Freehold and leasehold estates

Two families of estates

An estate is a legal interest in real property, including its duration. Freehold estates are ownership interests; leasehold estates provide possession for a tenancy while the landlord retains ownership. Occupancy alone does not identify the estate.

Freehold estates

Fee simple absolute is the broadest ownership estate, with no predetermined ending date and the ability to pass to successors. Public controls and private restrictions still apply. A defeasible fee can end upon violation of a stated condition. A life estate lasts for a measuring person's life. A life estate pur autre vie uses someone else's life as its measure. A life tenant must avoid waste harming future interests and cannot convey an interest that outlasts the measuring life.

A reversion returns possession to the grantor after the preceding estate ends. A remainder gives a third person a future right to possession. In a conveyance to Rosa for life, then to Devin, Rosa has a life estate and Devin a remainder. A sale of Rosa's interest does not extend it.

Leasehold estates

• Estate for years: a fixed beginning and ending; a three-month term qualifies.
• Periodic tenancy: successive rental periods continuing until properly terminated.
• Estate at will: possession by permission without a fixed term.
• Estate at sufferance: a formerly lawful tenant holds over after the right to possession ends, without the landlord's consent.

Applicable law and the lease govern termination procedures; classification alone does not authorize removal or set a notice deadline.

New York connections

Co-ownership is a separate classification. Under Estates, Powers and Trusts Law § 6-2.2, a disposition to two or more people generally creates tenancy in common unless joint tenancy is expressly declared. A disposition of real property to legally married spouses generally creates tenancy by the entirety unless joint tenancy or tenancy in common is expressly declared.

New York Real Property Law § 227 permits a tenant to quit and surrender premises made untenantable without the tenant's fault or neglect, absent a contrary express written agreement. Liability for rent after surrender ends. This differs from voluntarily leaving a fixed term early.