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Landlord Law Guide Real Estate Law Overview This topic covers real estate transactions, including purchases, sales, and leases, as well as landlord and tenant rights. Real estate transactions are governed by a wide body of federal statutes and state statutory and common law. The requirements established by state law often differ significantly from one state to the next. Real estate brokers are employed as the agent of the seller in order to obtain a buyer for their property. The contract between the broker and seller is called a listing agreement. The agreement may be an open agreement where by the broker earns a commission only if he or she finds a buyer. A listing is exclusive if the broker is the only agent entitled to a commission for finding a buyer. Under an exclusive arrangement a broker may be entitled to a payment even if the seller finds the buyer without the brokers aid. Real estate brokers and salesperson are licensed and regulated by local state laws. See, e.g., California Civil Code § 2079. Professional organizations may also provide further guidelines. The Federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in real estate transactions on account of race, color, religion, sex,or national origin. Real estate brokers are specifically prohibited from discriminating by the Act. The agreement to sell between a buyer and seller of real estate is governed by the general principles of contract law. The Statute of Frauds requiresthat contracts for real property be in writing. It is commonly required in real estate contracts that the title to the property sold be marketable. This requires that the seller have proof of title to all the property he or she is selling and that third parties not have undisclosed interests in the title. A title insurance company or an attorney is often employed by the buyer to investigate whether the title is, indeed, marketable. Title insurance companies also insure the buyer against losses caused by the title being invalid. In order to pass title, a deed with a proper description of the land must be executed and delivered. Some states require that the deed be officially recorded to establish ownership of the property and/or provide notice of its transfer to subsequent purchasers. The most common method of financing real estate transactions is through a mortgage. Landlord-tenant law governs the rental of commercial and residential property. It is composed primarily of state statutory and common law. A number of states have based their statutory law on either the Uniform Residential Landlord And Tenant Act or the Model Residential Landlord-Tenant Code. Federal statutory law may be a factor in times of national/regional emergencies and in preventing forms of discrimination. The basis of the legal relationship between a landlord and tenant is grounded in both contract and property law. The tenant has a property interest in the land (historically a non-freehold estate) for a given period of time. See State Property Statues . The length of the tenancy may be for a given period of time, for an indefinite period of time, (e.g., renewable/cancelable on a month to month basis), terminable at any time by either party (at will), or at sufferance if the agreement has been terminated and the tenant refuses to leave (holds over). See Restatement of The Law 2d Property: Landlord and Tenant § § 1.4-1.8 . If the tenancy is tenancy for years or periodic the tenant has the right to possess the land, to restrict others (including the landlord) from entering upon it, and to sublease or assign the property.
Adapted from Wex page http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Real_estate_transactions, republished under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License., and subject to that licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/legalcode |
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