Also known as: interests in land · proprietary interest in land
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A right, privilege, power, or immunity in real property under the law of property. Such an interest includes estates, easements, mortgages, and other legal stakes that attach to land or its use.
Isabella Ingram leased a warehouse to Island Manufacturing for a fixed term that ended on June 30. Island Manufacturing remained in possession after that date without paying rent or claiming ownership. The continued possession created an estate at sufferance because the company had originally held a possessory interest through a valid lease but now stayed without any superior title claim.
Infinity Bank lent funds to Iris Irons secured by a mortgage on property located in State B. When a dispute arose over the mortgage's effect, the court applied the law of State B as the situs to decide whether the mortgage created an interest in land and what nature that interest took.
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Idina Iverson orally promised to transfer a parcel to Insight Consulting in exchange for services. Because the promise involved transferring an interest in land, the agreement fell within the Statute of Frauds and required a signed writing to be enforceable.
Inertia Dynamics dumped waste that impaired Isabelle Inman's riparian rights along a stream on her property. She recovered the value of her impaired interest in land under the rule allowing recovery for destruction or impairment of a legally protected interest in land.
India Inoue granted a neighbor an access path across her acreage. The grant created a servitude that automatically passed to successive owners of both parcels because the right ran with the land and the interest in land benefited by the path.
Ivy Ibarra orally agreed to buy a commercial lot from Infinity Bank. The promise to buy an interest in land placed the agreement within the Statute of Frauds regardless of the identity of the seller, so the contract remained unenforceable without a signed writing.
Any right, privilege, power, or immunity that qualifies as an interest in land under property law falls within the Statute of Frauds. This includes promises to transfer or buy land, leases longer than one year, easements, and mortgages.
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Whether a mortgage creates an interest in land and the nature of that interest are determined by the law applied by courts of the property's situs. Most jurisdictions treat a mortgage as creating a lien or security interest in the land.
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A tenant's possessory interest in land suffices for a private nuisance claim when the interference is unreasonable and substantial. Landlords who have leased out the premises may also hold a sufficient interest.
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An estate at sufferance arises only when a person who once held a valid possessory interest through conveyance wrongfully remains after termination without asserting superior title. It is distinct from estates at will or from period to period that have designated durations or mutual termination rights.
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A servitude runs with land when the right or obligation passes automatically to successive owners or occupiers of the benefited or burdened estate. The benefited interest is called the dominant estate.
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…Realty Corp., supra , 245 A.2d at 838.[^maj-5] II Since, in traditional analysis, a lease was the conveyance of an interest in land, courts have usually utilized the special rules governing real property transactions to resolve controversies involving leases. However, as the Supreme Court has noted in another context,…