|---|---|---|
| Deed of trust | Title, secures a debt | Title search |
| Judgment lien | Qualifying real-property interests in the county | Title search |
| Easement | Use, runs with the land | Title search, usually |
| Encroachment | Physical extent | Survey, not a title search |
Adverse possession and prescription are not the same remedy
A prescriptive easement seeks a use right; adverse possession seeks ownership. Both have demanding possession or use requirements and a five-year period. Adverse possession additionally requires timely payment of the qualifying property taxes assessed during that period. Read the entire fact pattern; the absence of a tax fact alone does not establish a prescriptive easement.
Types of Ownership
Ownership form affects possession, transfer rights, survivorship, and estate administration. California community-property rules add distinctions that should be considered separately from federal income-tax basis.
Start with the estates. A fee simple absolute is the largest estate and is what most people mean by ownership. A life estate lasts for a measuring life, after which the property passes to a remainderman or reverts to the grantor. A leasehold is a possessory estate of limited duration. Everything below sits inside one of those.
- Severalty
- Ownership by one person or one legal entity. Despite its sound, the word does not mean several owners; it refers to ownership severed from others.
- Joint tenancy
- Requires the four unities: time, title, interest, and possession, meaning the owners took the same interest, in the same document, at the same time, with equal right to possess. Its defining feature is the right of survivorship, so on death the interest passes to the surviving joint tenants outside probate. It cannot be willed. A joint tenant may sell their share, which breaks the joint tenancy as to that share and leaves the buyer a tenant in common.
- Tenancy in common
- Tenants in common hold undivided interests that may be unequal and acquired at different times through different documents. Each has a right to possess the whole. There is no survivorship, so an interest passes by will, trust, or intestate succession as applicable. Civil Code 686 generally makes this the default for interests created in favor of several people, subject to its joint-tenancy, partnership, and community-property exceptions.
- Community property
- Property acquired by a married person during marriage while domiciled in California is presumed community property, owned equally. Property owned before marriage, or acquired during marriage by gift, bequest, or inheritance, is separate property. Each spouse may will their half; there is no automatic survivorship. Both spouses must join in a conveyance or encumbrance of community real property.
- Community property with right of survivorship
- This expressly declared vesting combines community-property ownership during life with survivorship at death. The title form and applicable law control; it does not guarantee a particular income-tax or property-tax outcome.
- Basis adjustment is a separate federal-tax question
- Federal basis rules can adjust both halves of qualifying spousal community property to fair market value at death when the required estate-inclusion condition is met. That can be a decrease as well as an increase. Jointly held property's basis depends on the joint-interest and contribution rules; a qualifying spousal joint interest commonly produces an adjustment to the deceased spouse's half. Vesting advice requires the actual legal and tax facts.
- Partnership, corporate, and LLC ownership
- An entity may hold title in its own name. General partners ordinarily bear personal liability for partnership obligations, while limited-partner, corporate, and LLC protections depend on the entity and applicable law. Shareholders do not directly own corporate real estate. LLC tax treatment can vary with classification and elections; limited liability and pass-through taxation are not identical concepts.
- Common interest developments
- A condominium combines a separately owned interest defined by the plan with an undivided common-area interest. In a planned development, common area may be owned by an association or in common by owners. A stock cooperative holds title through an entity and gives members or shareholders occupancy rights. Community apartment projects are the fourth statutory category.
- Trusts
- A trustee holds and administers trust property for beneficiaries. Properly transferred living-trust assets may pass without probate administration, but merely signing a trust does not place every asset into it. Confirm the trustee's authority and the property's actual vesting.
| Vesting | Disposition at death | Potential basis treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Joint tenancy | Survivorship if intact | Depends on joint-interest rules; commonly the deceased spouse's half for a qualifying spousal joint interest |
| Tenancy in common | Decedent's share passes under estate or trust arrangements | Applicable inherited-interest basis rules |
| Community property | No automatic survivorship without an added arrangement | Both halves may adjust to FMV if federal conditions are met |
| Community property with right of survivorship | Passes to the surviving spouse if intact | Community-property basis rules, subject to federal conditions |
Do not select vesting from a tax slogan
Joint tenancy and community property with right of survivorship can both provide survivorship, but they are not interchangeable. Identify the owners, how title was created, any severance, and the question being asked. Tax basis and probate consequences depend on more than the label.
Descriptions of Property
A conveyance must identify the land with sufficient certainty. A street address or assessor's parcel number is useful for reference but should not be assumed to provide the complete legal description needed for the transaction.
Metes and bounds, recorded-map references, and rectangular-survey descriptions can each identify land. The method does not by itself prove whether a parcel is urban, rural, old, or irregular.
- Metes and bounds
- Describes a boundary by direction and distance from a point of beginning, running course by course and closing back at that point. It handles irregular parcels that no grid can express, and it is the oldest of the three systems.
- The rectangular survey system
- Principal meridians run north to south and base lines east to west. A standard township is six miles by six miles, with 36 sections and 23,040 acres. A standard section is one square mile, or 640 acres; actual surveyed sections can vary. Sections are numbered 1 to 36, starting at the northeast corner and running back and forth across the rows.
- California's three base and meridian systems
- California descriptions use the Humboldt, Mount Diablo, or San Bernardino base and meridian. Humboldt serves the far northwest, Mount Diablo much of northern and central California, and San Bernardino the south. Read the named meridian with the township, range, and recorded survey; Mount Diablo alone does not place a parcel exclusively in northern California.
- Reading a fractional description
- Work from the back forwards, dividing as you go. The NW quarter of the SE quarter of Section 14 is 640 divided by 4, then by 4 again, giving 40 acres. Each 'of' is one more division. The description names the smallest parcel first and the largest last.
- Lot, block, and tract
- The recorded map system, and the one most residential property in California uses. A subdivider records a map under the Subdivision Map Act, and thereafter each parcel is described by its lot and block within the named tract, referring to the map book and page where it is recorded.
- Check the legal description behind an APN
- An APN is a tax-administration identifier. Verify the actual legal description and recorded documents rather than assuming an APN or address alone supplies a sufficient conveyance description.
- Vertical descriptions
- Airspace parcels and condominium units can be described in three dimensions, using a reference datum for elevation. The condominium plan and governing documents define the separate unit and common-area boundaries. Do not assume every condominium owner holds the same walls, land, or airspace interests.
| Unit | Size | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Township | 6 miles square, 23,040 acres | 36 sections |
| Section | 1 mile square, 640 acres | 1/36 of a township |
| Quarter section | 160 acres | 1/4 of a section |
| Acre | 43,560 square feet | 1/640 of a section |
Each nested fraction applies to the larger parcel
For the NE quarter of the NW quarter of the SW quarter, divide 640 by four three times: 640, 160, 40, then 10 acres. Multiplying the fractions is equally valid: 640 × 1/4 × 1/4 × 1/4 = 10. Read right to left to locate the parcel, but do not confuse location order with the commutative arithmetic.
Government Rights in Land
No title in the United States is entirely free of government claim. Four rights sit above every owner, and the mnemonic is PETE: police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat. Learning them as a set is worth more than learning them separately, because questions often ask which of the four is in play.
Police power regulates use, eminent domain takes property or an interest for public use, taxation imposes public charges, and escheat transfers property when no eligible successor exists. Both eminent domain and escheat can transfer ownership, but their purposes and compensation rules differ.
- Police power
- The right to regulate for public health, safety, morals, and general welfare. Zoning, building codes, environmental rules, and rent regulation all rest on it. No compensation is owed, unless the regulation goes so far as to become a taking.
- Eminent domain
- The right to take private property for public use on payment of just compensation, exercised through a condemnation action. Just compensation is fair market value, plus severance damages where only part of a parcel is taken and the remainder loses value. Inverse condemnation is the same idea run backwards: the owner sues because the government has effectively taken the property without formally condemning it.
- Taxation
- Government may levy property taxes, secured by statutory liens. Property-tax liens generally outrank private liens. The type of tax, assessment, and competing claim matters when determining exact priority.
- Escheat
- When a deceased owner has no eligible successor, property may escheat to the state under the governing estate procedures. Dying without a will alone is not enough because intestate heirs may exist.
- Proposition 13
- The base ad valorem rate is generally limited to 1% of taxable value, with qualifying voter-approved debt and other authorized charges outside that base. The factored base-year value generally grows by the applicable inflation factor capped at 2%, while ownership changes, new construction, exclusions, and temporary decline-in-value assessments can change the calculation.
- Proposition 19
- Eligible owners aged 55 or older, severely disabled owners, and qualifying disaster victims may transfer a principal residence's taxable value to a replacement residence in California under timing, value, and filing rules. The three-transfer limit applies to the age/disability benefit; do not automatically apply it to disaster relief. Intergenerational relief generally concerns qualifying family homes or farms, with a value allowance adjusted every two years and additional occupancy and filing conditions for a family home.
- Supplemental and special assessments
- A reassessable ownership change or completed new construction can produce a supplemental assessment for the affected fiscal-year period. Exclusions and timing matter, and the resulting bill is separate from the regular annual bill. Special assessments fund specified improvements or benefits. Mello-Roos special taxes are separate from the Proposition 13 base levy and carry their own disclosure requirements.
- The tax calendar
- The fiscal year runs 1 July to 30 June. The first installment is due 1 November and delinquent after 10 December. The second is due 1 February and delinquent after 10 April. The homeowner's exemption takes $7,000 off assessed value for an owner-occupied home.
| Right | What it does | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Police power | Regulates use | None, unless it becomes a taking |
| Eminent domain | Takes title or an interest | Just compensation |
| Taxation | Levies against value, with a first-priority lien | None |
| Escheat | Takes title where there are no heirs | None |
A buyer's assessed value may differ from the seller's
A taxable change in ownership generally creates a new base-year value reflecting fair market value, subject to exclusions and other rules. Purchase price is evidence of value, not an unconditional rule for every transfer. A supplemental assessment may follow; the seller's old bill alone is not a reliable estimate of the buyer's taxes.
Public Controls
Public land-use control rests on police power. Ordinary regulation does not require compensation merely because value falls, but a regulation can constitute a compensable taking under the applicable constitutional tests. Do not decide that issue solely from the percentage decline in value.
Two California land-division statutes have similar names but different purposes. Separate local subdivision mapping from DRE's purchaser-protection and public-report requirements.
- The general plan comes first
- Every California city and county must adopt a comprehensive long-term general plan. Zoning must be consistent with it. A rezoning that conflicts with the general plan is vulnerable, which makes the general plan the senior document rather than a statement of aspiration.
- Zoning and its relief valves
- Zoning controls uses and development standards. A California variance requires special circumstances affecting the property that would otherwise deprive it of privileges enjoyed by nearby property in the same zone; it cannot authorize a prohibited use. A conditional use permit concerns a use the ordinance permits subject to findings and conditions. The validity of a zoning change, including treatment of one parcel, depends on its legal basis rather than a label alone.
- Non-conforming use
- A lawful use that no longer conforms after a zoning change may qualify as a legal nonconforming use. Local rules control continuation, enlargement, abandonment, rebuilding, and any required phaseout, subject to governing law. Do not assume the same expansion or rebuilding rights apply in every jurisdiction.
- The Subdivision Map Act
- Government Code section 66410 and following regulates land division through local government. The general mapping distinction is a tentative and final map for five or more parcels and a parcel map for four or fewer, subject to detailed statutory exceptions and exclusions. The purpose includes orderly division, infrastructure, and access.
- The Subdivided Lands Act
- Business and Professions Code section 11000 and following governs covered subdivision offerings, generally involving five or more lots, parcels, or interests, with exceptions and specialized categories. A public report must be provided before a binding purchase agreement in a covered sale. Preliminary and conditional reports have their own permitted reservation, deposit, and contract arrangements, so do not treat every deposit as forbidden.
- Building codes and permits
- Most new construction and substantial alterations require permits and inspections. Exempt work and occupancy requirements depend on the applicable building rules. Verify permit and final-approval records for the actual work; an unpermitted addition may not qualify as lawful living area or be accepted by a lender or insurer.
- CEQA
- The California Environmental Quality Act applies to qualifying discretionary public-agency projects and approvals, subject to exemptions. Review can lead to an exemption determination, negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or environmental impact report depending on the governing standards and evidence.
- The Coastal Act
- Development in the coastal zone generally requires a coastal development permit unless an exemption applies. Authority may lie with the Coastal Commission or a local government under a certified local coastal program. A local building or zoning approval does not necessarily satisfy the coastal requirement.
- State housing mandates now override local zoning
- State housing law can limit local restrictions. ADU law provides approval rules subject to statutory requirements, and AB 1033 allows qualifying local ordinances for separate condominium conveyance. Effective July 1, 2026, SB 79 applies to qualifying transit-oriented housing developments near specified stops in urban transit counties, subject to its site, project, standards, and local-plan provisions. It does not authorize every project near any transit stop.
- The Williamson Act
- Williamson Act contracts restrict qualifying agricultural or open-space land in exchange for restricted-use assessment. Standard rolling terms are commonly ten years, but qualifying shorter-term programs and longer Farmland Security Zone terms exist. Nonrenewal lets the remaining term expire; cancellation has separate findings and fees. Read the recorded contract and local program rather than assuming every parcel has the same remaining term.
| Subdivision Map Act | Subdivided Lands Act | |
|---|---|---|
| Governs | Dividing the land physically | Selling the parcels |
| Administered by | City or county | The Real Estate Commissioner |
| Key document | Tentative and final map, or parcel map | The public report |
| Purpose | Orderly development and infrastructure | Consumer protection |
Regulation and taking require different analyses
A reduction in value alone does not establish a taking. Identify whether government acquired an interest, physically invaded property, or imposed a regulation, then apply the relevant constitutional test. Ordinary zoning restrictions and an eminent-domain acquisition are not interchangeable.
Environmental Hazards and Regulations
Separate environmental disclosure from investigation and cleanup liability. A licensee must recognize material information within the licensee's duties, disclose appropriately, and recommend qualified assistance when specialized evaluation is needed.
Federal and California rules have different coverage, exemptions, and responsible parties. Do not promise that a property is safe, that a disclosure removes liability, or that every hazard is subject to the same form.
- Lead-based paint
- Federal disclosure rules generally cover target housing built before 1978, subject to exemptions. Sellers and landlords provide known lead information, available records, required warnings, and the EPA pamphlet. A buyer generally receives a 10-day inspection opportunity, which may be changed or waived by written agreement. The disclosure rule does not itself require a seller to conduct lead testing.
- Asbestos
- Some building materials contain asbestos. Disturbing them can release hazardous fibers, so suspected materials should be evaluated and handled by qualified professionals. Whether to leave intact material in place or remove it depends on its condition and proposed work, not simply the building's age.
- Radon, mould, and formaldehyde
- Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can accumulate indoors. Moisture and mold can raise health, habitability, and disclosure issues. Formaldehyde may be emitted by some building products. Recommend an appropriate specialist or test when the facts warrant it rather than ruling out a hazard from its location or appearance.
- Underground storage tanks and contaminated sites
- Prior service-station, dry-cleaning, or other potentially contaminating uses warrant investigation. CERCLA liability can be strict and retroactive, and joint and several when the harm cannot be divided. Responsible-party categories and statutory defenses matter. All appropriate inquiries can be a prerequisite to certain purchaser protections, but it is not by itself a complete defense and ongoing obligations can apply.
- Proposition 65
- Proposition 65 generally requires covered businesses to warn before knowingly and intentionally exposing people to listed chemicals. It has exemptions, including businesses with fewer than 10 employees and exposures below the applicable risk thresholds. Apartment, garage, and commercial-property warnings depend on the exposure and the rule's scope.
- Water quality and wells
- A property on a private well or septic system carries its own investigation burden. A licensee should recommend testing rather than opine on potability or system capacity.
- Where environmental meets disclosure
- California's NHD includes flood, dam-inundation, high or very high fire-severity, wildland-fire, earthquake-fault, and seismic-hazard disclosures. CAL FIRE released revised local-responsibility recommendations in phases during February and March 2025; confirm the locally adopted map and effective requirements. Defensible-space, fire-hardening, and transfer-documentation duties depend on the property's location and applicable statute.
- The licensee's actual job
- Notice, disclose, and refer. A licensee who diagnoses mould, estimates remediation cost, or reassures a buyer that a tank was probably removed has stepped outside their competence and created liability the disclosure duty never carried.
| Hazard | Trigger | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Lead-based paint | Covered pre-1978 target housing | Known information, records, pamphlet, and applicable buyer inspection opportunity |
| CERCLA | Covered release and responsible-party status | Potential cleanup liability; exact statutory defenses and protections |
| Mapped natural hazard | Location in any of six zones | Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement |
Due diligence is necessary but not an automatic shield
A purchaser can face CERCLA liability without causing the contamination. Certain defenses and purchaser protections require appropriate pre-acquisition inquiry plus additional conditions and continuing obligations. Joint and several liability depends on whether the harm is divisible. Do not equate an inspection report or personal innocence with complete protection.
Private Controls
Private controls limit what an owner may do without any government being involved. They come from a former owner, a subdivider, or an association, and they are enforced by private parties in court rather than by a public agency.
An owner generally must comply with both public controls and valid private restrictions, so the stricter enforceable requirement can govern. An overriding statute can invalidate or limit a private restriction, including certain ADU, solar, and civil-rights restrictions.
- Covenants, conditions, and restrictions
- Recorded CC&Rs can establish private restrictions for the parcels they cover. Valid restrictions may bind later owners even if those owners did not negotiate them. Read the declaration, amendments, parcel coverage, and applicable law; recording does not make an unlawful restriction enforceable. Common subjects include use, architecture, setbacks, and maintenance.
- Covenant against condition
- A covenant is a promise, enforced by injunction or damages. A condition can in principle terminate the estate and return it to the grantor, which is a drastic remedy. Courts construe ambiguous restrictions as covenants for that reason, and a question describing forfeiture is usually testing whether you noticed the language creating a condition.
- The Davis-Stirling Act
- The Davis-Stirling Act, Civil Code 4000 and following, governs covered residential and mixed-use common interest developments. It addresses association governance, assessments, restrictions, and seller disclosures. The Civil Code 4525 package includes governing documents, prescribed financial and reserve information, and other specified records. Exclusively commercial or industrial developments fall under a separate act.
- New for 2026: balcony inspection reports
- SB 410 adds the most recent balcony and exterior elevated element inspection report to the association disclosure package, with a summary first page giving the inspection date, unit counts, and safety findings.
- What an association cannot restrict
- California limits certain association restrictions on solar systems, EV charging, water-efficient landscaping, clotheslines, ADUs, flags, and noncommercial signs. Each protection has its own scope and may allow reasonable restrictions or conditions. Check the relevant statute instead of assuming every installation or display is unrestricted.
- Racially restrictive covenants are void
- They remain physically present in many older chains of title and are unenforceable. Since July 2022 a broker or agent with actual knowledge that a document being delivered to a buyer contains one must notify the buyer of it and of the right to have it removed, and escrow must help prepare a Restrictive Covenant Modification on request before closing.
- Enforcement and its limits
- A restriction may be lost by abandonment where it has been widely ignored, or by laches where enforcement was unreasonably delayed. Selective enforcement against one owner while ignoring others is a defence.
| Public control | Private control | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Police power, exercised by a government | A deed, CC&Rs, or an association |
| Enforced by | The city, county, or state | A private party, or the association, in court |
| Typical remedy | Fine, injunction, refusal of permit | Injunction, damages, assessment lien |
| When they differ | Apply public law, including statutory overrides | Apply the valid restriction subject to overriding law |
A void covenant is still on the record, and you have a duty about it
Racially restrictive covenants have been unenforceable for decades and were never removed from the documents that carry them. The obligation is not to enforce them or to explain them away; it is to notify the buyer that the language exists and that it can be struck through a Restrictive Covenant Modification. A licensee who reads such a covenant and says nothing has breached a specific statutory duty, not merely a general one.
Water Rights
California recognizes both riparian and appropriative surface-water rights, as well as other specialized rights. Identify the source, land, history, and proposed use before deciding which doctrine applies.
Water rights matter commercially far beyond rural listings. A property with a well, a spring, a shared pipeline, or shares in a mutual water company carries a right that has value and can fail, and in a state that alternates between drought and flood the difference between a secure right and an insecure one can exceed the value of the improvements.
- Riparian rights
- Riparian rights ordinarily accompany qualifying land beside a natural lake, river, stream, or creek. They allow reasonable use of natural flow on qualifying riparian land and are generally not lost by nonuse. Severance, historic title, and watershed limitations can affect the right.
- Appropriative rights
- Appropriative rights can serve nonriparian land. Post-1914 surface-water appropriations generally require State Water Board authorization, while valid pre-1914 rights have a different basis. Priority generally follows seniority, subject to the right's terms, reasonable-use and public-trust limits, and applicable orders. Forfeiture for nonuse has statutory rules and exceptions.
- How the hybrid works
- Riparian rights generally rank ahead of appropriative rights, and among appropriators seniority governs. Every use, of whatever kind, is subject to the constitutional requirement of reasonable and beneficial use, so no one holds a right to waste water.
- Littoral rights
- Littoral describes shoreline property beside a lake, sea, or ocean. California also recognizes riparian rights along natural lakes. Boundary and public-trust rules depend on the waterbody and title history; do not apply one tidal boundary rule to every inland lake.
- Groundwater
- Overlying groundwater use is subject to reasonable-use and correlative-rights principles, adjudications, and applicable regulation. SGMA requires sustainability planning and management for covered basins through local agencies, with potential state intervention. It does not make every basin or landowner subject to an identical pumping allocation.
- How boundaries move
- Accretion is the gradual addition of soil by water action, and the owner gains it. Reliction is the gradual withdrawal of water exposing land, and the owner gains it. Erosion is the gradual loss of land, and the owner loses it. Avulsion is a sudden change, such as a river jumping its course, and the boundary does not move.
- Water rights are disclosed, not assumed
- Verify claimed well, spring, shared-system, or water-company rights, including recorded documents and governing instruments. Mutual water-company stock can be appurtenant when designated that way, but do not assume every share automatically passes with land.
| Riparian | Appropriative | |
|---|---|---|
| Basis of the right | Land borders the watercourse | Historic appropriation or post-1914 authorization, as applicable |
| Priority | Shared reasonable use, ahead of appropriators | First in time, first in right |
| Lost by non-use | No | Potentially, subject to law and exceptions |
| Transferable away from the land | No | Potentially, subject to transfer requirements |
Identify the particular water right
California's recognition of multiple doctrines does not make every single-doctrine answer wrong. A question may ask about one parcel or one right. Identify riparian status or the basis of appropriation, then apply priority, scope, and reasonable-use requirements.
Special Categories of Land
Some land carries its own body of law on top of the ordinary rules, and a licensee who treats it as an ordinary parcel will miss the constraint that governs the transaction. Each category below changes what the buyer can actually do with the land.
The common thread is that the restriction attaches to the land rather than to the owner, so it survives the sale. A buyer who intends to develop needs to know what the parcel is before they know what they can build, and that is a question the zoning map alone will not answer.
- Agricultural land and the Williamson Act
- Williamson Act contracts restrict qualifying agricultural or open-space land in exchange for restricted-use assessment. Standard rolling terms are commonly ten years, but qualifying shorter-term programs and longer Farmland Security Zone terms exist. Nonrenewal lets the remaining term expire; cancellation has separate findings and fees. Read the recorded contract and local program rather than assuming every parcel has the same remaining term.
- The coastal zone
- Development in the coastal zone generally requires a coastal development permit unless an exemption applies. Authority may lie with the Coastal Commission or a local government under a certified local coastal program. A local building or zoning approval does not necessarily satisfy the coastal requirement.
- Tidelands and submerged lands
- California generally holds tidelands subject to the public trust, with the mean high tide line important to the boundary. Particular titles, historic grants, access routes, and boundary changes require separate analysis; private beachfront ownership does not itself extinguish public-trust rights.
- Timberland
- Timberland production zones give preferential assessment in exchange for restricting use, on a similar bargain to the Williamson Act, and harvesting is regulated separately.
- Indian trust land
- Held in trust by the federal government for a tribe or an individual. It is generally not alienable or taxable by the state, and transactions require federal approval. State real estate law does not straightforwardly apply.
- Manufactured home parks
- Governed by the Mobilehome Residency Law, which gives park residents protections that do not exist in ordinary landlord and tenant law, particularly on park closure, rent, and the sale of a home in place.
- Land in a fire hazard severity zone
- California's NHD includes flood, dam-inundation, high or very high fire-severity, wildland-fire, earthquake-fault, and seismic-hazard disclosures. CAL FIRE released revised local-responsibility recommendations in phases during February and March 2025; confirm the locally adopted map and effective requirements. Defensible-space, fire-hardening, and transfer-documentation duties depend on the property's location and applicable statute.
- Common interest developments
- A condominium, planned development, stock cooperative, or community apartment project is governed by the Davis-Stirling Act and by its own recorded governing documents, on top of everything that applies to land generally.
| Category | The bargain | What a buyer inherits |
|---|---|---|
| Williamson Act land | Lower assessment for restricted use | The contract's restrictions and remaining term |
| Coastal zone | None; it is regulation | A coastal development permit requirement |
| Timberland production zone | Lower assessment for restricted use | The restriction and the harvest rules |
| Manufactured home park | None; it is tenancy | Mobilehome Residency Law protections |
The restriction runs with the land, not with the seller
Recorded land-use restrictions and applicable regulatory designations can continue after a sale. A buyer cannot assume a Williamson Act contract or conservation easement disappears at closing. Review the remaining term, nonrenewal or cancellation rules, permit conditions, and any statutory exception before planning development.
What candidates confuse
These distinctions help you read a scenario carefully. Explain the difference, then identify which fact makes one answer fit better than another.
Real propertyPersonal property
Real property includes land, affixed items, appurtenances, and immovable interests. Personal property is everything else. Annexation and severance can change the classification.
FixtureTrade fixture
A fixture normally passes with the real estate. A trade fixture installed by a business tenant normally remains the tenant's personal property if timely and properly removed, subject to the lease.
Joint tenancyTenancy in common
Joint tenancy carries survivorship and uses the joint-tenancy form. Tenancy in common has no survivorship and permits unequal interests.
Adverse possessionPrescriptive easement
Adverse possession seeks title and requires the statutory tax showing. Prescription creates only a use right and does not use the same tax requirement.
EasementLicense
An easement is an interest or right in land. A license is normally personal, revocable permission.
Police powerEminent domain
Police power regulates use and normally pays no compensation. Eminent domain takes or damages property for public use and requires just compensation.
VarianceConditional use permit
A variance grants limited relief from development standards after required findings. A conditional use permit allows a conditionally permitted use.
Subdivision Map ActSubdivided Lands Law
The Map Act controls local division and mapping. The Subdivided Lands Law is DRE's consumer-protection and public-report system.
Alquist-Priolo zoneSeismic hazard zone
Alquist-Priolo addresses surface fault rupture. Seismic hazard zones address liquefaction and earthquake-induced landslides.
RiparianAppropriative
Riparian use depends on qualifying land beside natural water. Appropriative use is independent of riparian ownership and follows its own priority and permitting system.
AccretionAvulsion
Accretion is gradual and can move a boundary. Avulsion is sudden and ordinarily leaves the legal boundary where it was.
The arithmetic in this area
Use these formulas to practice the calculations connected to this area. Check the units and assumptions before substituting numbers.
Acre
1 acre = 43,560 square feetDivide square feet by 43,560 to convert to acres.
Section
1 standard section = 1 square mile = 640 acresA standard township contains 36 sections.
Fractional section
640 / product of denominatorsNW 1/4 of SE 1/4 = 640 / 16 = 40 acres.
Square yards
square feet / 9One square yard contains nine square feet.
Worked scenario
Read the setup, decide your answer, then check the reasoning.
Alex and Blair take title to a California home as joint tenants. In 2024, Alex executes and delivers a deed conveying Alex's interest to Casey, and the deed is recorded before Alex's death in 2026. Alex's will leaves the estate to a charity.
- The 2024 deed
- Execution and delivery of the conveyance to Casey sever Alex's joint-tenancy interest. Recording protects notice and priority. Do not confuse this third-party conveyance with the special recording rules for a unilateral written severance instrument under Civil Code § 683.2.
- The ownership after recording
- Casey and Blair hold undivided interests as tenants in common. Blair keeps Blair's original share, but the joint tenancy no longer operates between Blair and the conveyed share.
- The 2026 death
- Alex no longer owns the conveyed interest, so the will has nothing to transfer from this property. Blair does not take Casey's share by survivorship because that survivorship was severed.
- If the recording fact changed
- A unilateral severance document that was not timely recorded before the severing tenant's death may fail to terminate survivorship, subject to the narrow notarization and post-death recording rule and other statutory exceptions.
The trap
The trap is applying the original joint-tenancy label without following the later conveyance and recording. On timeline questions, test creation, severance, recording, and death in that order.
Try a question
One question from the 35 in this area. Answer it, then work through the rest.
Types of Ownership
Two unmarried people buy a house as joint tenants. One dies leaving a will giving her entire estate to her brother. What happens to her interest?
Written to DRE's published topic list. Not a real examination question, since reproducing those is a misdemeanor under B&P Code section 123.
Before exam day, you should be able to
Not a list of things to have read. A list of things to be able to do, out loud, without notes.
- Classify land, fixtures, trade fixtures, emblements, appurtenances, and personal property
- Explain the physical and economic characteristics of real estate and the bundle of rights
- Distinguish liens, easements, encroachments, licenses, adverse possession, and prescription
- Compare estates and California ownership forms, including valid joint-tenancy severance
- Read metes and bounds, lot and block, and rectangular descriptions and perform the acreage math
- Apply police power, eminent domain, taxation, escheat, condemnation, and inverse condemnation
- Distinguish zoning, variances, conditional use permits, CEQA, the Map Act, and the Subdivided Lands Law
- Identify lead, CERCLA, Alquist-Priolo, seismic, flood, fire, asbestos, radon, mold, and tank issues
- Explain CC&Rs, HOA rules, discriminatory-covenant removal, and private versus public enforcement
- Compare riparian, appropriative, littoral, and groundwater rights and the reasonable-use limit
- Identify ownership and disclosure differences for subdivisions, CIDs, manufactured homes, timeshares, and mineral interests
Turn this lesson into a study session
Start with the interest being owned, then identify what limits its use. These references help you connect vesting and title with the wider ownership outline.
Print a reference for this area
Seven-area DRE topic wallchart
Use the ownership checklist to track all 11 listed topics, including public controls, water rights and environmental hazards.
Work through the related math
Write the units before calculating. Practice square feet, acres and fractional sections separately, then check the assumptions in a property-tax problem.
Once you can set up the calculation, try mixed math practice without a topic label to help you choose the formula.
Make time to come back to it
Choose a restriction from the lesson. Explain whether it comes from government authority or a private arrangement, and how it affects the owner's use of the land.
Choose a schedule that fits what you already know. Each one includes all seven areas; the day below is your first scheduled review of this area.
- 30-day study planThis area: day 4
- 14-day review planThis area: day 4
- 7-day final reviewThis area: day 2
These schedules are study suggestions, not DRE requirements. Give a difficult topic more time rather than skipping an area to keep up with the calendar.
Terms in this area
- Joint tenancy
- Tenancy in common
- Community property
- Easement
- Encumbrance
- Mechanic's lien
- Adverse possession
- Eminent domain
- Police power
- Variance
- Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act
- Riparian rights
- Accretion
- Subdivision Map Act
- Fixture
- Real property
- Personal property
- Bundle of rights
- Legal description
- Metes and bounds
- Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs)
- Escheat
Common questions
What are the 11 Property Ownership topics on the California DRE exam?
DRE lists classes of property; property characteristics; encumbrances; types of ownership; descriptions of property; government rights in land; public controls; environmental hazards and regulations; private controls; water rights; and special categories of land.
What is the difference between real property and personal property in California?
Real property includes land, things affixed or appurtenant to it, and qualifying immovable interests. Property that is not real is personal. Attachment can turn personal property into a fixture, while severance can turn part of the realty into personal property.
How do you determine whether an item is a fixture?
Consider the method of attachment, adaptability to the property, relationship of the parties, objective intention, and any agreement. Intention and the parties' written allocation are often decisive, but the entire factual setting matters.
What are the four unities of joint tenancy?
The traditional study aid is TTIP: time, title, interest, and possession. California also requires an express joint-tenancy declaration. A unilateral written severance must satisfy Civil Code § 683.2, including recording timing when the severing tenant dies.
How long does adverse possession take in California?
The statutory period is five years, with strict possession requirements and timely payment of all qualifying state, county, or municipal property taxes assessed during that period. Adverse possession cannot be acquired against state or public-entity property.
How many acres are in a section of land?
A standard section is one square mile or 640 acres. A township is six miles by six miles and contains 36 sections, subject to normal survey corrections.
What is the difference between the Subdivision Map Act and Subdivided Lands Law?
The Subdivision Map Act controls the local physical division and mapping of land. The Subdivided Lands Law is administered by DRE and protects purchasers through public reports, disclosures, and controls on subdivision marketing and purchase money.
What are the four government powers over land?
PETE stands for police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat. Eminent domain requires just compensation for property taken or damaged for public use. The others do not ordinarily require compensation.
What does the California Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement cover?
The statutory statement addresses specified mapped flood, dam-inundation, fire, earthquake-fault, and seismic-hazard areas. It is a location disclosure, not a guarantee that a disaster will or will not occur.
What water rights does California recognize?
California recognizes riparian and appropriative surface-water rights, along with other specialized rights. All water use is subject to the constitutional reasonable-and-beneficial-use rule. Groundwater rights are affected by correlative priorities, adjudications, SGMA plans, and local regulation.
What documents should a California condominium buyer review in 2026?
The seller's Civil Code § 4525 package includes governing documents, financial and assessment information, unresolved violations, specified defect and rental information, requested meeting minutes, and the latest exterior elevated element inspection report. Buyers should also evaluate reserves, insurance, litigation, rental limits, and maintenance responsibility.
Is a manufactured home always part of the real estate?
No. A manufactured home may have HCD-administered title as personal property or may be installed and recorded as a fixture through the required process. The home's title, land ownership, installation records, liens, and park status must be checked separately.
The question counts above are derived: DRE publishes the percentage weight for each area, not a question count. Multiplying each weight by 150 and rounding gives figures that sum to 152 rather than 150, which is why every count on this site says “about”.