Title: Real Estate Law Overview :: Justia
Headings: Real Estate Law
Real Estate Law
Limits on Ownership
Real Estate Law Resources

Content: Some people use the term “real property” to refer to land without structures. Limits on Ownership
Lawyers often refer to real estate as a “bundle of rights” extending to the center of the earth and up to the heavens. Certain “sticks” may be separated from the bundle by the owner’s intentional actions. For example, an owner might grant an easement or acquire property that is subject to an easement, and thereby give up the right to exclude people from that part of the property. Similarly, an owner might buy property in a subdivision that is subject to covenants that restrict how the owner can use the property. In some states, owners can sell the subsurface rights to their land, so that one owner might own and live on the surface, while another has the right to mine minerals below the surface. Other rights are limited by law. Much regulation of real estate is statutory, enacted by a legislative body, or regulatory, enacted by a governmental administrative agency. Environmental laws , for example, are primarily statutory and regulatory. Other real estate law is common law, meaning that it evolved from judicial decisions.