Also known as: term of years · terms for years · estate for years · lease for a term
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A possessory estate in land the duration of which is fixed in units of a year or multiples or divisions thereof.
Rosa conveys a vacant parcel to her son Luis for a term of twenty-five years to store inventory. Luis immediately takes possession and uses the land for that purpose. When the twenty-five years expire, possession shifts automatically to the next grantee named in the deed.
Theresa Tucker leases a retail space to Tyrone Tran for a fixed three-year term ending June 30. After the term expires, Tran remains in possession and pays monthly rent that Tucker accepts. The original fixed-term estate has ended and a new periodic tenancy has begun.
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Tyler Taylor purchases land subject to a thirty-two-month moratorium on development. The moratorium prevents all economic use for that fixed period but does not alter the underlying fee ownership. Once the moratorium lifts, Taylor regains full use of the property without any permanent change to the estate's duration.
Tonya Takahashi leases office space to Travis Tate for a five-year term under a written agreement containing a clause permitting termination upon regulatory changes. When new zoning rules take effect, Takahashi exercises the clause and regains possession before the five years expire. The fixed duration is cut short by the express condition in the lease.
A court sentences Thaddeus Tran to a determinate term of years in a state facility. The sentence specifies an exact number of years with a definite release date. Upon completion of that term, Tran's obligation to remain confined ends by operation of the sentence itself.
True North Logistics holds copyrights that originally lasted for a fixed term of years measured from publication. Congress extends the term by additional years for existing works. The extension lengthens the fixed duration without converting the interest into a life estate or fee simple.
A term of years ends on a fixed calendar date regardless of whether any person is alive. A life estate ends only upon the death of the measuring life or lives and cannot be measured by a fixed period of years.
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The grantor retains a future interest that becomes possessory when the term expires. That future interest is typically a reversion or a remainder depending on the language of the conveyance.
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No. A mortgage can encumber only the estate that the mortgagor owns. When the term of years expires, both the term and any mortgage attached to it end automatically.
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Yes when the term exceeds one year. The writing must identify the parties, the premises, the duration, and the rent and must be signed by the party to be charged.
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…as a whole.' Both dimensions of a real property interest—the metes and bounds describing its geographic dimensions and the term of years describing its temporal aspect—must be considered when viewing the interest in its entirety. A permanent deprivation of all use is a taking of the parcel as a whole, but a temporary…