The Bundle Of Sticks: The Right To Real Property

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The idea of the bundle of sticks as it relates to real property is the idea that individuals can have many separate rights to real property. The bundle of sticks idea specifies several rights that individuals have when they own real property. One of the main rights that exists with property ownership is the right to exclude. The right to exclude refers to an individual property owner’s right to stop others from being on the property. For the most part, the right to exclude is absolute. However, there are certain circumstances where the government has the right to enter property without the property owner’s consent. One such circumstance is when there is a warrant. A warrant allows the government to enter property to search the property, and …show more content…

An easement allows another person to be present on the property without having a right to exclusion. The individual may be present on the property but does not have the right to exclude others from being on the property (Mossman & Girard, 2014). One common example is an access easement. If there are two properties that share a common driveway, but the driveway is owned by one of the property owners, that property owner can grant the other an easement to allow that person access to their property. Similarly, there are easements on properties for utilities access. Because individuals typically want to have electricity and running water on their property, they allow public utilities easements so that they can be present on the property to maintain the different utility lines. Sometimes, property owners can sell easements (for example, to a city) if they have property that would benefit the public, but they do not want to sell the property …show more content…

The right to alienate refers to an individual’s ability to choose when and to who they wish to sell their property. There are some constitutional restrictions on the right to alienation. For example, the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and Amendments of 1988 prohibits individuals to discriminate against specific property buyers based on race, national origin, gender, and other protected categories (Stewart, n.d.). Similarly, the Constitution also provides for eminent domain. Eminent domain allows a government to force a property owner to sell property to benefit society. There have been many controversial cases regarding eminent domain, where the purchase of property does not occur for a public benefit but rather homeowners are required to sell property to a private entity that will create an ostensibly publicly beneficial

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