These terms describe what someone actually owns and how co-owners hold it together. The distinctions matter because they decide what happens when an owner dies, and the exam tests that outcome more than the definition itself.
9 terms you need to know
- Bundle of Rights
- The legal rights of ownership: possess, use, enjoy, exclude others, dispose of, and encumber. Real property ownership conveys this bundle subject to government powers and private restrictions.
- Curtesy / Dower
- Historical common-law spousal rights in real property. Abolished in NY and replaced by elective share rights under EPTL.
- Fee Simple Absolute
- The highest form of property ownership — full rights, no time limit, inheritable. The default in NY unless restricted.
- Joint Tenancy
- Co-ownership with the four unities (time, title, interest, possession) and the right of survivorship — the deceased owner’s share passes automatically to surviving joint tenants.
- Reversion
- The right of a grantor to regain ownership after a life estate or other limited estate ends.
- Severalty
- Ownership by a single person or entity — not co-owned.
- Tenancy by the Entirety
- A form of co-ownership available only to married couples in NY, with right of survivorship and protection from individual creditors of one spouse.
- Tenancy in Common
- Co-ownership where each owner has a separately conveyable and inheritable undivided interest. No right of survivorship — interest passes by will or intestacy.
- Will
- A legal instrument disposing of property at death. Real property passing by will goes through probate.
Commonly confused
Joint tenancy vs tenancy in common
Joint tenancy carries the right of survivorship, so a deceased owner's share passes automatically to the survivors. Under tenancy in common there is no survivorship — the share passes to the deceased owner's heirs.
Tenancy by the entirety
Available only to married couples and the standard form for married owners in New York. It carries survivorship and neither spouse can convey their interest alone.
Fee simple vs life estate
Fee simple absolute is the largest ownership interest, of unlimited duration. A life estate lasts only for the measuring life, after which the property passes to the remainderman or reverts to the grantor.
How this is tested
Keep studying
- Co-op vs Condo: What the NY Exam Tests
- Title and deed terms
- 484 free flashcards
- Full NY Real Estate Glossary — all 161 terms
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