Also known as: fixtures doctrine · fixture · fixtures · tenant fixtures · trade fixtures
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Goods that have become so related to particular real property that an interest in them arises under real property law. The classification determines whether a security interest is governed by Article 9 or by real property rules and whether ordinary building materials lose separate identity upon incorporation.
Davenport Pharmaceuticals purchased specialized ventilation units for its new warehouse. The units were movable when the security interest attached. River Press filed a financing statement describing them as equipment. Because the units remained goods under the statute even after installation, the security interest attached under Article 9.
Delta Dynamics bolted custom lighting grids into a leased soundstage to create a television studio. The grids were fabricated for periodic removal and reconfiguration. River Press claimed a security interest. Because the grids became so related to the real property that an interest arose under real property law, they qualified as fixtures.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Dominic Drake installed removable production equipment in a mortgaged warehouse. The senior mortgagee held a recorded construction mortgage. The junior secured party filed only an equipment financing statement. The equipment's fixture status triggered the default subordination rule favoring the prior recorded mortgage.
Doris Duffy leased space and installed custom acoustic panels that could be detached without damage. After default the landlord claimed the panels under the mortgage. The panels' status as fixtures meant the landlord's interest prevailed absent a proper fixture filing by the equipment financer.
Daphne Doyle financed new manufacturing equipment that became fixtures during building construction. The construction mortgage was recorded before installation. The mortgagee's priority extended to the fixtures under the construction-mortgage exception even though the equipment financer perfected first.
Goods become fixtures when they are so related to particular real property that an interest in them arises under real property law. Courts examine the degree of physical annexation, the adaptation of the item to the realty, and the intent of the parties. Custom fabrication for periodic removal weighs against fixture status.
Supporting sources
A security interest in fixtures is subordinate to a conflicting interest of an encumbrancer of the real property unless the secured party makes a fixture filing or satisfies an exception such as readily removable equipment. Ordinary building materials incorporated into an improvement lose separate identity and cannot support an Article 9 interest.
Supporting sources
A prior recorded mortgage prevails over a security interest in fixtures unless the secured party perfects by a fixture filing before the mortgage is recorded or an exception applies. A construction mortgage recorded before the goods become fixtures receives special priority even against later fixture filings.
Supporting sources
A tenant who installs fixtures may remove them within a reasonable time after the lease ends provided removal does not cause material damage to the realty. The privilege does not exist if the life estate or lease terminated because of the tenant's own wrongful conduct.
Supporting sources
…for any criminal misbehaviour." 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries 25- 26. This stern rejection of inebriation as a defense became a fixture of early American law as well. The American editors of the 1847 edition of Hale wrote: "Drunkenness, it was said in an early case, can never be received as a ground to excuse or palliate…