What is usufruct in property law?
A real right to use another's property and take its fruits respecting its economic purpose.
What can a usufructuary do with the property?
Use the property and obtain its benefits without altering its economic purpose.
Who retains ownership during usufruct and what happens after?
The bare owner retains ownership and recovers full ownership when usufruct ends.
What types of property can usufruct concern?
Movable or immovable things, income-producing rights, universalities of assets, estates, or portions of estates.
What is an example of reserving usufruct when selling property?
Selling a house while reserving usufruct to keep living in it and gain liquidity.
What is the maximum duration of usufruct for a natural person?
It cannot last beyond the usufructuary's life.
What is the maximum duration of usufruct for a legal person?
It cannot last more than thirty years.
When does a fixed-term usufruct granted to a natural person end if they die early?
It ends at that person's death if before the term expires.
For whom is a successive usufruct effective after the first usufructuary’s death?
It is effective only for the first usufructuary.
Does transferring usufruct change its duration?
No, the duration remains linked to the original usufructuary.
Can a usufructuary transfer the right for a fixed period or entire duration?
Yes, unless the constitutive title prohibits transfer.
What rights does the usufructuary have over the thing during usufruct?
The usufructuary possesses, may use or lease it, and is entitled to its fruits.
Can the usufructuary change the property's economic purpose?
No, the usufructuary may not change the property's economic purpose.
What kind of improvements may the usufructuary make?
Improvements that do not alter the substance of the property.
What must the usufructuary do to the property during usufruct?
Preserve and ordinarily maintain the property.
In what condition must the usufructuary return the property?
Substantially unaltered when usufruct ends.
How must the usufructuary treat things that deteriorate through proper use?
Use them according to purpose and return them in existing condition without liability for normal wear.
What must the usufructuary prepare before obtaining possession?
An inventory and suitable security such as surety, deposit, pledge, or mortgage.
What is quasi-usufruct concerning consumable things?
A variant allowing consumption or alienation with return of equivalent value.
When does usufruct end due to the usufructuary's status?
At the death of a natural-person usufructuary.
Name a cause of usufruct extinction related to time.
Expiry of its term or twenty years of non-use.
What happens to usufruct if the thing is totally destroyed?
Usufruct ends upon total destruction of the thing.
What does the right of use permit regarding fruits?
Taking fruits only to the extent required by the user and their family.
What does usufruct permit concerning the enjoyment of fruits?
Full enjoyment of the fruits.
What does the right of habitation allow a person to do?
Occupy a house within the needs of that person and their family.
Can rights of use and habitation be transferred or leased?
No, they cannot be transferred or leased.
Are rights of use and habitation subject to seizure or forced execution?
No, they cannot be seized or subjected to forced execution.
What is a predial servitude in property law?
A real right burdening one parcel for another's utility.
What do affirmative servitudes allow the dominant owner to do?
Use the servient land or perform an act on it.
What do negative servitudes allow the dominant owner to do?
Prohibit specified uses of the servient land.
Why can't a servitude eliminate the essential core of servient owner's rights?
Because it would amount to private expropriation.
Must a servitude benefit the dominant land objectively?
Yes, it must benefit the dominant land objectively.
Does a servitude need to concern neighboring or contiguous lands?
No, it need not concern neighboring or contiguous lands.
Can a servitude generally require the servient owner to perform active services?
No, it generally cannot require active services.
How can servitudes arise according to law and contracts?
Servitudes may arise compulsorily by law or voluntarily by contract or will.
What other ways can servitudes arise besides law and contracts?
Servitudes can arise through usucaption or destination of the owner.
When can a compulsory servitude be imposed on servient land?
When the dominant land has sufficient utility justifying the burden, even without absolute necessity.
Name some principal compulsory servitudes.
They include compulsory passage, aqueduct, electric-line passage, and funicular-line passage.
How does a compulsory servitude generally arise?
Through a judgment or administrative order establishing its route, exercise, and indemnity.
What must a compulsory-servitude decision seek regarding damage and advantage?
It must seek the least damage to servient land and greatest advantage for dominant land.
When can the servient owner oppose the exercise of a compulsory servitude?
Until receiving the indemnity for the servitude's exercise.
What must the exercise of a servitude satisfy regarding the dominant land?
It must satisfy the dominant land’s needs.
How should the exercise of a servitude affect the servient land?
It must impose the least possible burden on the servient land.
When can a servitude be moved to another location at one party's request?
When the move benefits that party without harming the other party.
What are the ways a servitude can be extinguished?
By renunciation, confusion of ownership, or twenty years of non-use.
When does prescription begin for affirmative discontinuous servitudes?
With the last act of exercise.
When does prescription begin for negative and affirmative continuous servitudes?
With a harmful act or an event preventing exercise.
What does a right of surface allow regarding constructions on another's land?
It allows making or maintaining constructions above or below another person's land while owning the construction.
When can the right of surface be created in relation to construction?
It can be created before construction by authorization or after by transferring the construction separately.
How does the right of surface differ from usufruct and servitude?
It may be perpetual and freely alienated, and is not attached to a dominant land.
What events can end the right of surface?
Renunciation, confusion, expiry of term, or twenty years without construction can end it.
Does destruction of the building alone end the right of surface?
No, unless otherwise agreed, destruction alone does not end it.
What is emphyteusis?
A real right over land granting long-term enjoyment nearly like ownership for rent and improvement.
How can the emphyteuta acquire full ownership?
By redemption paying fifteen times the annual rent.
What are causes for emphyteusis to end?
Expiry, land destruction, twenty years non-use, redemption, or devolution for deterioration, no improvement, or late rent.
What defines co-ownership in property law?
A thing belongs simultaneously to several persons, each holding a quota in the whole.
What rights does a co-owner with one third quota have?
They may use the entire property proportionally, receive one third of income, and get one third value upon partition.
How does ordinary co-ownership differ from compulsory co-ownership?
Ordinary co-ownership is dissolvable anytime, compulsory co-ownership cannot be unilaterally dissolved.
What is the condition for a co-owner's use of the common thing?
Use must not change the thing’s purpose or prevent others from equivalent use.
What transfers can a co-owner make independently?
They may transfer their quota but not the entire undivided thing or a concrete part.
How is majority voting calculated in common-property administration?
By the value of the quotas, not by the number of co-owners.
What majorities are required for ordinary acts, improvements, and sales in co-ownership?
More than half for ordinary acts, two thirds for improvements, unanimity for sales or real rights.
When can a dissenting co-owner challenge majority resolutions?
If they violate law or seriously prejudice the common thing, and a judge may intervene if majority fails to administer.
How is majority rule calculated in co-ownership decisions?
By the value of the shares, not by the number of co-owners.
What majority is required for acts of conservation in co-ownership?
A simple majority representing more than half the value of the common property.
Which Civil Code articles govern ordinary-management regulations and administrator appointments?
Articles 1105 and 1106 of the Civil Code.
What majority is needed for innovations improving common property?
A qualified majority of at least two thirds of the value of the common property.
What conditions must innovations meet to be approved in co-ownership?
They must not harm anyone’s enjoyment or involve excessive expenditure.
What decisions require unanimous consent under Article 1108(3) of the Civil Code?
Alienation, creation of real rights, and leases longer than nine years.
Who may challenge a majority decision in co-ownership?
A dissenting co-owner may challenge it.
When can a judge annul a majority decision under Article 1109?
When it violates the law or seriously prejudices the common property.
What is multiproperty in immovable property ownership?
A form of co-ownership granting each co-owner usage rights during a specified yearly period.
What does a contractual multiproperty regulation establish?
It establishes indivisibility, organizes alternating enjoyment, and assigns annual usage periods.
What does division do to co-ownership shares?
It replaces each co-owner’s share with exclusive ownership of equivalent property.
When can participants generally request division of co-ownership?
At any time, unless an agreement or testamentary provision imposes a temporary continuation.
When must division occur in kind?
When the property can be conveniently divided into portions matching the shares.
How is indivisible common property handled in division?
It is attributed to the largest co-owner or sold with proceeds distributed by shares.
What ownership does each person have in a condominium?
Exclusive ownership of apartments and proportional co-ownership of necessary common parts.
When is a condominium administrator mandatory?
When there are more than eight condominium owners.
Test your knowledge with 49 questions on Real Rights and Co-Ownership.
1. Concerning the meaning and functions of usufruct, which propositions are correct?
2. Regarding the respective functions of usufruct and bare ownership, select the correct propositions:
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