California Real Estate Exam: 10 Property Ownership & Land Use Questions (2026)
Episode 3 of the Quibank California Real Estate series drills property ownership and land use (~15% of the exam). Ten real practice questions with answers and one-line explanations: fee simple absolute, life estates (remainder vs reversion), joint tenancy's four unities and right of survivorship, te
Transcript
Property ownership and land use is about 15% of the California real estate exam. Here are 10 questions on estates, co-ownership, and land use. Try each one before I answer. Question one, which estate is the highest, most complete form of ownership?
Fee's Simple Absolute also called an estate of inheritance. Question two, a grant reads to Alice for life, then to Bob. During Alice's life, what does Bob hold? A remainder.
If it instead returned to the grand tour, that would be a reversion. Question three, what four unities must exist to create a joint tenancy? Time, title, interest, and possession. Remember TTIP.
Question four, two people are joint tenants. One dies leaving a will giving her share to a friend. Who gets it? The surviving joint tenant, the right of survivorship beats the will.
Question five, co-owners hold undivided shares with no survivorship and each share passes by will to the owner's heirs. What form of ownership is that? Tenancy in common. Question six, under the Maria fixture test, which factor matters most in deciding if something is a fixture, the intention of the person who installed it.
Question seven, a utility company has a recorded right to run power lines across many parcels, but owns no neighboring parcel that benefits. What kind of easement is that? An easement in gross. Question eight, a city adopts zoning and building codes to protect health and safety without paying owners for the limits.
Which government power is that? The police power. Question nine, under the power of a street, when does property pass to the state? When an owner dies with no valid will and no heirs.
Question 10, an owner wants to build closer to the lot line than zoning allows because of a genuine hardship from an odd-shaped lot. What should she apply for? A variance. Quick recap, fee simple absolute is the highest estate.
A joint tenancy needs TTIP plus survivorship. The Maria test turns on intention and police power is zoning without compensation and memorize two numbers. A section is 640 acres and an acre is 43,560 square feet. Drill the full California question bank, free at dot com.
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