- Official section
- National I
- Broker weight
- 10%
- Expected scored items
- About 10 of 100 national items
National Section I study guide
Property Ownership for the Illinois broker exam
Property Ownership asks what the property is, how it is described, which rights are included or separated, what burdens affect it, and who holds the estate. Learn to classify the interest before choosing the legal consequence.
What does this exam area cover?
Short answer: Know real and personal property, the three named legal-description systems, structure and land measurements, liens and use rights, possible title encumbrances, separately transferable rights, and seven ownership categories.
This is a national-principles area. The PSI outline assigns 10% to it. Illinois statutes can determine how a specific Illinois conveyance or co-ownership form is created, so use state law when the question supplies Illinois facts.
Practice the topic in Pass Illinois
From concept to decision
Drill this topic, then review the explanation
Pass Illinois gives you original national and Illinois questions, topic-by-topic study, clear explanations, timed practice, flashcards, progress tracking, and Math Coach. Start free, find the weak distinction, and focus the next session there.
What is on the official outline?
- Topic
- Real and personal property; conveyances
- What to know
- Land, improvements, fixtures, personal property, attachment, severance, and transfer of the interest described
- Best exam move
- Classify the item first, then ask whether an agreement or conveyance changes the result.
- Topic
- Land characteristics and legal descriptions
- What to know
- Metes and bounds, lot and block, government survey, linear and square-foot structure measurement, and land measurement
- Best exam move
- Identify the description system from its vocabulary before calculating or tracing it.
- Topic
- Liens
- What to know
- Monetary claims and their effects on title and value
- Best exam move
- Identify what debt is secured, which property is affected, and whether priority or release is at issue.
- Topic
- Easements, rights of way, and licenses
- What to know
- Nonpossessory use interests, access rights, permission, and effects on title, value, and use
- Best exam move
- Ask whether the right is an interest in land or personal permission and who benefits.
- Topic
- Encroachments
- What to know
- Physical boundary intrusions and their effects on title, value, and use
- Best exam move
- Look for a fence, wall, drive, roof, or improvement crossing a boundary.
- Topic
- Other potential encumbrances
- What to know
- Probate, leases, and adverse possession as possible title concerns
- Best exam move
- Ask whether possession, an estate proceeding, or an occupancy right limits clean transfer.
- Topic
- Separately conveyable property rights
- What to know
- Mineral and other subsurface rights, air rights, and water rights
- Best exam move
- Separate ownership of the surface from ownership or use of the named right.
- Topic
- Types of ownership
- What to know
- Severalty, tenancy in common, joint tenancy, common-interest ownership, trusts, estates, business entities, and life estates
- Best exam move
- Identify the holder, number of owners, survivorship, duration, transfer, and management structure.
Which distinctions produce the most mistakes?
- Terms
- Real property vs. personal property
- Difference
- Real property is land and interests or improvements treated as part of it. Personal property is movable and separately owned.
- Question cue
- Attachment, adaptation, apparent intent, relationship, agreement, or severance.
- Terms
- Fixture vs. trade fixture
- Difference
- A fixture is treated as real property. A qualifying trade fixture installed by a commercial tenant is generally removable by that tenant if removed properly and on time.
- Question cue
- Who installed it, for what purpose, what the lease says, and whether removal causes damage.
- Terms
- Metes and bounds vs. lot and block vs. government survey
- Difference
- Metes and bounds traces courses and monuments. Lot and block cites a recorded plat. Government survey uses township, range, and section divisions.
- Question cue
- Directions and monuments, subdivision plat references, or section-township-range language.
- Terms
- Lien vs. easement vs. license vs. encroachment
- Difference
- A lien secures money, an easement grants use, a license gives permission, and an encroachment is a physical intrusion.
- Question cue
- Debt, access, revocable consent, or an improvement over a line.
- Terms
- Easement appurtenant vs. easement in gross
- Difference
- An appurtenant easement benefits another parcel. An easement in gross benefits a person or entity without requiring a benefited parcel.
- Question cue
- Dominant and servient parcels versus a utility or individual right.
- Terms
- Severalty vs. co-ownership
- Difference
- Severalty means one owner holds the estate. Co-ownership means two or more owners hold interests.
- Question cue
- Do not let the word several imply several people.
- Terms
- Tenancy in common vs. joint tenancy
- Difference
- Tenants in common have separately transferable interests without automatic survivorship. Joint tenants have survivorship when the estate is validly created.
- Question cue
- Death, inheritance, express survivorship language, or unilateral transfer.
- Terms
- Condominium vs. cooperative vs. timeshare
- Difference
- A condominium combines unit title and common elements. A cooperative usually combines entity ownership with an occupancy right. A timeshare divides recurring use or ownership by time.
- Question cue
- Deed to a unit, shares plus proprietary lease, or periodic use.
- Terms
- Life estate vs. leasehold
- Difference
- A life estate is a freehold measured by a life. A leasehold is a possessory interest for a lease term.
- Question cue
- Death of a measuring life versus expiration or termination of a lease.
How should you solve an ownership question?
- Identify the thing at issue: land, improvement, movable item, use right, money claim, boundary intrusion, or estate.
- Name the interest before deciding the remedy or transfer result.
- Identify every holder and the relationship among them.
- Ask whether the interest is possessory, nonpossessory, monetary, physical, present, or future.
- Check duration, survivorship, transferability, and what happens at death or conveyance.
- Look for an agreement, deed language, recorded instrument, boundary fact, or governing statute that changes the default.
- Choose the answer that addresses the exact interest and consequence, not merely a related property term.
- Measurement
- Area
- Relationship
- 1 acre = 43,560 square feet
- Use
- Convert land area
- Measurement
- Section
- Relationship
- Nominally 1 square mile = 640 acres
- Use
- Government survey
- Measurement
- Township
- Relationship
- Nominally 36 sections = 6 miles by 6 miles
- Use
- Government survey
- Measurement
- Square footage
- Relationship
- Length × width for a rectangle
- Use
- Structure or parcel area
- Measurement
- Front foot
- Relationship
- One linear foot along a designated frontage
- Use
- Some land pricing questions
How do the rules work in scenarios?
A built-in item in a sale
Scenario: A seller installed a wall-mounted bookcase cut to fit an alcove. The contract does not exclude it, and removal would expose unfinished wall and fastener damage.
- The item began as personal property.
- Custom adaptation and substantial attachment support fixture treatment.
- The apparent permanent use and absence of an exclusion strengthen that result.
Answer: Treat it as a fixture likely included with the real property, subject to the actual contract and governing law.
A utility crossing a parcel
Scenario: A recorded instrument allows an electric utility to maintain lines across the owner’s land. No separate parcel receives the benefit.
- The right permits use without possession.
- The utility, rather than another parcel, receives the benefit.
- A recorded interest is more than informal revocable permission.
Answer: This points to an easement in gross, not a license or lease.
A co-owner dies
Scenario: Two unrelated owners hold title as tenants in common. One dies with a valid will naming a child as beneficiary.
- Tenancy in common does not carry automatic survivorship.
- Each co-owner holds a transferable interest.
- The deceased owner’s interest passes through the estate process under the will and governing law.
Answer: The surviving co-owner does not automatically receive the deceased owner’s share.
A subdivision parcel description
Scenario: A deed describes Lot 18 in Maple Ridge Subdivision according to a plat recorded with the county.
- The description refers to a lot within a named subdivision.
- It relies on a recorded plat rather than traced courses or township-range divisions.
Answer: This is a lot-and-block, or recorded-plat, description.
What are the common exam traps?
- Trap
- Severalty means several owners.
- Correction
- Severalty means ownership by one person or legal entity.
- Trap
- Every attached item is automatically a fixture.
- Correction
- Attachment matters, but adaptation, apparent intent, relationship, and agreement also matter.
- Trap
- A street address is a complete legal description.
- Correction
- The outline tests metes and bounds, lot and block, and government survey methods.
- Trap
- An easement gives possession.
- Correction
- An easement is a nonpossessory right to use land for a stated purpose.
- Trap
- A license and easement are interchangeable.
- Correction
- A license is generally personal, revocable permission; an easement is an interest in land.
- Trap
- A lien is a physical defect.
- Correction
- A lien is a monetary claim or security interest. An encroachment is physical.
- Trap
- All co-ownership includes survivorship.
- Correction
- Tenancy in common does not. Valid joint tenancy does.
- Trap
- Surface ownership always includes every mineral, air, and water right.
- Correction
- Some rights can be separately conveyed or limited.
Can you answer these original practice questions?
These questions are original study items aligned to the published outline. They are not copied, recalled, or predicted PSI questions.
1. A tenant places a freestanding display case in a store. It can be removed without damage, and the lease is silent. Which fact most strongly supports personal-property treatment?
- The case is used inside a building
- The tenant paid for it
- It is removable without material damage and used for the tenant’s business
- The landlord owns the land
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
Business use by the tenant and easy removal support trade-fixture or personal-property treatment. Payment alone is not decisive, and location inside a building does not make an item real property.
2. A legal description begins at an iron pin, runs north 220 feet, then follows a creek to a marked oak. Which method is being used?
- Lot and block
- Metes and bounds
- Government rectangular survey
- Street-address survey
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Directions, distances, monuments, and a traced boundary identify a metes-and-bounds description.
3. An owner gives a neighbor oral permission to use a driveway this weekend and may withdraw permission. Which interest is the best fit?
- Lien
- License
- Life estate
- Encroachment
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Temporary, personal, revocable permission is characteristic of a license. The facts do not describe a money claim, estate, or physical intrusion.
4. A parcel contains 87,120 square feet. Ignoring survey adjustments, how many acres is that?
- 1 acre
- 2 acres
- 20 acres
- 200 acres
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Divide 87,120 by 43,560 square feet per acre. The result is 2 acres.
5. A deed validly creates joint tenancy between two owners. One owner dies without having severed the joint tenancy. What is the central ownership consequence?
- The deceased owner’s share automatically passes under a will
- The survivor takes the interest through survivorship
- The property becomes a cooperative
- The surviving owner receives only a leasehold
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Survivorship is the defining consequence tested for a valid joint tenancy. A tenancy in common would not produce that automatic result.
How should you study this area?
- Session
- 1. Classify property
- Focus
- Real, personal, fixtures, trade fixtures, attachment, and severance
- Proof you are ready
- Explain the result from facts, not from who paid.
- Session
- 2. Describe and measure
- Focus
- Three legal descriptions, square footage, acres, sections, and townships
- Proof you are ready
- Identify the method and complete conversions without notes.
- Session
- 3. Separate burdens
- Focus
- Liens, easements, rights of way, licenses, encroachments, probate, leases, and adverse possession
- Proof you are ready
- Name the interest and its effect on title, value, or use.
- Session
- 4. Map rights
- Focus
- Surface, air, water, mineral, and subsurface rights
- Proof you are ready
- Explain how a right can be conveyed separately from the surface.
- Session
- 5. Compare ownership
- Focus
- Severalty, co-ownership, common-interest forms, trusts, estates, entities, and life estates
- Proof you are ready
- Predict transfer and death consequences in a new scenario.
- Session
- 6. Mixed retrieval
- Focus
- Timed original questions across all outline bullets
- Proof you are ready
- Score consistently and explain every eliminated choice.
Do not count recognition as mastery. Close the notes and explain the rule, apply it to a new fact pattern, and identify why each distractor fails.
Property Ownership: Illinois Broker Exam FAQ
How much of the Illinois broker exam is Property Ownership?
Property Ownership is 10% of the national broker portion, which corresponds to about 10 of the 100 scored national items. Experimental items can increase the number displayed without changing the scored outline weight.
What is the difference between real and personal property?
Real property includes land and the rights and improvements treated as part of it. Personal property is movable property that is not real estate. An item can change category through attachment or severance, depending on the facts and governing agreement.
How do you decide whether an item is a fixture?
Examine how and how firmly it is attached, how it is adapted to the property, the relationship and apparent intent of the parties, and any agreement. No single memory word replaces the full fact pattern.
Which legal descriptions are tested?
The outline names metes and bounds, lot and block based on a recorded plat, and the government rectangular survey system. A street address is useful for location but is not one of those complete legal-description methods.
How many square feet are in an acre?
One acre contains 43,560 square feet. One square mile contains 640 acres. A standard section in the rectangular survey system is nominally one square mile, subject to survey realities.
What is the difference between an easement and a license?
An easement is a nonpossessory interest that permits a use of another's land. A license is permission to do something on land and is generally personal and revocable. The creation, writing, duration, and parties matter.
What is the difference between a lien and an encroachment?
A lien is a monetary claim or security interest against property. An encroachment is a physical improvement or object that crosses a boundary or intrudes into another area. Both can affect title, value, or use in different ways.
What is the difference between joint tenancy and tenancy in common?
Joint tenancy includes survivorship when properly created. Tenancy in common has no automatic survivorship, and each owner's interest can pass through the owner's estate. Illinois law generally requires express language to create joint tenancy.
Is a condominium the same as a cooperative?
No. A condominium owner holds title to a unit plus an interest in common elements. A cooperative resident generally owns shares or a membership interest in the entity that owns the property and receives a right to occupy a unit.
Are these actual PSI exam questions?
No. The practice items on this page are original and mapped to the public content outline. They teach transferable rules and do not reproduce confidential live examination material.
Primary sources
- PSI Illinois Candidate Information Booklet dated June 24, 2026
- Illinois Conveyances Act
- Illinois Joint Tenancy Act
- U.S. Bureau of Land Management cadastral survey resources
The current official outline controls the tested scope. Statutes, regulations, and official agency materials control when a general study rule and a jurisdiction-specific rule differ.