RELEASE - The discharge or relinquishment of a right, claim or privilege. Releases involving real property transactions should be acknowledged and recorded.
RELEASE CLAUSE - A provision found in many blanket mortgages enabling the mortgagor to obtain partial releases of specific parcels from the mortgage upon the payment of, typically, a larger-than-pro-rata portion of the loan.
REMAINDER ESTATE - A future interest in real estate created at the same time and by the same instrument as another estate, and limited to arise immediately upon the termination of the prior estate.
RENEWAL OPTION - A covenant in some leases which gives the lessee the right to extend the lease term for a certain period, on specified terms.
RENT - Fixed periodic payment made by a tenant or occupant of property to the owner for the possession and use thereof, usually by prior agreement of the parties.
RENT CONTROL - Regulation by state or local governmental agencies restricting the amount of rent landlords can charge their tenants; such regulation is a valid exercise of the state's police power.
RENTAL AGREEMENT - An agreement, written or oral, which establishes or modifies the terms, conditions, rules, regulations, or any other provisions concerning the use and occupancy of a dwelling unit and premises; a lease on residential property.
RENTAL POOL - A rental arrangement whereby participating owners of rental apartments agree to have their apartment units available for rental as determined by the rental agent, and then share in the profits and losses of all the rental apartments in the pool according to an agreed formula.
REPRODUCTION COST - The cost, on the basis of current prices, of reproducing a new replica property with the same or fairly similar material.
RESCISSION - The legal remedy of canceling, terminating or annulling a contract and restoring the parties to their original positions; a return to the status quo.
RESERVE FUND - Monies set aside as a cushion of capital for future payment of items such as taxes, insurance, furniture replacement, deferred maintenance, etc.; sometimes referred to as an impound account.
RESIDUAL PROCESS - An appraisal process used in the income approach to estimate the value of the land and/or the building, as indicated by the capitalization of the residual net income attributable to it.
RESTRICTIONS - Limitations on the use of property. Private restrictions are created by means of restrictive covenants written into real property instruments, such as deeds and leases.
RESTRICTIVE COVENANT - A private agreement, usually contained in a deed, which restricts the use of real property.
RETALIATORY EVICTION - An act whereby a landlord evicts the tenant in response to some complaint made by the tenant.
REVERSION - A future estate in real property created by operation of law when a grantor conveys a lesser estate than he has. The residue left in the grantor is called a reversion which commences in possession in the future upon the end of a particular estate granted or devised, whether it be freehold or less-than-freehold.
RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP - The distinctive characteristic of a joint tenancy (also tenancy by entirety) by which the surviving joint tenant(s) succeeds to all right, title and interest of the deceased joint tenant without the need for probate proceedings.
RIGHT-OF-WAY - The right or privilege, acquired through accepted usage or by contract, to pass over a designated portion of the property of another. RIPARIAN - Those rights and obligations which are incidental to ownership of land adjacent to or abutting on watercourses such as streams and lakes. RISK OF LOSS - Responsibility for damages caused to improvements. The risk of loss passes to the vendee when either title or possession passes, and he should protect himself by securing
proper insurance.
RUNNING WITH THE LAND - Rights or covenants which bind or benefit successive owners of a property are said to run with the land, such as restrictive building covenants in a recorded deed which would affect all future owners of the property.