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California Property Ownership and Land Use Controls and Regulations — Printable Practice Pack
California state portion · the Business and Professions Code, DRE trust-fund rules and California's disclosure regime · 20 questions · Answer key on the last page · agentexamcoach.com
1.Which lien attaches to real property without the owner's consent?
(A)A mortgage
(B)A judgment lien
(C)A deed of trust
(D)A voluntary lien for an HOA special assessment agreed by vote
2.An owner subdivides a parcel into two lots and sells the rear lot, which has access only across the front lot. The deed says nothing about access. What does the rear lot buyer have?
(A)A licence to cross that the front lot owner may revoke at any time
(B)An implied easement by necessity across the front lot from the common ownership
(C)A right to demand that the city construct a public road to the lot
(D)No access rights at all, because the deed failed to grant any easement
3.Which environmental hazard is most associated with homes built before 1978 and triggers a federal disclosure?
(A)Asbestos siding
(B)Radon gas
(C)Lead-based paint
(D)Formaldehyde insulation
4.Which power allows government to take private property for public use on payment of just compensation?
(A)Police power
(B)Eminent domain
(C)Taxation
(D)Escheat
5.Which common interest development gives the owner NO fee interest in land?
(A)A community apartment project (owners hold undivided fee)
(B)A planned development
(C)A stock cooperative
(D)A condominium
6.Which interest allows removing something of value from another's land, such as gravel?
(A)A licence
(B)A covenant
(C)A profit
(D)An easement in gross
7.Which of these would justify granting a variance?
(A)Neighbourhood popularity
(B)The owner's desire for a larger home
(C)An unusually shaped lot causing hardship
(D)Higher potential profit
8.Two people buy investment property taking equal shares with survivorship, stated in the deed. Which unities must exist?
(A)Time, title, interest and possession
(B)Marriage, title and possession
(C)Title and time only
(D)Possession and interest only
9.What does CEQA require for a project with potentially significant environmental effects?
(A)Nothing for private projects
(B)A negative declaration only
(C)A federal environmental assessment
(D)An environmental impact report
10.What is required before a city may adopt or amend zoning that intensifies land use?
(A)A unanimous vote of all affected owners
(B)Consistency with the general plan and public hearings
(C)Approval by the county grand jury
(D)Certification by the state controller
11.Under the appropriative water rights doctrine, who has the superior claim?
(A)The most recent permit holder
(B)The first to put the water to beneficial use
(C)The owner nearest the source
(D)The largest landholder
12.A married person buys a home with inheritance money during marriage. How is it characterised absent agreement?
(A)Community property automatically
(B)Joint tenancy with the spouse
(C)Tenancy in common
(D)Separate property traceable to the inheritance
13.A buyer purchases a condominium and later learns the HOA has a $3,000,000 construction-defect lawsuit pending and reserves are underfunded. What should have informed the buyer?
(A)The transfer disclosure statement, which must describe the association's finances
(B)The preliminary title report, which lists every suit pending against the association
(C)The seller's required HOA disclosures — governing documents, financials and litigation
(D)The lender's appraisal, which must price the effect of any pending litigation
14.A landowner whose property borders a flowing stream holds which type of water right?
(A)Littoral rights by prescription
(B)Percolating rights
(C)Riparian rights
(D)Appropriative rights
15.Which lien generally takes priority over previously recorded private liens?
(A)A mechanic's lien
(B)A recorded judgment lien
(C)A property tax lien
(D)A first trust deed
16.Which best describes California's public trust doctrine as it affects waterfront land?
(A)The state holds tidelands in trust for public use
(B)Waterfront land cannot be sold
(C)Owners may fence the beach freely
(D)All shoreline is federal property
17.A condo owner wants to rent their unit on a short-term basis. The CC&Rs are silent but the city bans short-term rentals. Which controls?
(A)The CC&Rs — private agreements control over city ordinances
(B)Neither — the owner may do whatever they please with the unit
(C)The city ordinance — public law applies regardless of the CC&Rs
(D)The preference of the homeowners association board of directors
18.Who holds the future interest when a life estate names a third party to take at its end?
(A)The life tenant's own heirs at law
(B)The remainderman named in the grant
(C)The grantor by way of reversion
(D)The county by escheat proceedings
19.A life estate is measured by the life of someone other than the tenant. What is it called?
(A)A life estate pur autre vie
(B)An estate at sufferance
(C)A defeasible fee determinable
(D)A remainder subject to divestment
20.An HOA board adopts a rule banning all signs, including a small 'for sale' sign. A selling owner objects. What does California law provide?
(A)Owners may display a reasonably sized for-sale sign; blanket bans are unenforceable
(B)Signs are permitted only with the board's written approval for each listing
(C)The board's rule controls completely because owners agreed to the governing documents
(D)Signs are permitted only in the owner's window, never in the yard
Answer key & explanations
1. B — Judgment, tax, and mechanic's liens are involuntary; mortgages and trust deeds are voluntary.
2. B — Severance by a common owner that leaves a parcel landlocked creates an easement by necessity.
3. C — Federal law requires disclosure of known lead-based paint and delivery of the approved pamphlet for housing built before 1978.
4. B — Eminent domain is the taking power, exercised through condemnation, and it requires just compensation.
5. C — Co-op residents own shares and a lease; condo and PUD owners hold fee interests.
6. C — A profit is the right to enter another's land and take a resource, distinct from an easement which grants use rather than extraction.
7. C — A variance requires hardship arising from the property itself, not from the owner's preferences or economics.
8. A — Joint tenancy requires all four unities; without them the vesting defaults toward tenancy in common.
9. D — Significant effects trigger an EIR; a negative declaration suffices only when no significant effect is found.
10. B — Zoning must be consistent with the general plan and follow noticed public hearing procedures.
11. B — Appropriative rights follow first in time, first in right, based on beneficial use and a permit, rather than on land position.
12. D — Property acquired with separate funds by gift or inheritance keeps its separate character if traceable.
13. C — Davis-Stirling requires sellers to deliver governing documents, financial statements, and litigation disclosures.
14. C — Riparian rights attach to land bordering a flowing watercourse. Littoral rights concern land bordering a lake or sea.
15. C — Property tax liens hold priority over other liens regardless of when they arose, which is why unpaid taxes threaten lenders' security.
16. A — Tidelands and navigable waterways are held in trust for public purposes such as navigation, fishing and recreation.
17. C — Owners must comply with both public regulation and private restrictions; the stricter governs.
18. B — A named third-party taker holds a remainder; the grantor keeps a reversion only when no taker is named.
19. A — Pur autre vie means 'for another's life' — the measuring life is a third person's.
20. A — Statute protects an owner's right to display a for-sale sign of reasonable dimensions.
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