According to Wikipedia Real Estate is property, consisting of land and the buildings on it. Real Estate is often considered an American term, in English common law it is known as Real Property.
So why the weird names I hear you ask? Property can be anything that is in your possession, the word has multiple meanings. My personal property includes my phone, laptop, and keys. Real Property, also known as Real Estate, or Immovable Property, is what most of us probably think about when I mention property law – houses, land and buildings.
The word Estate also has multiple meanings in law. If you have ever dealt with financial affairs of a loved one after they have died you will probably have talked about their personal Estate. Estate Accounts are financial accounts summarising the deceased’s property, cash and other finances. I’m not going into personal estates after death here, this is just to put that words into context. Next, you have country estates, stately homes and the like, which are often also referred to as Estates. (I’m not even going to mention Estate Agents here and how the name came about!)
If you have studied law you will know this already of course. Many of you may be new to law, or a legal job, and some of these terms can be confusing.
So if you own a house, flat or apartment that is your Real Property. Real Property is land, and buildings and other things that are on it, including crops, mines, machinery, wells, roads, ponds, and canals. Real Property and Real Estate are two different terms for the same thing.
If you are looking at jobs in the UK you will find that as the law of property is so wide, most firms split it into different departments and these may have different names. If you are looking for a job, you may find mention of a property or housing department, real estate team, plot sales (this team act for developers selling brand new houses and flats), conveyancing department (more on conveyancing another time) and many more. Looking for these key words when you are job hunting will help you find the area you want to be in.
Within firms there are also other jobs that have a title which doesn’t indicate which department or area of law the role is in – for example if the role just says Paralegal. Please see my previous blog post for more information on junior job roles if you are looking to join a firm with little or no experience and are not already qualified.
Within Real Estate you will also find that most firms split into 2 main sections, commercial real estate and residential. Residential property departments deal with dwellings and residential land. A dwelling has multiple meanings in law but for our purposes here it is somewhere that people live. If you are dealing with a flat, house, apartment with or without gardens and grounds that usually would be considered residential and dealt with by that department. The buying and selling of residential property is known as Conveyancing. Commercial property departments usually encompass anything that isn’t residential. This may include factories, shops, schools, shopping centres, sports facilities and much more.
The line between commercial and residential property can be a blurry one, and not all firms have different departments. Some firms have very specific smaller departments that deal with a very precise area of law and others don’t – there is no right and wrong here as long as the Solicitor doing the legal work knows what they are doing their job title and department name are not an issue.
Social housing, agricultural land, investors of buy to let property, companies investing in residential real estate for rental, those buying Freehold of Leasehold blocks, and Landlords of HMO properties are all examples of work where you really need a specialist and not just any Solicitor who has helped a few friends buy a house. More on some of these terms, what they mean, and why they are important in a future blog.
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UK Property Law Blog 