Real and personal property

A television is not answered by one screw

A seller owns a television hung on a removable bracket. The contract is silent, and a buyer says that one screw automatically makes both items fixtures.

1. Identify the television and bracket separately. Examine their attachment, adaptation and intended permanence.
2. Read the agreement and resolve the item-specific inclusion instead of relying on the number of screws.

Answer: One screw does not conclusively classify every part of the installation.

The tenant did not buy the building systems

A restaurant tenant uses a ventilation system that was already part of the premises before the lease. The tenant calls it a removable trade fixture solely because it serves the restaurant.

1. Business use is relevant to purpose, but does not establish tenant ownership.
2. Nokomis distinguishes pre-existing improvements from tenant installations; the lease and other rights still need review.

Answer: Do not assume the tenant can take the landlord’s pre-existing system.

An agreement can clarify a tenant’s installation

A tenant installs its own business display. The lease permits timely removal without material injury and requires repair of removal damage.

1. The relationship, installation and agreement are relevant; do not classify it from its business label alone.
2. A promise to repair minor damage is not permission to cause major structural injury.

Answer: Evaluate removal under the actual lease and applicable fixture rules.

The logs and the standing timber

One seller offers already-cut logs. Another makes an identified contract for standing timber that the buyer will cut, apart from the land.

1. The logs are movable property after physical severance.
2. Section 2-107(2) can treat the standing-timber contract as a sale of goods before cutting, even when the buyer severs.

Answer: Physical severance is not always the first moment Article 2 can apply.

The separate crop sale

A farmer contracts to sell identified growing crops apart from the land. The buyer will harvest them. A learner says rooted crops cannot be goods.

1. Section 2-107(2) covers growing crops whether the seller or buyer severs them.
2. A sale of crops does not, by itself, establish a tenant’s separate right to enter someone else’s land after a lease ends.

Answer: The crop-sale classification and post-lease harvest rights are different issues.

A perennial is not an unlimited harvest right

A former tenant claims every future mature crop because it planted a perennial years earlier.

1. Leigh v. Lynch rejected an automatic right based on planting intent.
2. Qualifying annual production depends on the relevant year’s care; the doctrine provides limited harvest access, not continued possession.

Answer: Planting a perennial does not preserve an unlimited harvest right.

Four events for conversion

A manufactured home is outside a mobile home park. It has a permanent foundation and a recorded affidavit, but the remaining statutory steps are not established.

1. Section 5-30 requires the foundation, a conforming recorded affidavit, delivery of a certified copy for Secretary of State filing and satisfaction of the applicable Vehicle Code provision.
2. Tax treatment and permanent appearance do not replace the missing requirements.

Answer: Do not call the conversion complete on these facts.

The land belongs to the LLC

An LLC owns a warehouse. A member proposes to transfer its distributional interest and describes the transfer as a deed of part of the warehouse.

1. Section 30-1 treats the distributional interest as personal property.
2. The member is not a co-owner of the LLC’s specific property; other membership rights and transfer requirements remain separate.

Answer: The economic interest is not a direct parcel interest.

An included item has another owner

A listing includes a freestanding appliance, but the seller’s records show it is rented from a third party.

1. Its movable classification does not establish seller ownership.
2. An inclusion clause does not transfer rights the seller lacks or automatically terminate the rental agreement.

Answer: Resolve ownership and consent before promising delivery.

Leased land can qualify

A manufactured home outside a mobile home park is on leased land. The lease is recordable, has the lessor’s required consent and provides at least 20 years of possession after execution of the affidavit.

1. The conversion Act permits a qualifying leased-land route; identical ownership of land and home is not mandatory in every case.
2. Check the required lease and affidavit contents, the period remaining after affidavit execution and every other conversion condition. A lease originally signed for 20 years need not have 20 years remaining.

Answer: Do not reject conversion merely because the land is leased.

1. Which description best captures the ordinary real-property concept?

1. Every possession kept inside a house
2. Only movable goods
3. Only the physical building
4. Land, permanent improvements and associated rights

2. Which is the clearest example of tangible personal property on these facts?

1. The permanent foundation
2. The seller-owned freestanding sofa, with no sale inclusion
3. The seller’s fee estate
4. An easement benefiting a parcel

3. An Illinois LLC owns land. What does Section 30-1 say about a member’s distributional interest?

1. It is personal property; the member does not co-own specific LLC assets
2. It becomes land whenever a paper certificate is issued
3. It gives unrestricted management rights to every transferee
4. It is automatically a deed to every LLC parcel

4. A wall-mounted item can be removed by loosening bolts. What follows?

1. It is necessarily the buyer’s personal property
2. It necessarily belongs to the tenant
3. It is necessarily a trade fixture
4. Removability alone does not settle its fixture status

5. A tenant uses building equipment installed before its lease. Which fact is missing from its claim that it can remove the equipment?

1. Whether the tenant would prefer newer equipment
2. Whether the equipment appears in a photograph
3. Whether the tenant owns the equipment or has a valid removal right
4. Whether its business has customers

6. Which group best identifies the core Illinois fixture factors?

1. Age, manufacturer and room number
2. Attachment, adaptation and intent
3. Original price, color and insurance premium
4. Number of occupants, rent and loan term

7. What is ordinary physical severance?

1. Separating an item from the land or improvement
2. Adding a tenant as a party to a lease
3. Granting every lender first priority
4. Recording any tax bill

8. Identified standing timber is sold separately for cutting by its buyer. Which rule is relevant?

1. Section 2-107(2) can apply before severance by buyer or seller
2. Article 2 can never apply before cutting
3. Only a mineral seller may sell timber
4. Every timber sale conveys the fee estate

9. Minerals are to be severed by their buyer. Why is the timber rule not enough to establish an Article 2 goods contract?

1. Section 2-107(1)’s stated rule requires seller severance
2. All minerals are already movable furniture
3. The buyer must own an LLC
4. Subsection (2) treats all minerals as annual crops

10. A contract sells identified growing crops apart from land, with harvest by the buyer. Which is most accurate?

1. The contract necessarily conveys fee title
2. No sale can occur until all crops are cut
3. The contract decides every former tenant’s access right
4. Section 2-107(2) can apply before harvest

11. What does a qualifying emblements right provide, as discussed in Leigh?

1. A fee estate in the farmland
2. Ownership of every perennial planted in the past
3. A perpetual tenancy
4. Limited harvest access within a reasonable time, rather than continued possession

12. Which statement best distinguishes a tenant’s leasehold from the landlord’s fee?

1. Assignment concerns the tenant’s interest, subject to its terms and applicable requirements
2. Assignment necessarily transfers the landlord’s title
3. A leasehold is excluded from the Illinois licensing definition
4. The tenant owns every estate in the building

13. A manufactured home has a permanent foundation. Has that fact alone completed conversion under Section 5-30?

1. Yes, whenever it looks permanent
2. No; all four listed statutory events are required
3. Yes, if the owner receives mail there
4. Yes, regardless of the affidavit

14. Which is part of Section 5-30’s conversion checklist?

1. Delivery of a certified affidavit copy for Secretary of State filing
2. Any utility bill in the occupant’s name
3. A listing photograph
4. A buyer’s informal preference

15. Which manufactured-home statement is accurate?

1. Every home on leased land converts automatically
2. Leased land always bars conversion
3. The land and home must always have identical owners
4. Qualifying leased land outside a mobile home park can satisfy the Act’s route, subject to all conditions

16. A manufactured home is taxed as real property. What does that prove about conveyance conversion?

1. Every lien has been released
2. The tax treatment alone does not establish completed conversion
3. The lease must be invalid
4. Every Section 5-30 event occurred

17. A purchase agreement includes equipment subject to another party’s recorded security rights. Which is sound?

1. Fixtures can never be Article 9 goods
2. Classification and inclusion do not themselves resolve third-party rights
3. The seller necessarily owns all included goods
4. The inclusion automatically releases the security interest

18. Which statement about a bill of sale is most reliable?

1. It can identify movable items, but does not alone cure ownership, consent or lien issues
2. Its title alone cures missing seller ownership
3. It automatically assigns the landlord’s fee
4. It converts every listed item into land

19. A qualifying manufactured-home land lease originally ran for 20 years, but only 12 remain when the affidavit is executed. What is wrong with relying on the original term?

1. The affidavit is unnecessary for a long lease
2. The tax bill automatically supplies the missing eight years
3. The statutory period is measured after affidavit execution, not merely from the lease’s original start
4. Every leased-land conversion is prohibited

20. Which revision would best prevent an ownership mistake in a transaction?

1. Assume an inclusion clause clears all equipment financing
2. Use only a photograph of the room
3. Call every visible item a fixture
4. Identify each included or excluded item and check the seller’s rights and required releases