Everything about Personal Property totally explained
Personal property is a type of
property. In the
common law systems personal property may also be called
chattels or
personalty. It is distinguished from
real property, or
real estate. In the
civil law systems personal property is often called
movable property or
movables - any property that can be moved from one location to another. This term is in distinction with
immovable property or immovables, such as land and buildings.
Personal property may be classified in a variety of ways.
Tangible personal property refers to any type of property that can generally be moved (for example, it isn't attached to real property or land), touched or felt. These generally include items such as furniture, clothing, jewelry, art, writings, or household goods. In some cases, there can be formal title documents that show the ownership and transfer rights of that property after a person's death (for example, motor vehicles, boats, etc.) In many cases, however, tangible personal property won't be "titled" in an owner's name and is presumed to be whatever property he or she was in possession of at the time of his or her death.
Intangible personal property or "intangibles" refers to personal property that can't be actually "moved" touched or felt, but instead represents something of value such as
negotiable instruments,
securities,
goods, and
intangible assets including
chose in action
Accountants also distinguish personal property from real property because personal property can be
depreciated faster than improvements (while land isn't depreciable at all). It is an owner's right to get tax benefits for chattel, and there are businesses that specialize in appraising personal property, or chattel.
The distinction between these types of property is significant for a variety of reasons. Usually one's rights on movables are more attenuated than one's rights on immovables (or real property). The
statutes of limitations or
prescriptive periods are usually shorter when dealing with personal or movable property. Real property rights are usually enforceable for a much longer period of time and in most jurisdictions real estate and immovables are registered in government-sanctioned land registers. In some jurisdictions, rights (such as a
lien or other security interest) can be registered against personal or movable property.
In the common law it's possible to place a
mortgage upon real property. Such mortgage requires payment or the owner of the mortgage can seek
foreclosure. Personal property can often be secured with similar kind of device, variously called a
chattel mortgage, trust receipt, or
security interest. In the United States, Article 9 of the
Uniform Commercial Code governs the creation and enforcement of security interests in most (but not all) types of personal property.
There is no similar institution to the mortgage in the civil law, however a
hypothec is a device to secure
real rights against property. These real rights follow the property along with the ownership. In the common law a lien also remains on the property and it isn't extinguished by alienation of the property; liens may be real or
equitable.
Many jurisdictions levy a personal
property tax, an annual tax on the privilege of owning or possessing personal property within the boundaries of the jurisdiction. Automobile and boat registration fees are a subset of this tax. Most household goods are exempt as long as they're kept or used within the household; the tax usually becomes a problem when the taxing authority discovers that expensive personal property like art is being regularly stored outside of the household.
Personal vs Private property
In political/economic theory, notably
anarchism and
communism, the distinction between private and personal property is extremely important. They are separated by a blurry boundary, which items of property constitute which is open to debate.
- Personal property is part of your person and includes property from which you've the right to exclude others (e.g TVs, Cars, clothes etc).
Private property is a social relationship, not a relationship between person and thing according to Marx (e.g factories, mines, dams, infrastructure etc). In capitalism there's no distinction between personal and private property.Further Information
Get more info on 'Personal Property'.
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