Real Estate

Same as real property; land and rights attached to land.

Synonymous with real property.

Real estate is a property right in land or in something attached to land; to an immoveable.

It also includes incorporeal hereditaments such as easements or heriditary titles.

This common law definition can be significantly altered by statute.

The English Wills Act of 1837 defined "real estate" as including:

"... manors, advowsons, messuages, lands, tithes, rents, and hereditaments...."

In some jurisdictions, real estate can be defined to capture items that are not traditionally real property, such as personal property or chattels. For example, the Saskatchewan Real Estate Act (Statutes of Saskatchewan, 1990, Chapter R-1.3) defines real estate as:

"real or leasehold property; any business with premises, and with or without fixtures, stock-in-trade, goods or chattels in connection with the operation of the business; and a time-share plan."