General Plan: A plan of a city, county or state which establishes zones for different types of development, uses, traffic patterns and future development.

Good Title: Valid ownership in real estate which is free of clouds on the title, and therefore can be sold, transferred or used as security for a loan. For example, if Garry owns an office building in Gilbert Arizona, free and clear of any liens or adverse claims, then it is said that Garry has “good title” to that office building.

Grandfather Clause: A provision in a municipal ordinance or state statute which allows somebody who has been lawfully and continuously using his business property in a certain way to keep on using it in that way, even if a new law would otherwise prohibit his neighboring business owners from using their property in that same way.  For example, Pauline owns an auto-body shop in Phoenix, Arizona, and Pauline’s shop has long included a paint booth in which she paints her customer’s vehicles. The City of Phoenix passes a new law which prohibits industrial uses of property in the area where Pauline’s shop is located. A paint booth is an industrial use of property.  Because Pauline had been using the property as a paint booth before the City of Phoenix passed the new law, she may continue to do so. However, if Patrick purchases the vacant lot next to Pauline’s shop, and wishes to open an auto-body shop, the new city law will restrict Patrick from being able to have a paint booth at his shop.

Grant: A synonym for “transfer”, “sell”, “gift”, or otherwise convey ownership of real estate. from the current owner (grantor) to a purchaser or other recipient (grantee).

Grant Deed: A deed containing a promise that the person selling the real estate does actually own the real estate, and has the power to lawfully sell it.  This is the most commonly used type of deed. Compare with a quitclaim deed.

Grantee:  A synonym for “purchaser” or “recipient” of real estate. The person to whom an interest in real estate is conveyed and receives title to that piece of real estate.

Grantor: The party who is selling, giving, donating, or otherwise conveying a piece of real estate.

Gross Lease: A commercial lease in which the tenant pays a fixed amount of rent per month or year, regardless of the landlord's operating costs. A gross lease closely resembles a typical residential lease. Contrast with a “triple net lease”.

Heirs and Assigns: The successors of the parties signing a contract. These words are often found in a contract or deed, and specify that the item granted in the documents to the parties also inure to benefit of the parties’ heirs or assigns.

Homeowner's Association: Also called a “community association” or an “HOA”. An organization that manages the common areas in a subdivision, townhome community, or condominium complex.  The members of the HOA are the owners of each home in the community. The purpose of creating the HOA is for maintaining the common areas and the quality of the community.  The homeowners' association is responsible for enforcing any covenants, conditions & restrictions that apply to the property.

Hostile Possession:  Occupancy of a piece of real estate by somebody who is not the holder of recorded title, but who claims to be the rightful owner.

Implied Contract: If the terms of a contract are not exactly set out, but are created by the parties’ conduct, a valid contract exists that is called an implied contract. 

Implied Warranty: A guarantee regarding the quality of goods or services sold, that is not written in the contract. It is an invisible, or silent, warranty.  Virtually everything you buy comes with two implied warranties. Arizona law implies warranties into newly built structures. Therefore, even the builder’s contract with the purchaser does not expressly warrant the quality of the structure, Arizona law deems that the builder automatically, or impliedly, warranted the quality.

Improvement: Any structure built on real property.

In Perpetuity: Forever.

Incidents of Ownership: Control over real estate. This comes into play when an owner attempts to give away real estate for tax-reduction purposes, but that owner maintains so much control over the real estate that the alleged “gift” is legally deemed to be void.  For example, an uncle signs a deed, gifting an apartment building he owns to his niece, but the uncle keeps the right to receive rent from the tenants and to manage the building -- then legally, no gift has been made.

Indefeasible: Something that cannot be annulled or made void.

Ingress: An entrance, or the act of entering. Compare with “egress”.

Installment Land Sale: An old-fashioned way to sell real estate, wherein the buyer makes monthly payments to the seller, and does not receive record title to the real estate until the contract is paid off. During the interim, the buyer has only "equitable title” and the seller keeps record title. Also known as a "contract for deed" or "contract of sale."

Intentional Tort: Action that occurs when deliberate conduct injures a person. 

Intestate Succession: A statutory method by which property is distributed when a person dies without a will. Arizona follows a set of statutes known as the Model Probate Code, which provides that a decedent’s property be distributed to the closest surviving relatives: the surviving spouse, children, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, inherit in that order. Compare with “testate succession”, which is the distribution of a decedent’s property according to the directives in the decedent’s will.

Inure: To have effect. In real estate law, the term is used to describe the mechanics of a deed or other transfer. For example, Charlie Chandler purchases a vacant lot that includes the right to travel across the neighbor's property in order to enter and exit the lot from a main road.  That right of way is said, "to inure to the benefit of” Charlie.

Invitee: A business guest, or someone who enters property held open to the public, such as a customer of a store.  Arizona law requires property owners to take reasonable measures to protect invitees from known dangers on the property.

Joint Tenancy: A form of ownership of real estate that defined by the right of survivorship. Under joint tenancy, the death of one owner (a joint tenant), automatically triggers the extinguishment of that joint tenant’s ownership in the property, and the surviving joint tenant automatically owns the piece of property in its entirety, without the need for probate. This is the most common for of property ownership for spouses. Compare with “tenancy in common”.

Judicial Lien - A lien obtained by a court judgment against a debtor.

Land: real property, real estate, and the right to minerals underneath and airspace over it. It may include improvements like buildings.

Landlocked: Referring to a parcel of real estate which has no ingress or egress (entry or exit) to a public street, and consequently cannot be reached except by crossing another's property. In such a case an easement is created over a neighboring parcel.

Landlord's Lien: A landlord’s legal right to sell abandoned personal property items left behind after a tenant abandons or is evicted from the leased premises. The purpose of the landlord’s lien is to recoup losses from unpaid rent or damages which the tenant had caused to the property. To exercise this lien right, the landlord must carefully follow procedures specified in Arizona law.

Latent Defect: A hidden flaw in a structure, which a buyer could not discover even upon conducting a reasonable inspection.

Lease: An agreement between a property owner and a tenant that stipulates the payment and conditions under which the tenant may possess the real estate for a specified period of time.

Lease Option: An agreement by which a tenant has the unilateral option to purchase the leased premises from the landlord at the conclusion of the rental term. 

Lien: An encumbrance or burden against real estate, which is usually a public record. A lien can be placed on one’s property voluntary, such as when a landowner chooses to take out a mortgage against the land. A lien can also be filed involuntarily, such as when a landowner fails to pay a court judgment, a tax bill, or a contractor’s bill.

Life Estate: The right to possess real estate for the course of one's lifetime. Often this is given to a family member in a will (such as the decedent’s spouse), which then provides that a younger family member (such as the decedent’s child) would get ownership of the property only after the death of the one who had the life estate.  Life estates have become unpopular in recent years because they created problems between the holder of the life estate and the holder of the future interest. Therefore, modern lawyers avoid creating a life estate, instead using some other mechanism to reach their clients’ goals. For example, John owns a piece of industrial property in Phoenix, Arizona.  John leaves the property to his sister Marian, but only after the death of his wife, Hillary. Consequently, upon John’s death Marian has a future interest in the property and Hillary has a current interest in the house.  This creates problems if Hillary chooses to remodel or rezone the property in a way that Hillary finds displeasing.

Liquidated Damages: A contract clause which specifies how much a party to the contract would have to pay if that party breaches.  In the case of a real estate purchase contract, the buyer’s earnest-money deposit serves as liquidated damages, should the buyer breach by refusing to complete the sale.  

Lis Pendens: A Latin term for “a pending lawsuit”. An attorney will file a Notice of Lis Pendens in  the office of the County Recorder where a lawsuit is taking place which concerns ownership rights to a piece of real estate in that county. By recording a lis pendens, the attorney puts the world on notice, on the client’s behalf, that the land’s title is in question and a court will soon resolve the question.  Once this notice is filed, anyone who nevertheless purchases the land property or makes a loan against it, does so subject to the eventual outcome of the lawsuit.

Marketable Title: Ownership of real estate with no encumbrances and no clouds on the title.

Maturity: The date on which the principal balance of a loan becomes due and payable.

Mechanics Lien: This term is an oxymoron because it actually is not used by mechanics.  It is actually a right used by construction contractors who perform work on homes, office buildings, stores, or any other type of real estate. The purpose of a mechanic’s lien is to protect contractors who do not receive payment as promised, in exchange for labor and materials which they had supplied in improving somebody’s property. A contractor or materials-supplier may publically record a lien against land, and may eventually foreclose upon that lien. However, Arizona statutes set forth a very complicated and elaborate set of procedures which contractors and suppliers must follow in order to “perfect” their liens.

Metes and Bounds: A description of the location and size of a parcel of land, using carefully measured distances, angles and directions, and which references natural land features (such as a river) and the distance from those features.

Mineral Rights: An ownership in the minerals contained in the soil beneath a particular parcel of land. The owner of mineral rights may or may not also have ownership of the surface of the land.

Month-to-Month: A type of lease arrangement in which the tenant pays monthly rent for an indefinite term, and the tenancy can be terminated by the landlord or the tenant at any time, usually upon thirty-days notice.

Mortgage: A loan situation in which the borrower pledges a piece of property to the lender as security for payment of the borrower’s debt. If the borrower fails to make timely payments, the lender may foreclose on the real estate by selling it to pay off the loan.

Mortgagee: The lender in a mortgage agreement.

Mortgagor: The borrower in a mortgage agreement.