Also known as: estates for a term · estate for term · term estate · estate for years · term of years · leasehold estate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A possessory estate in land whose duration is fixed in advance by a definite period measured in years or fractions or multiples of years. The estate ends automatically upon expiration of the stated term without any further action by the grantor.
Brook Connect leased its building rooftop to Bright Satellite for twenty years at five thousand dollars monthly rent under a signed writing that identified the parties, premises, and fixed term. Bright Satellite took possession and paid rent. When Brook Connect later demanded removal of the equipment, the court recognized that Bright Satellite held an estate for a term because the duration had been fixed in advance in units of years.
Lindsay granted Delta Land an option to purchase two hundred acres that was tied to an ongoing crop-sharing arrangement on the same land. Delta Land exercised the option after fifteen years of seasonal cooperation. The court measured the option's duration by landlord-tenant rules because the option was appurtenant to the leasehold estate for a term rather than standing alone.
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Bright Satellite held a twenty-year written lease for rooftop space on Brook Connect's building. After regulatory changes, Brook Connect sought early termination. The court treated the interest as an estate for a term whose fixed calendar end date controlled the parties' rights even though the lease contained a renegotiation clause.
Tahoe landowners held estates for terms of years in parcels subject to a thirty-two-month building moratorium. When the moratorium ended, the owners claimed a taking. The Court analyzed the estates for terms as the baseline against which the temporary restriction was measured.
A federal board member served under a statute creating a five-year term of office. When the President sought removal before the term expired, the Court treated the fixed duration as limiting executive removal power in a manner analogous to the automatic expiration of an estate for a term.
Two partners formed a venture to develop property under an agreement that granted each a ten-year possessory interest measured from the date of contribution. When one partner sought early dissolution, the court enforced the fixed ten-year term as continuing until its calendar expiration in the manner of an estate for a term.
An estate for a term ends on a fixed calendar date measured in years. A life estate ends only upon the death of a measuring life and cannot be limited by any fixed or computable period.
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The base term remains fixed in units of years. The termination clause may allow the estate to end earlier but does not prevent the interest from qualifying as an estate for a term.
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No writing satisfies the statute of frauds. Substantial performance clearly referable to the ten-year term may nevertheless give the arrangement full effect as an estate for a term.
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Its duration is governed by landlord-tenant law rather than the reasonable-time rule that applies to standalone options.
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…the exclusive navigation of all the waters within the jurisdiction of that State, with boats moved by fire or steam, for a term of years, are repugnant to that clause of the constitution of the United States, which authorizes Congress to regulate commerce, so far as the said acts prohibit vessels licensed, according to the…