Real Estate Dictionary

T

tacking: adding or combining successive periods of continuous occupation of real property by adverse possessors.

tax basis: the amount on which future gain is measured.

tax credit: the amount on which tax owed is reduced directly.

tax lien: the rate at which real property is taxed in a tax district of country.

tax sale: a court-ordered sale of real property to raise money to cover delinquent taxes.

tax shelter: a legal means by which an investor may reduce or defer payment of part of his or her federal income tax.

tenancy at sufferance: the tenancy of a lessee who lawfully comes into possession of a landlord's real estate but who continues to occupy the premises improperly after his or her lease rights have expired.

tenancy at will: an estate that gives the lessee the right to possession until the estate is terminated by either party.

tenant: one who holds or possesses lands or tenements by any kind of right or title.

testate: having made and left valid will.

timesharing: a form of ownership where permission is given to use certain property for certain intervals of time.

title: the right to or ownership of land.

title commitment: a statement of the terms and conditions on which a title insurance underwriter is willing to issue a title insurance policy.

title search: an examination of the public records to determine what, if any defects there are in the chain of title.

title theory: some states interpretation of a mortgage to mean that the lender is the owner of mortgaged land.

township line: lines running at six-mile intervals parallel to the base lines in the rectangular survey.

township tier: a strip of land running east and west in the government survey system.

trade fixture: article installed by a tenant under the terms of a lease are removable by the tenant before lease expires.

trigger terms: specific credit terms such as down payment, monthly payment, the amount of finance charges, trigger full disclosure of all financing terms under Regulation Z.

trust: a fiduciary arrangement whereby property is conveyed by a trustor to a person or institution called a trustee.

trust deed: a deed of trust.

trustee's deed: a deed executed by a trustee conveying land held in a trust.