Negligence: Conduct below a reasonable standard of care. 

Non-Conforming Use: An owner’s use (residential, commercial, retail, agricultural, industrial, etc.) of a piece of property which is actually zoned by the government for a different use.

Pay-or-quit Notice: A written notice provided by a commercial landlord to a tenant who has failed to timely pay rent, advising the tenant that he must either pay the past-due rent or to leave the premises (quit) within a certain number of days, which in Arizona is most commonly five days. The pay-or-quit notice might also be used to notify a tenant to cure some other default, other than failure to pay rent, such as using the property in a manner which is not authorized under the lease, making too much noise, etc.

Patent: A government grant that conveys and secures to an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, and sell an invention for a legally specified period of time. 

Notorious Possession:  Possession of a piece of real estate in the standard way which its rightful owner would possess it, more specifically, occupying property in a way which anyone can freely observe who is occupying that real estate.  This is in contrast to a squatter who is hiding on some piece of land and avoiding being seen as an occupant of that land.

Nuisance: Something that interferes with a land owner’s reasonable use and enjoyment of his property.  This can be due to chronic loud noises (such as from a shooting range or nightclub), odors (such as from a dairy farm or meat factory), bright lights, or any other use of property which habitually causes its neighbors irritation, obstruction, or danger. A "public nuisance" affects many people, such as an entire neighborhood. A "private nuisance” is one that affects only one, or a small number, of landowners. Property owners may choose to hire an attorney to bring a lawsuit to abate (remove) a nuisance.

Occupancy: Possessing real estate by either living there residentially, making commercial use of a space, or otherwise using it. Occupancy can take place by the property’s owner, or by a tenant who is renting the property.

Option: The unilateral right to choose something.  An option exists in several types of contracts, such as a five-year lease agreement which includes an option by the tenant to choose whether to renew the lease for another five years at the end of the term.  The holder of the option may choose whether to “exercise” his option. The other party to the contract is legally committed to follow the holder’s choice of whether to exercise the option.  In the example above, the tenant holds the option and the landlord is legally bound to sign a renewal if the landlord chooses to exercise the renewal option.

Ouster: The wrongful removal of a rightful owner or tenant of real property, forcing the party pushed out of the premises to bring a lawsuit to regain possession.

Parcel: A broad term used to describe any defined piece of land.

Partition: A type of lawsuit, asking for a court order requiring the sale of a piece of land which is owned by more than one person.  Either co-owner of the subject property can file a partition lawsuit against the other co-owner.  

Peaceable Possession: Occupying property without any adverse claim as to the rightful ownership of the property.

Perfect: (Stress is on the second syllable.) to complete; to take all required steps to achieve a result, such as obtaining a lien or other security by legal action or completing and filing all documents to present a case to a court of appeals.

Personal Property: Property that is not real estate, also known as “chattels”.

Possessory Interest: A person’s right to occupy a piece of land, or otherwise exercise control over it. A possessory interest is distinguished from ownership of the land, because possession might be something that belongs to a renter and not the owner.

Power of Attorney: A legal document that authorizes another person to act on one's behalf. It can pertain to financial issues, medical issues, or some other type of authority. A power of attorney can grant complete authority or can be limited to certain acts and/or certain periods of time.

Premises: A particular, defined area of real estate. It can be a certain office space within an office building, an entire parcel of vacant land, or any other designated site.

Prescriptive Easement: This is a method of acquiring an easement through adverse-possession type of use.  An easement upon another's real property acquired by continued and regular use without permission of the owner for a long enough period to establish the easement as being legally binding.

Principal Balance: The amount of money on a loan which has not yet been repaid. It does not include interest or any other charges, but rather the principal refers to the funds which have been borrowed.

Private Property: Land which is not owned by, nor controlled by, the government.

Private Road: A street on privately owned property, which is not maintained by the government, and may only be used by the owner or group of owners who share control of the road.

Promissory Note: A promise, signed by a borrower, pledging to repay a loan to the lender.

Public Auction: A sale which is open to the public, at which investors and others may choose to attend, and the property is sold to the highest bidder.

Public Easement: A right of way, allowing the public to use certain areas such as beaches, paths, trails, and streets. In most cases, a public easement comes into existence through reservation of the right of way when the land was deeded from the government to private land owners.

Punitive Damages: A type of damages issued against a defendant which are intended to punish the defendant for his or her intentional tort and to prevent others from committing similar acts.

Purchase Agreement: A contract between a buyer and seller of real estate, which describes the terms of the upcoming sale, such as purchase price and closing date.  

Purchase Money Mortgage: The most common type of mortgage. This is a loan obtained for the purpose of buying the that real estate, and which the buyer/borrower simultaneously places that piece of real estate as collateral for the lender’s security on the loan. 

Quiet Enjoyment: The right of a property owner or tenant to enjoy his or her property without interference. Disruption of quiet enjoyment may constitute a nuisance. Leases and rental agreements often contain a "covenant of quiet enjoyment," expressly obligating the landlord to see that tenants have the opportunity to live undisturbed.

Quiet Title Action: A court proceeding, filed for the purpose of establishing the true and rightful ownership of a certain piece of real estate. This is a type of lawsuit to make a party’s claim to real estate certain, and therefore "quiet" any challenges by others regarding title.

Quitclaim Deed:  A deed that transfers ownership, without any warranty.  This type of deed conveys to a grantee, whatever interest or title a grantor may have had, in the subject land. Compare with a warranty deed.  

Real Estate: Underlying land, as well as anything permanently affixed to it, such as buildings, trees, and improvements. In legalese, real estate is also called real property.

Real Estate Agent: A salesperson who is licensed to show houses and other types of real estate, as well as to negotiate sales transactions on behalf of a buyer or seller. An agent must work under the supervision of a real estate broker, defined below.

Real Estate Broker: A salesperson whose license allows him or her to sell houses and other types of real estate, as well as to supervise agents.

Real Property: A synonym for “real estate”.  Anything that is not real property is considered to be “personal property”.

Realty: A short form of "real estate."

Reconveyance: This takes place in Arizona, which is a state that allows use of deeds of trust to secure payment on a mortgage loan. It is a process by which a trustee transfers title to real estate back to the borrower.

Recorder: An official who is elected by the voters in each county, whose job is to keep copies of documents which are presented to the county by members of the public, and to make those documents publically available to anybody who wishes to view them.   

Recording: The process of filing documents with a county government office, for the purpose of making them available for viewing by anybody. Recording a document is known as “putting the world on notice” regarding the contents of that document and the transaction described in the document.

Redeem: To recover something. This term is often used to describe the procedure when a property owner prevents a foreclosure sale from taking place by paying the lender the amounts due. Redemption takes place after the foreclosure process had begun but before the foreclosure sale is complete.

Reformation: The method of changing a written contract by a court when both parties overlooked a mistake in the document, or when one party has purposefully deceived the other as to what was written down.

Rejection of an Offer: This is accomplished by words or actions that demonstrate a clear intent not to accept or consider the offer further. 

Release: A document provided by a lender to a borrower, which acknowledges that the debtor has satisfied his or her obligations to the borrower. Therefore, the lender is “releasing” the borrower from any further obligations.  This document serves as a recognition that the borrower has made all payments due to the lender, and therefore the lender is releasing its lien against the debtor’s property.

Reliction: This can happen to properties which are located near coastlines, lakes, rivers, or other bodies of water. It is a slow change of a water line which results in the owner having more dry land. See also: accretion.

Remainder: A person’s ownership of real estate that comes into existence after somebody else’s ownership of that property ends. This type of ownership interest is usually created by a will or a beneficiary deed.

Remainderman: Someone who will inherit property in the future. For instance, if someone dies and leaves his home "to Alma for life, and then to Barry," Barry is a remainderman because he will inherit the home in the future, after Alma dies.

Rescission: The annulling of a contract.  Arizona law allows a party to rescind a contract under certain conditions, such as when the contract was based upon a fraud.

RESPA: An acronym which stands for the name of a federal law, namely the “Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act”.  The purpose of RESPA is to prevent individuals from being taken advantage of by mortgage brokers or escrow agencies, by requiring property purchasers to receive disclosure documents from those lenders and escrow agencies.

Restraint on Alienation: An act which is legally unenforceable.  It is a person’s attempt to prevent future owners of a parcel of land from being able to freely sell that land.  A restraint on alienation is a void attempt to control the future ownership of somebody’s  property for a long period of time, usually forever, even after that person’s death.  For example, John owns an office building in Phoenix.  He writes a will which leaves the building to his daughter upon his death, with the directive that she never sell the building to anybody outside of the family.  At first, the daughter takes ownership of the property and leases it out to various tenants. However, several decades later, she is elderly and she no longer has the energy to serve as the landlord for the office building. She offers to sell it to everybody in her family, but nobody in the family has any interest in purchasing it.  The building is appraised as being worth $1 million, and a local investor offers to purchase it from her for $1 million. The daughter’s lawyer may petition a court to declare the restriction placed by her father as being a void restraint on alienation.  Such a judicial declaration would allow her to sell the building to somebody outside the family. Courts disfavor such restraints because the interfere with a person’s  freedom to transfer his or her own property.

Restrictive Covenant: Also called  “deed restriction” or “CC&Rs”.  This is a legal document which is considered to “run with the land”. It is a private contract among a group of neighbors which restricts what they may each do with their property.  Each of those neighbors cannot sell his or her property without the buyer taking the property subject to those restrictive covenants which run with the land.

Reversion: The return of ownership of a piece of land to somebody who had, in the past, deeded that land to a third party.  For whatever reason, that third party’s ownership in the land terminated, and therefore the ownership reverts back to the grantor.

Right of First Refusal: A contract clause which requires one party to give the other party the first opportunity to purchase something or to do something, before giving anybody else that same opportunity.

Right of Way: The right of a person to pass over the land of another. See “easement”.

Riparian Rights: Rights that pertain to water.  More specifically, these are rights belonging to individuals whose land borders a river or has a river running through it.  It allows them to use water from the river for purposes such as drinking or irrigating fields.

Rule Against Perpetuities: A legal doctrine which is meant to prevent somebody from having control over the use of his or her property “in perpetuity”, meaning “forever”.  Individuals should not be able to control the use of their property after they have passed away and no longer own it.  For example, Garry owns a vacant lot in a residential area in Glendale. Garry writes a will in which he leaves his this lot to the City of Glendale, but only so long as the City uses the lot as a park where children can play. Upon Garry’s death, the City of Glendale does in fact, build and maintain a park on the lot, and children do play there. However, 80 years later, the character of the surrounding neighborhood has completely changed because chemical factories are built across the street, and those factories bring noxious fumes and odors and noise to the area. Therefore, the lot becomes unsuitable for use by children, as directed by Garry in his will.  The City’s attorney can file a lawsuit, asking a court to nullify Garry’s condition, because that condition would allow Garry to determine the use of the lot in perpetuity.

Running With the Land: A restriction on the use of property which remains binding on that property, no matter who owns it. In Arizona, this is most commonly seen in deed restrictions, also known as CC&Rs. When a neighborhood is built with deed restrictions, anybody who buys or sells property in that neighborhood must buy or sell it subject to those restrictions, since they are attached to the land and are not personal to the seller.

Sale-Leaseback: A transaction which is actually two separate deals taking place simultaneously.  First, a person sells a piece of land to a buyer. Second, that seller also leases that property from the buyer, thereby making the seller a tenant and making the buyer a landlord.

Second Mortgage: A mortgage which was taken out after an existing mortgage had already existed against the subject parcel. The second mortgage has a lien position subordinate to the first mortgage.

Security: Also called “collateral”. This is an item of real estate or personal property which is used to ensure a lender that its loan funds will be repaid.  If the borrower defaults on loan payments, then the lender can take ownership of whatever land or item the borrower had pledged as collateral.

Security Deposit: A payment transferred from a tenant to its landlord as a mechanism to ensure that the landlord’s losses will be minimized if the tenant defaults on the lease agreement by either failing to pay rent or damaging the landlord’s property.  In such a case, the landlord can use the security deposit to cover what the tenant owes.

Seller Carry-Back: A type of mortgage which is “carried” by the person who sold the property, rather than by a financial institution.  Therefore, the buyer purchases the property by making a down payment to the seller, and also by making monthly payments to the seller until the entire balance is paid off.

Service Mark: A distinctive mark used to distinguish the services of one person from those of another. 

Servient Estate: Also called a “servient tenement”. This is a piece of land which has an easement running over it. That easement is in favor to another piece of land called the “dominant estate”. A servient estate is the one which has a right-of-way on it, and the owner of the dominant estate is the party which the right to use the easement.

Setback: Municipal codes often require a certain amount of distance between the front edge of a property line, and structure which is built on that property.  In the case of residential houses, city setback requirements allow for enough space that each house has a front yard.  In the case of businesses and stores, the minimum setbacks are usually much smaller, and therefore the buildings may be erected close to the front edge of the property line.

Specific Performance: A type of lawsuit. In such a case, the plaintiff asks a judge to order the defendant to take a certain action, i.e. a “specific performance”.

Spot Zoning: A provision in a city or county zoning code which benefits a single parcel of land by creating a type of use for use just for that parcel and different from the surrounding properties in the area.

Strict Liability: A type of liability which arises from certain specific, dangerous activities wherein public policy has indicated that the party who engages in these activities will be responsible for damages caused by such activities regardless of his or her care or lack thereof.

Subdivision: A neighborhood which is created by dividing a larger tract of land into smaller, individual lots, and then selling each lot to a different buyer.  

Sublease: A rental agreement or lease between a tenant and somebody who will take over that tenant’s duties to the landlord (called a sublessee). Usually, the sublessee pays rent directly to the tenant/sublessor, who in turn forwards that rent to the landlord. The tenant is still responsible to the landlord for the rent and for any damage which might be caused by the sublessee. The landlord usually has the right to approve or reject any prospective subtenant.  

Succession:  The passing of real estate or other property after the property owner’s death.

Survey: A blueprint-like drawing which is created by a professional licensed by the Arizona Board of Technical Registration. A surveyor must go to the property and physically measure its boundaries, the location of improvements, easements, rights of way, encroachments, and other physical features.

Taking: See eminent domain.

Tenancy By The Entirety: An old fashioned term for joint ownership of property, which has largely been replaced by joint tenancy (which is defined above).  It was a way for spouses to own a piece of property and, upon the death of one, the other automatically owns the entire property.

Tenancy In Common: A form of joint ownership which is defined by not including a right of survivorship.  When either joint tenant dies, his or her ownership does not pass to the surviving joint tenant. Rather, the decedent’s ownership transfers to that decedent’s heirs. This is more common when business colleagues purchase property together (whereas joint tenancy is more common when spouses purchase property together).
In Arizona, if a deed does not specify whether two co-owners of property are “joint tenants” or “tenants in common”, they are presumed to be tenants in common.

Title: A synonym for “ownership”.  Having title to a piece of property means being the legal owner of that property.

Title Insurance: A type of insurance policy issued by a company to a purchaser of real estate. This policy states that the purchaser is buying land which has a clear title and is free of clouds.  This policy also states that, if the purchaser subsequently is informed that there is a problem with the title, the title-insurance company will have to pay to defend that person’s title.  

Trade Fixture: An item of capital equipment which is attached to real estate, and which is used by a business which is leasing that real estate. Trade fixtures are distinct from regular fixtures in that trade fixtures may be removed from the real estate at the end of the business lease term.

Trademark: A distinctive mark, motto, device or implement that a manufacturer stamps, prints or otherwise affixes to its goods to identify the source of the goods. 

Triple Net Lease:  A common type of commercial real estate lease.  It is a contract under which the tenant pays not only a flat fee for the space (as with a gross lease) but also for a variable portion of the landlord’s operating costs.  The three most common operating costs are taxes, maintenance and insurance.  The landlord calculates those on a monthly or yearly basis, and bills the tenants for these costs.

Trustee: A fiduciary who holds or controls property for the benefit of another, and must act faithfully in the interest of the property’s owner.

Variance:  An exception to a zoning ordinance.  Property owners who wish to use their property in a way that is not allowed by the zoning code governing their property must either petition the government to re-zone the area, or they must apply for a variance to except them from having to follow the zoning code which is in place.  In Arizona, most zoning takes place at the city level, and very little takes place at the county or state level. For example, Bill owns a bicycle shop in Phoenix, and the City requires every retail store (like Bill’s) to have a parking lot which includes a minimum number of parking spaces. Bill would like to expand his store to include more retail space, which would mean building onto the currently existing parking lot and reducing the number of spaces. Bill believes the city should allow him to vary from the zoning requirements placed on other types of retailers, because very few of Bill’s customers drive to his store or ever use that parking lot. Instead, they tend to ride their bikes to the store.  Bill’s attorney can petition the City to grant his store a variance, allowing Bill to expand his retail space and reduce his parking spaces. 

View Ordinance: A law adopted by some cities or towns with desirable natural scenery -- such as  the mountains running through Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Paradise Valley.   A view ordinance may prevent one property owner from growing trees or building a gazebo in such a manner that it obstructs a neighbor’s view of the mountains.

Warranty Deed: The most common type of deed. In this document, a seller transfers ownership of a piece of land to the buyer, and the seller also warrants (promises, guarantees) that the ownership being transferred is valid and that the seller does truly own the property free of any liens. This is different than a quitclaim deed, in which the seller merely is transferring whatever title the seller may or may not have, and the seller does not make any warrantees.

Wraparound Mortgage: A mortgage loan which comes into existence when a piece of real estate is sold, and the buyer assumes the seller’s obligations on the seller’s note, and the buyer also takes out another note on the property.  For example, Jane owns a retail plaza in Phoenix, which is worth $3 million.  Jane currently has a mortgage out on the plaza, with a principal balance of $1 million owed to her lender.  Jane sells the plaza to Martin for $3 million.  The form of payment is what creates a wraparound mortgage: Martin pays Jane her $3 million via the following set of acts: First, Martin assumes Jane’s responsibility on the $1 million note, and takes over all payments on that note. Second, Martin takes out his own mortgage for the remaining $2 million.

Zoning: The set of laws dividing towns and cities into different geographic areas according to use. The types of use areas include single-family houses, multi-family apartments, commercial office buildings, retail stores, industrial factories, farms, parks, and open space. Zoning ordinances control the size, location, and use of buildings within these different areas.