Title 42 — Real Property.
57 chapters · 1,018 sections in this title.
D.C. Code § 42-501 Recognized estates
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Estates in land in the District shall be estates of inheritance, estates for life, estates for years, estates at will, and estates by sufferance.
D.C. Code § 42-502 Fee simple estates — Estates tail abolished
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All estates of inheritance, including such as were formerly estates tail, shall be adjudged estates in fee simple.
D.C. Code § 42-503 Fee simple estates — Absolute or qualified
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An estate in fee simple may be either absolute or qualified, as to one and his heirs during an existing condition of things of uncertain duration.
D.C. Code § 42-504 Freeholds; chattels real; chattel interests; conditions precedent or subsequent
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Estates of inheritance and estates for life shall continue to be denominated freeholds, and estates for years shall be chattels real; estates at will or by sufferance shall be chattel interests, but shall not be liable, as such, to sale under execution; and all estates may be sub…
D.C. Code § 42-505 Estates pur autre vie; when deemed freehold and when chattel real
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An estate for the life of a third person, whether limited to heirs or otherwise, shall be deemed a freehold only during the life of the grantee or devisee, but after his death it shall be deemed a chattel real and be a part of his personal estate.
D.C. Code § 42-506 Estates classified; possession; expectancy
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Estates are either in possession or in expectancy.
D.C. Code § 42-507 Estate in possession
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An estate in possession exists when the owner has an immediate right to the possession of the land.
D.C. Code § 42-508 Estate in expectancy
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An estate in expectancy is either a reversion or a future estate.
D.C. Code § 42-509 Reversions
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A reversion is the residue of an estate left in the grantor who has conveyed, or in the heirs of the devisor who has devised a particular estate less than his own, and which residue returns to his or their possession on the expiration of the particular estate.
D.C. Code § 42-510 Future estates — Commencement
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A future estate is one limited to commence at a future day, either without the intervention of a precedent estate or after the expiration or determination of a precedent estate created at the same time and by the same conveyance or devise.
D.C. Code § 42-511 Future estates — Remainder and conditional limitation
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If it is to commence upon the full expiration of such precedent estate, it is a remainder and may be transferred by that name. If it is to commence on a contingency which, if it happen, will abridge or determine such precedent estate before its expiration, it shall be known as a …
D.C. Code § 42-512 Future estates — Vested and contingent
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A future estate is vested when there is a person in being who would have an immediate right to the possession of the land upon the expiration of the intermediate or precedent estate, or upon the arrival of a certain period or event when it is to commence in possession. It is cont…
D.C. Code § 42-513 Future estates — Alternative
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Two or more future estates may be created to take effect in the alternative, so that if the first in order shall fail to vest the next in succession may be substituted for it and take effect accordingly.
D.C. Code § 42-514 Expectant estates — No defeat or bar unless provided for at creation
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No expectant estate can be defeated or barred by any alienation or other act of the owner of the intermediate or precedent estate, nor by any destruction of such precedent estate, by disseizin, forfeiture, surrender, merger, or otherwise, except when such destruction is expressly…
D.C. Code § 42-515 Expectant estates — Descendible, devisable, and alienable
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Expectant estates shall be descendible, devisable, and alienable in the same manner as estates in possession.
D.C. Code § 42-516 Tenancies in common, tenancies by the entireties, and joint tenancies
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(a) Every estate granted or devised to 2 or more persons in their own right, including estates granted or devised to spouses or domestic partners, as defined in § 32-701(3), shall be a tenancy in common, unless expressly declared to be a joint tenancy; but every estate vested in …
D.C. Code § 42-517 Coparcenary estates abolished
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There shall be no estate in coparcenary in the District, and where 2 or more persons inherit from an intestate they shall be tenants in common.
D.C. Code § 42-518 Estates for years
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An estate for a determined period of time is an estate for years.
D.C. Code § 42-519 Estates from year to year
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An estate expressed to be from year to year shall be good for 1 year only.
D.C. Code § 42-520 Estates by sufferance
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All estates which by construction of the courts were estates from year to year at common law, as where a tenant goes into possession and pays rent without an agreement for a term, or where a tenant for years, after the expiration of his term, continues in possession and pays rent…
D.C. Code § 42-521 Estates from month to month or from quarter to quarter
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An estate may be from month to month or from quarter to quarter, or, as otherwise expressed, it may be by the month or by the quarter, if so expressed in writing.
D.C. Code § 42-522 Estates at will; termination; creation
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An estate at will is one held by the joint will of lessor and lessee, and which may be terminated at any time, as herein elsewhere provided, by either party; and such estate shall not exist or be created except by express contract; provided, however, that in case of a sale of rea…
D.C. Code § 42-523 Provisions applicable to personal property
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All the provisions of this chapter and of §§ 42-302 to 42-304 [repealed], 42-703, and 42-704 shall apply to personal property generally except where from the nature of the property they are inapplicable.