Estate in land

An estate in land is an interest in real property that is or may become possessory.

In the legal systems of almost every country, the ultimate true "owner" of all land is the sovereign, which for a republic is the whole people of a society with domain over land, which may be called a "state". Private parties own not the underlying land, but claims on parcels of land, which taken together comprise the estate for that parcel. This superior ownership is the basis for taking the land through eminent domain.

This should be distinguished from an "estate" as used in reference to an area of land, and "estate" as used to refer to property in general.

In property law, the rights and interests associated with an estate in land may be conceptually understood as a "bundle of rights" because of the potential for different parties having different interests in the same real property.

Categories of estates

Estates in land can be divided into four basic categories:

1. Freehold estates: rights of conveyable exclusive possession and use
   • fee simple (fee simple absolute)—most rights, least limitations, indefeasible
   • defeasible estate—voidable possession and use
   • finite estate—limited to lifetimes
     • life estate—fragmented possession and use for duration of someone's life
     • fee tail—inalienable rights of inheritance for duration of family line
2. Leasehold estates: rights of possession and use but not ownership. The lessor (owner/landlord) gives this right to the lessee (tenant). There are four categories of leasehold estates:
   1. estate for years (tenancy for years)—lease of any length with specific begin and end date
   2. periodic estate (periodic tenancy)—automatically renewing lease (month to month, week to week)
   3. estate at will (tenancy at will)—leasehold for no fixed time or period. It lasts as long as both parties desire. Termination is bilateral (either party may terminate at any time) or by operation of law.
   4. tenancy at sufferance—created when tenant remains after lease expires and becomes a holdover tenant, converts to holdover tenancy upon landlord acceptance.
   • Types of leases:
     • gross lease
     • net lease
     • percentage lease
3. Statutory estates: created by law
   • community property
   • homestead
   • dower—interest a wife has in the property of her husband
   • curtesy—interest a husband has in the property of his wife
   • tenancy by entirety
4. Equitable estates: neither ownership nor possession
   • lien
     • general
     • specific
   • easement
     • easement in gross
     • easement appurtenant
       • ingress
       • egress