By HONEST ALF – the Little Guy Lawyer
This is part 3 of a 4 part series – please see Part 1 and Part 2 before reading this part
Real estate, as we have discussed, includes a bundle of rights or “estates” but what is included in the term?
Basically it refers to anything permanently affixed or attached to the land such as trees, rocks, growing crops, topsoil. That’s not hard to imagine but the fun begins when mankind starts adding things, such as a house or a fence or a barn – isn’t it always the case that mankind can find ways to complicate things?
Anything attached to the land we call a “fixture” – anything not “attached” is personal property. Therefore, a toilet sitting on display at a plumbing store is personal property – we call it a “chattel” – but, when that toilet is connected into the plumbing system of a building, it becomes a “fixture” such that when I buy that building, the connected toilet comes with it.
A lot of “fixtures” are pretty easy to identify – light fixtures, heating fixtures, plumbing – but sometimes there are grey areas which can cause disputes. If you buy a house and you see a pretty child’s swing set in the back yard, you might be upset, after the deal closes, to find that it was just resting on the ground and has disappeared. It reminds me of the old adage: “When in doubt, spell it out” – when buying real estate, spell out clearly in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale what items are to be included in the price. It will cut down the “surprise” and “disappointment” factors when you move in.