NextGen Bar Exam Real Property Syllabus

Real Property syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Real Property in NextGen Bar Exam, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Ownership Interests and Future Estates

   3 topics

   • Present Possessory Estates
     • Fee simple absolute and defeasible fees
     • Life estates and waste
   • Future Interests
     • Reversions, remainders, and executory interests
     • Rule against perpetuities
   • Concurrent Ownership
     • Joint tenancy, tenancy in common, and tenancy by the entirety
     • Rights and duties of co-tenants and partition
2. 2

   Landlord-Tenant and Land Use

   6 topics

   • Leasehold Estates and Tenancies
   • Tenant and Landlord Duties
     • Implied warranty of habitability
     • Quiet enjoyment and constructive eviction
   • Assignment and Subletting
   • Easements
     • Creation by express grant, prescription, and necessity
     • Scope, transfer, and termination
   • Covenants and Equitable Servitudes
   • Zoning and Land Use Regulation
3. 3

   Real Estate Transactions

   4 topics

   • Land Sale Contracts
     • Marketable title and equitable conversion
     • Risk of loss
   • Deeds and Conveyancing
     • Types of deeds and covenants of title
     • Delivery and acceptance
   • Recording Acts
     • Race, notice, and race-notice statutes
     • Bona fide purchaser status and chain of title
   • Mortgages and Security Interests
     • Foreclosure and priorities
     • Equitable and statutory redemption
4. 4

   Rights in Land and Title Disputes

   4 topics

   • Adverse Possession
     • Elements and tacking
   • Water and Support Rights
   • Fixtures
   • Title Assurance and Remedies

Real Property flashcards for NextGen Bar Exam

25 of 75 cards from the Real Property deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is a fee simple absolute, and what words create it?

   The largest possessory estate, of potentially infinite duration, freely devisable, descendible, and alienable. Created by 'to A' or 'to A and his heirs.' No future interest follows it.

2. What is a fee simple determinable, what words create it, and what future interest follows?

   A defeasible fee that automatically terminates upon the happening of a stated event, returning to the grantor. Created by durational language ('so long as,' 'while,' 'during,' 'until'). Followed by a possibility of reverter in the grantor.

3. What is a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, what words create it, and what future interest follows?

   A defeasible fee that the grantor may terminate (it does NOT end automatically) upon a stated condition. Created by conditional language ('but if,' 'provided that,' 'on condition that') plus an express right of re-entry. Followed by a right of entry/power of termination in the grantor.

4. What is a fee simple subject to an executory limitation?

   A defeasible fee that, upon a stated event, automatically passes to a THIRD PARTY (not the grantor). The third party holds an executory interest. E.g., 'to A, but if liquor is sold, to B.'

5. What is a fee tail and what happens to it today?

   An estate created by 'to A and the heirs of his body' that kept land within the grantee's bloodline. In nearly all U.S. states it is abolished and converts to a fee simple absolute.

6. What is a life estate, and what is the future interest that follows it?

   An estate measured by the life of one or more persons ('to A for life'). Followed by a reversion (if retained by grantor) or a remainder (if given to a third party).

7. What is a life estate pur autre vie?

   A life estate measured by the life of someone OTHER than the holder. E.g., 'to A for the life of B.' If A dies before B, the estate passes to A's heirs/estate until B dies.

8. What is the doctrine of waste, and what are its three types?

   A life tenant must not harm the future interest holders' interest. Voluntary (affirmative) waste = overt destruction/exploitation; Permissive waste = neglect/failure to maintain or pay taxes; Ameliorative waste = changes that increase value but alter the property's character.

9. What is a reversion?

   The future interest left in a grantor who transfers a vested estate of lesser quantum than she has (e.g., grants a life estate but retains the remainder). It is fully transferable, devisable, and descendible.

10. Distinguish a possibility of reverter from a right of entry.

    A possibility of reverter follows a fee simple determinable and vests automatically upon the triggering event. A right of entry (power of termination) follows a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent and must be affirmatively exercised by the grantor.

11. What is a vested remainder, and what are its three subtypes?

    A remainder given to an ascertained person with no condition precedent. Types: (1) indefeasibly vested (certain to take in full); (2) vested subject to total divestment (could be lost on a condition subsequent); (3) vested subject to open (a class gift where at least one member is ascertained but more can join).

12. What is a contingent remainder?

    A remainder created in an unascertained person OR subject to a condition precedent. E.g., 'to A for life, then to B's heirs' (B alive), or 'to A for life, then to B if B graduates.'

13. What is the Rule of Convenience for class gifts?

    A class closes (no new members may join) when any member of the class becomes entitled to immediate possession/distribution, even if biologically more members could still be born.

14. What is an executory interest, and what are its two types?

    A future interest in a third party that cuts short or follows a gap after a prior estate. Shifting executory interest divests a prior transferee (third party); springing executory interest divests the grantor.

15. State the common-law Rule Against Perpetuities.

    No interest is valid unless it must vest, if at all, within 21 years of the death of a life in being at the creation of the interest. It applies to contingent remainders, executory interests, vested remainders subject to open, options, and rights of first refusal.

16. Which future interests are NOT subject to the Rule Against Perpetuities?

    Interests retained by the grantor (reversion, possibility of reverter, right of entry) and indefeasibly vested remainders are exempt from RAP.

17. What is the 'wait and see' / USRAP reform to the Rule Against Perpetuities?

    Under the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities, an interest is valid if it actually vests within the common-law period OR within 90 years of its creation. Courts wait to see what actually happens rather than voiding for mere possibility.

18. What are the three forms of concurrent ownership?

    Tenancy in common, joint tenancy (with right of survivorship), and tenancy by the entirety (between married spouses).

19. What are the four unities required to create a joint tenancy?

    Time, Title, Interest, and Possession (T-TIP): co-tenants must take their interests at the same time, by the same title/instrument, with equal interests, and with an equal right to possess the whole.

20. What is the defining feature of a joint tenancy, and how is it created today?

    The right of survivorship: when one joint tenant dies, the survivors take the share automatically (bypassing probate). Modern law requires a clear expression of survivorship intent, e.g., 'to A and B as joint tenants with right of survivorship.'

21. How is a joint tenancy severed?

    By breaking a unity—most commonly an inter vivos conveyance by one joint tenant of her interest, which converts that share to a tenancy in common. A mortgage (in lien-theory states) or lease generally does not sever; a partition action also ends it.

22. What is a tenancy by the entirety and how can it be terminated?

    A marital joint tenancy with right of survivorship, available only to spouses; neither spouse can unilaterally convey or encumber it, and individual creditors generally cannot reach it. Terminated only by death, divorce, mutual agreement, or joint conveyance.

23. In a tenancy in common, can one co-tenant exclude another, and is there survivorship?

    No—each co-tenant has an undivided right to possess the WHOLE; none may exclude another. There is NO right of survivorship; each interest is freely devisable and descendible. It is the default/presumed concurrent estate.

24. When must one co-tenant account to others for rents and profits?

    A co-tenant must share net rents received from THIRD parties (in proportion to ownership) and account for profits from exploiting the land. A co-tenant in sole possession owes nothing for the reasonable value of her own use UNLESS there is an ouster.

25. What is the difference between an assignment and a sublease of a leasehold?

    An assignment transfers the tenant's ENTIRE remaining interest; the assignee is in privity of estate with the landlord and liable for rent. A sublease transfers LESS than the entire remaining term; the sublessee is liable only to the original tenant, not the landlord.

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